News article on worker safety and respirator distribution at Fresh

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Some heavy equipment opera­ Robert Kulick, an area director The dust was a particular prob­ tors go without protective jump­ for the federal Occupational lem in the first few weeks of the suits, the first line of defense Safety and Health Administration operation, when rainfall was against contaminating their (OSHA) said the Army Corps of scarce and the wind was so strong clothes. They don’t have decon­ Engineers developed a site safety it sometimes knocked over the and health plan for the operations portable toilets on the hill, the in­ tamination work stations like the spector said. one up on “the hill” where the de­ at Fresh Kills. The plan includes tectives sift through the debris. regular tours of the site to check Another worker, a tractor oper­ Some say their cars are caked in­ for potential safety problems. ator, said the dust is being traced side with dust from the work site. But Kulick said, “We do not everywhere. “We’re getting it in our cars and, have jurisdiction over state and “It’s all over the place,” he said. God forbid, bringing it home,” said city workers.” OSHA oversees “It’s on the roads, it’s down around a worker stationed at the barge­ only federal and private workers. the buildings, it’s where the me­ unloading pad. The workers at the landfill say chanics station is, it’s down by the safety precautions at the site have fuel stations, it’s all over the “They take care of [the detec­ whole landfill. You’ll see it,” he tives and federal agents] up top always been minimal. “We’ve been there for years and said. “It’s white powder. It looks and they don’t even recognize us like concrete [dust].” at all,” be said. now we see the kind of protection other agencies give their workers Chris Marlowe, a health and The man said be and the other and it’s like a smack in the face,” safety manager for the engi­ Sanitation employees at the pad neering and environmental con­ are still working without hard one man said. But Harry Nespoli, vice presi­ sulting firm Camp, Dresser & hats, even though cranes and McKee, said keeping the dust in a front-end loaders are moving dent of the Uniformed Sanita­ tionmen’s Association (USA), said pile with no cover violates federal enormous pieces of debris over­ Environmental Protection Agency head. The machines that scoop the there are 78 union employees at the landfill, and he hasn’t received (EPA) rules. debris out of a contained area are “The guy who makes concrete in supposed to stop working when a single call about problems there. the men are near, but they don’t, “The Department of Sanitation my town has a water sprinkler on has bent over backward to protect a gravel pile [to control the dust],” be said. he said. “Here we have a dust that “There are safety foremen, but their people,” he said. “Anything [the workers] needed, anywhere, people are saying contains lead, they’re never around” he said, asb^tos, cadmium and mercury ‘Down where we are, it’s like they got.” According to Nespoli, Sanitation allowed to just get into the air.” we’re not even considered part of “The New York Police Depart­ the operation.” workers got respirators the first day on the job at the recovery site ment and the EPA are handling Like hundreds of firefighters in Manhattan and also at Fresh this dust as if it is hazardous ma­ and other workers at Ground Zero, terial.” he said. “I would want to several Sanitation workers have Kills. “Every man that wanted it, got know why [the city] thinks it’s safe developed chronic coughs. One enough for me to take it home.” man said he bad to take a week off it,” he said. after becoming sick with a sore Nespoli said he was unaware of throat and labored breathing. He the Labor Department investiga­ continues to cough several times tion. an hour, even though he now Every worker interviewed said wears his respirator on the job. dust was a chronic problem at The detectives on the hill are Fresh Kills. The debris is kept in encased in protective gear. They piles on the site, as is the powder wear white protective jumpsuits, that remains after it’s been sifted rubber boots, goggles, respirators through. Police officials, detec­ and hard hats. Before they can tives, Sanitation workers, tractor eat, they must remove their outer­ operators, private contractors and wear and pass through a decon­ even one federal agent said the tamination tent, where the grime material was not being kept wet, a is scrubbed off their boots. process that would prevent it from blowing all over the site. A But Sanitation workers on the Sanitation worker said they tried site said they.get no such protec­ wetting it in the larges for a few tion, even though they are often days in late 2001, but soon stopped. the first to come in contact with the debris. Though they now have A private health inspector said respirators and goggles and most investigators had complained that don the white “Tyvek” jumpsuits, the moisture was ruining some of some say their supervisors have the evidence. yet to issue them hard hats or work boots.

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