Bad Air at Interior HQ Reconstruction Admitted

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Bad Air at Interior HQ Reconstruction Admitted

Previous Assurances of Safe Conditions to Employees, Congress and

Media Untrue

By: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility*

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_59927.shtml

Weeks after claiming that persistent poor indoor air quality

practices in the massive Interior Department headquarters building

reconstruction had been remedied, building occupants are still being

exposed to harmful chemical fumes, smoke and dust, according to

correspondence released today by Public Employees for Environmental

Responsibility (PEER). Nor does the contractor yet have a plan in

place to protect employees who have suffered for years from nausea,

asthma attacks and other ailments.

A May 24, 2007 report by the National Institute for Occupational

Safety and Health (NIOSH) found the reconstruction of the 70-year

old Main Interior Building near the National Mall in Washington,

D.C. is " intentionally operating " to expose " adjacent occupied

areas " to hazardous pollutants. The key problem is the inability to

maintain negative air pressure so as to prevent construction fumes

from filtering out into surrounding offices and into the building's

ventilation system.

In the days following release of the NIOSH report by PEER, Interior

officials issued various public statements that the deficiencies had

already been addressed, including that new " improved construction

barriers?and revised work practices?act as a system to prevent dust

and odor migration to the maximum extent possible. " Yet, on June 13,

2007, the General Services Administration project manager for the

Interior work, R.C. " Skip " Vaughn, wrote to the general contractor

about its inability to meet minimum health and safety standards,

most prominently -

" Negative pressurization ('negative air'): While fans were installed

to try and mechanically exhaust more air than was being mechanically

drawn into the construction spaces?these do not appear to be

providing enough exhaust to provide negative air within the

construction spaces?Please provide a plan on how [the contractor]

intends to maximize success for achieving negative pressure in the

construction space and how [the contractor] intends to measure the

pressure to ensure they are achieving negative air. "

" The modernization project management has been flat out lying to the

workers and making a mockery of recent promises to make employee

health a top priority and end the 'business-as-usual' approach at

Interior, " stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, referring to a

May 22, 2007 speech to an all-hands staff meeting by Interior

Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. " Regardless of what happens tomorrow, it

is now indisputable that Interior employees and contractors have

been breathing hazardous fumes for years. "

In order to cut costs in its decade-long HQ modernization, slated to

last until 2012, Interior kept the building occupied, including

workplaces next door to reconstruction work, rather than vacating

affected areas as other agencies do. As a consequence, the project

has been plagued with " a long history of tenant complaints about

indoor air quality, " in the words of the Skip Vaughn letter.

" This is just the latest in a series of reports from NIOSH, EPA and

even Interior's own safety experts that this headquarters make-over

has been a horror show, " Ruch added, noting that the Interior Office

of Inspector General is the latest agency to start investigating

health and safety problems but has announced no date for its

report. " Secretary Kempthorne has an opportunity to redeem his

rhetoric by becoming personally involved to make sure this work is

done safely and competently. "