Abatement fraud in NYC

How good is your data?  Spending countless hours as a chemistry major at university, and then working as a chemist for many year, good documentation practices have been driven into my subconscious.  But that only applies to me generating data.  I am confident of the quality of the data in my lab notebook:  after all, it's mine.

What about the lead analysis I did at my internship?  I'm sure about how the samples were collected.  But what about the lab reports?  Are the numbers even real?  Well, I'm forced to assume they are.  I got the numbers directly from the laboratory.

What about the mercury sampling I had done at my last house?  I watched them do the sampling.  But what about the results?

How do I know they weren't lying?

I haven't given much though to what I, as an ordinary person, would do in the situation of needing environmental testing.  The people I purchased that house from had done lead testing.  What would I do?  Just call an 'inspector'?  How does a person verify their honesty/quality, beyond calling to verify the license is current?

This fellow, creating a ruckus in New York City, demonstrates both the fractured nature of public offices as well as the consequences of underfunding government agencies.  The result?  Moaning and wringing hands over the inability of the state to control this, then crying that too many agencies aren't working together.  Is anyone going to sit down, ask "so how can we do this better?" and then change something? change anything?

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Nervous about job interview

"How would you like to come in for an interview?"

ahhh, the magic words a grad student wants to hear before graduation.

So - I have an interview tomorrow afternoon with Minnesota OSHA.  Like any responsible person, one researches the potential employer.  Sure - I'm already in the business.  Sure - everyone knows what OSHA does, right?  Nevertheless, I did.

Their website is fairly user-friendly.  Detail dense, but with a little looking around, it didn't seem hard to find what I wanted.

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to visit many different types of worksites.  Construction, meatpacking, chemical processing, paper mills, etc.  Then, I found the list of 2009 Fatalities and Serious Injury Investigation Summary.  It hit me.  What's the sure-fire guaranteed way to get a compliance inspector at your worksite?

1 - kill one of your employees
2 - injure a bunch all at once
3 - complaint

I never considered doing what compliance inspectors have to do: fatality investigations.  It's horrible enough 1,000 miles away listening to the news about the Big Branch Coal Mine in WV.  Can you imagine being the MSHA compliance officer who has to do the investigation after they open the mine?

I have never encountered a workplace fatality.  I've even managed to make it to this point in life without having many people I know die.  I've only had 2 friends die:  chronic medical problems and power tool accident(or suicide, depending on who you ask).  I've had 3 co-workers die:  motorcycle accident, drug o.d., and cancer(not related to our mutual job).  Suddenly I found an aspect to this job that is rather unsettling.

Of course, I'm nervous about having a job interview.  What questions should I ask them?  Should I ask

How do you cope with doing fatality investigations?

Do you ever run into employers who are verbally abusive when you do an unannounced inspection?

Do you like your job after 5 years?

What's the average time before someone leaves & why do they do it (other than money)?

What's the worst place you've ever had to do an inspection?

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Libby, part 1

Well, a bit delayed with posting ... From February... W.R. Grace was back in the news with a new lawsuit. This is the owner of the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana. The stupendous point of this is that the defendants in the suit are the Grace executives, not the company. This is the first time the EPA has tried this. They - unlike OSHA - are allowed to directly bring suit against individuals. Actually, I’m not sure OSHA is even allowed to sue anyone, just implement fines. I’m sure the rest of the legal community is waiting with baited breath (assuming we don’t have asbestosis, of course). The company did ban smoking at the mine in 1978 — smoking compounds the dangers of asbestos, doctors say — and also issued respirator masks to workers. But showers that the miners could have used at the end of their shifts before heading home were ruled out, because they might have overly worried people. In the largest judgment after trial (in 2003) in the history of the federal Superfund law, the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency announced that the District Court of Montana has ordered W.R. Grace & Co. to pay over $54.5 million to reimburse the federal government for the costs of investigation and cleanup of asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana. There is asbestos all over the entire town. Usually asbestos abatement brings an image of workers in Tyvek suits & respirators working behind plastic sheeting. This abatement is somehow supposed to be the entire city of Libby.

100 pounds of Hg

largest mercury spill in 20 years the fact that this isn't simply the largest is scarier. Reading the idiocy posted by idiots reading the papers is even scarier. "He said he was unaware of any damage to workers' health." It's amazing what you can be unaware of, simply by not being told. No one could possibly know within 24 hours whether or not the workers' health is impaired. Still ... I had a job once where I was explicitly told to "take your time getting back here", so that the corporate president could go on TV and say "we don't have that information yet". Of course not, I had it. So, I'm not really impressed anymore with "I'm unaware of ...." He added he did not know which company employed the supervisors who gave his employees their instructions. -- this is just a prime example of failure to stay on top of your employees' safety. If anyone is giving my employees directions involving their health, I damn well want to know who they are. I might now know what was said/done, but I would at least know who ran my safety program. ...notified the state's Office of Emergency Services about a spill of one pint of mercury - equal to 14 pounds. About three weeks later, the company amended its report to 90 pounds. ... reported the [second] spill to the state as six pounds and about a week later amended that amount to 90 pounds do you think someone might have checked into this, after the first amendment? Changing it to a larger amount doesn't surprise me - once you have a better idea of what happened, I would expect the number to increase. But from 14 to 90? That's not just a little blip, that's a 500% increase. Under laws effective last year, any company failing to notify the center promptly about a reportable spill could face a fine of up to $32,500 a day, EPA officials said. come on ... does ANYONE actually think the EPA will even try to fine these people? He added that the law now requires a professional survey assuring asbestos has been removed from a site, but "there is no similar requirement to have a professional survey for mercury and other hazardous materials." I might understand this, in a general sort of way. Tearing down the Gustavus Adolphus building on 16th & Lake really wouldn't warrant one's attention for hazardous materials. But a manufacturing site, which is known to have used hazardous chemicals in large quantities? Anyone who has ever dealt with older companies and especially older facilities in disrepair knows that it is almost a sure-fire guarantee to find 'unexpected' items. (I could tell you horror stories about cleaning a deep freezer which had, at one time, belonged to an infectious disease laboratory.) Hazardous materials assessment should precede demolition or major construction activities at any facility. That could be as simple as "looked around, it was an office, no asbestos, no radon, check" - or in the case of an old pesticide plant, like the one just west of me in the Philips Neighborhood: "um, old pesticide manufacturing plant, no one owns it anymore, it's a Brownfield, there's arsenic all over the neighborhood ...".