The Nevada Insurance Division went back to work Wednesday after being shut down Friday by a chemical smell that caused headaches and respiratory problems for workers.
The division's Carson City office on Fairview Drive was closed Friday after a chemical sprayed in the air handling system caused problems for many of the 80-plus employees. The chemical, a grapeseed-oil-based product, was sprayed in the vents to flush out pigeons.
Literature on the product, called Rejex-It, warned that "prolonged inhalation may lead to respiratory tract irritation."
"It was gross," said division spokesman Maria Dal Pan Dias.
She said a different contractor was brought in over the weekend to clean the offices and shut down the contaminated part of the heating and ventilation system.
"It's sealed off until it can be removed and replaced," she said.
While the work was done, the division's employees were put on paid administrative leave.
Initial reports said the Real Estate Division also was shut down by the problem but a spokesman for that agency said real estate workers were not sent home. She said they were moved to another state-rented office on Fairview Drive last Wednesday and conducted business as usual.
Dias said any workers bothered by residual smells are being moved to Real Estate's former office space which is outside the contaminated area of the building.
Now, she said, workers are trying to catch up on three business days of work that have piled up on them.