Recycles.Org  BETA Nonprofit Materials Exchange Network Computer & Office Electronics Recycling & Reuse

Date: Saturday, 11 June 2005

Title: OSHA: Atwater prison crew safe

Source: By ADAM ASHTON MERCED SUN-STAR http://www.modbee.com/

Remarks: Manager criticizes inspection of computer recycling program

ATWATER — A computer recycling program at the federal penitentiary here received a clean bill of health after a safety manager complained that the program poses long-term hazards for inmates and other workers. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that the prison has adequate safeguards to prevent workers from breathing trace amounts of metals like lead, barium and cadmium. The metals had been detected previously in an area around the recycling operation and in inmate blood tests. The inspection results did not satisfy prison safety manager Leroy Smith, who began documenting the program's potential hazards in 2001. He criticized OSHA, saying that it gave two weeks' notice to the prison before the inspection, and that the agency failed to evaluate health risks associated with the metals' buildup. "That was an 'oh-shucks' investigation, not an OSHA investigation," Smith said. He has not worked at the prison since November because he is on leave after filing a stress claim. He wants to transfer to another penitentiary because of alleged retaliation for his whistleblowing. Frank Strasheim, OSHA regional director, said the site appeared clean during OSHA's two-day visit in late March. "After evaluating the site and taking samples, there's no need to go back," he said. "We didn't find anything." Officials at the penitentiary, on the grounds of the old Castle Air Force Base, did not respond to written requests for comment about the OSHA inspection or about Smith's personnel complaint. Concern over metal levels in inmates Smith contends that OSHA is ignoring potentially dangerous health problems that could show up years from now. Records that Smith kept show metal concentrations rising in inmate workers from Sept. 9, 2002, to March 19, 2003. Lead in one inmate rose from 3 micrograms per liter to 9micrograms per liter over that period. Barium in another inmate increased from 59micrograms per liter to 120 in that same time, he said. He acknowledged that those levels are not hazardous, but said the metals could concentrate over time and prove harmful later. Kenneatha Clark, the OSHA industrial hygienist who conducted the March inspection, said trace amounts of metals from the recycling program are not approaching hazardous levels. She said she saw inmates working with full-face respirators, as well as air filters that suck pollutants from work areas. "That, coupled with the levels that we saw, would indicate there shouldn't be a long-term problem," Clark said. At least one inmate cited health concerns in a complaint about working in the recycling program, and indicated that he felt intimidated by a recycling manager into taking the job. A prison guard and another safety manager wrote letters to Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, on the inmate's behalf. Cardoza, in turn, contacted the Justice Department, which oversees the Bureau of Prisons, and urged the agency to investigate the Atwater program. A Cardoza spokesman said he expects results of the inquiry within the next few weeks. Computer recycling work programs are in operation at six federal prisons altogether. Officials said inmate workers earn money and learn new skills.