AUBURN – St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center is suing two local companies over an air quality problem that caused several hospital employees to fall ill in 2002.

The Lewiston hospital has filed a lawsuit in Androscoggin County Superior Court against Platz Associates and Nason Mechanical Systems, both in Auburn.

The air problem occurred at 99 Campus Ave., where the hospital houses many of its outpatient medical offices.

Platz Associates designed and constructed the four-story building in 1994, and it hired Nason Mechanical Systems to design, install and maintain the heating, air-conditioning and ventilation system.

That system, St. Mary’s alleges in its lawsuit, wasn’t installed or maintained correctly, and it eventually broke and expelled dust particles throughout the building.

The hospital is now seeking compensation for the money it cost to close the building for several weeks as well as the costs of cleaning the building and replacing the ventilation system.

The owner of Platz Associates could not be reached for comment, and Peter Traill, owner of Nason Mechanical Systems, declined to comment at this time.

The lawsuit comes more than two and a half years after St. Mary’s first noticed the problem.

According to the lawsuit, employees on the fourth floor of the building heard a popping sound coming from the roof in May 2002.

Shortly after, workers throughout the building started complaining of headaches, nausea and breathing problems. Unable to immediately detect the problem, the hospital evacuated the building and notified the state Bureau of Health.

Hospital officials were initially concerned that the illnesses were due to exposure to chemicals used in the chemotherapy unit on the fourth floor. But that possibility was quickly ruled out.

Mold was also ruled out after the hospital had the building thoroughly cleaned.

Hospital officials say they eventually determined that an ignored crack in the heating system was to blame.

According to the lawsuit, a worker from Nason Mechanical Systems discovered the crack during a bi-annual maintenance check of the system about three weeks before the problem occurred.

The company either failed to replace or fix the crack, the lawsuit alleges.

As a result, the lawsuit says, St. Mary’s eventually had to replace the entire system after only seven years. According to the lawsuit, it should have lasted 15 years.

Most symptoms experienced by employees were resolved within a couple of days, but one man was hospitalized for a short time to be treated for respiratory problems.

If a settlement isn’t reached, it could be a year before the lawsuit goes to trial.