asu in the news 02-06-08 to - ASU News - Arizona State University

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ASU in the News Publication Name: East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ Market Name: Phoenix, AZ Publication Date: 2008-01-20 00:00:00.000 Frequency: Daily Circulation: 82951 Market Rank: 12 Title: Workers cite ASU building safety hazards Byline: By RYAN GABRIELSON Favorability: Negative 62
Workers cite ASU building safety hazards Asbestos peril lack of fall protection among claims By RYAN OABRIELSON TRIBUNE ASU workers last year ac cused the university of more than 20 workplace hazards that violated safety regulations But the state agency re sponsible for investigating such allegations usually direct ed Arizona State University to inspect itself And ASU officials rarely found problems on their cam pus a Tribune review of com plaints shows The one time that the Arizo na Department of Occupation al Safety and Health conducted an unannounced inspection it found a university building su pervisor had sent his employ ees to tear down a roof loaded with asbestos The agency initially cited ASU for a serious violation But college officials negotiated that down to non serious as part of a settlement deal last month Before the asbestos case the agency had declined to in vestigate allegations that ASU put employees at risk of ex posure to mold and electrical currents and that it had leveled scaffolding using phone books and didn t provide equipment to protect against falls The university s health and safety office denied most of the 22 individual allegations made throughout 2007 complaint records and internal e mail re cords show However ASU offi cials told the state agency they couldnt confirm or deny some ofthe most serious alleged haz ards Leon Igras the university s health and safety director East Valley Tribune Circulation: 70025 DMA: Phoenix, AZ declined to comment for this story Robert Backus head of ASU s carpentry shop also de clined to comment specifically on the asbestos case in which he was involved In October state inspectors found Backus had told his em ployees the Lyceum Theater s porch roof he d assigned them to remove had tested negative for asbestos In fact he never had it tested In the process oftearing off the roof a big cloud of dust was created that caused coughing and watering of the eyes the employee complaint said The employees stopped work after just three hours worried that the 69 year old theater did contain the car cinogen Asbestos only pdses a serious risk if it becomes air borne The roof had seven layers of felt paper that tested positive for asbestos the complaint said After the state agency cited it for a serious violation the university es tablished a more rigorous building permit system and added training for construction supervisors to pre vent future hazards Leah Hardesty an ASU spokeswoman wrote in re sponse to the Tribune s questions When complaints are serious in nature or could possibly result in se rious harm or even someone s death then we re going to put a lot more weight on those said Darin Perkins Arizona s occupational safety and health director If state regulators didn t inspect certain alleged hazards at the univer sity Perkins said it is likely because the complaint didn t meet all the state agency s criteria Those criteria are that the complaint detail a situation that could cause serious injury that © Copyright 01/20/2008 East Valley Tribune Cision USA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Unlicensed Reproduction, Sale or Republication Prohibited. City: Mesa State: AZ it be filed in writing and that at least one current employee sign their name on it The state agency commonly di rects employers to handle minor com plaints that don t include a significant health risk Perkins said The agency is sometimes notified when an office s carpet isn t flat for instance Employers typically provide the agency accurate information about such nonserious allegations be cause they risk criminal prosecution if they don t said John Alan Doran a Phoenix labor law attorney with Greenberg Traurig Why would anybody lie about something that s of relatively little consequence in the big scheme of things Doran said Records do not indicate if any of the allegations against ASU besides the asbestos were minor by state standards Nor do they say what fac tors caused regulators to decline to investigate In March a complaint said work ers repairing the Tempe campus Matthews Center a two story build ing kept scaffolding level by placing phone books and bricks underneath the structure s legs That could de stabilize the scaffolding and violates state and federal regulations An AsU safety official checked the construction site the day after receiv ing the complaint but the scaffolding had already been disassembled Perkins said construction work ers often level scaffolds with pieces of wood considered a nonserious violation However he added you re not normally going to find a phone book used to level a scaffold Less than a month later the state agency asked the university to inves tigate another potential fall risk That complaint accused ASU construction supervisors of directing employees to work at elevated heights without fall protection measures Account: 2565G0 Date: 01/20/2008 Pub Num: AZD71SUN Section/Page: a1 Page Count: 1 / 2 RefNo: 3323b5
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