Knowing Endangerment - Hanford Challenge

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“During the course of my duties as an HPT [Health Physics Technician] . . . I was asked to respond to an “event” at the 241-C tank farm. An operator had complained of headache and nausea after being exposed to unknown tank vapors and was subsequently transported to KADLEC medical center for evaluation. At this time, C-farm was evacuated. My task was to accompany an operator and an IH technician into C Farm. I was to evaluate the radiological conditions while the IHT checked for vapor sources. Initially, we were told by the on-call IH to wear air purifying respirators, but operations was unable to obtain these items for us and we were told to wear nuisance masks instead. Nuisance masks are available to anyone who wants them any day to keep out annoying odors and are not considered PPE. They should not be used when responding to abnormal conditions. Considering the press the site has received in recent days concerning hazardous vapors, the PERCEPTION in this situation is horrifying. We were told that the nuisance mask was just that and not for personal protection. If there was no hazard then what were we looking for and why was a man in the hospital?” - Problem Evaluation Request filed by a <strong>Hanford</strong> Tank Farm worker on August 17, 2003 (PER-2003-3194) 46
”[For five months my] lungs just wept.” --SL, Tank farm worker , descri bing the lastin g effect s of a severe tank vapor exposu re GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT www.whistleblower.org West Coast Office National Office 1511 Third Avenue, Suite 321 1612 K. Street NW, Suite 400 Seattle, Washington 98101 Washington, D.C. 20006 Phone: (206) 292-2850 Phone: (202) 408-0034 Fax: (206) 292-0610 Fax: (202) 408-9855 47
Page 1 and 2: Knowing Endangerment: WORKER EXPOSU
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMM
Page 5: SCBA SST TLV TOC TWINS VOC WHC Self
Page 8 and 9: used in the tank farms and reduce t
Page 10 and 11: II. BACKGROUND A. Hanford Tank Farm
Page 12 and 13: not detected on an ammonia monitor.
Page 14 and 15: warnings by safety experts, threate
Page 16 and 17: Not only does the science of the He
Page 18 and 19: symptoms: burning skin, persistent
Page 20 and 21: CHG‟s monitoring equipment has li
Page 22 and 23: glands tied to memory banks in the
Page 24 and 25: On June 14, 2002, headspace organic
Page 26 and 27: vapor sources. Initially, we were t
Page 28 and 29: Even when CHG does determine that r
Page 30 and 31: outdated Hewitt report 105 (discuss
Page 32 and 33: discovered in December 2001. Tank U
Page 34 and 35: With the failure to record this inf
Page 36 and 37: manner because my success here depe
Page 38 and 39: management. The patient receives th
Page 40 and 41: elated work other than some persons
Page 42 and 43: OSHA does not have right-of-entry o
Page 44 and 45: Like NASA, Hanford has fallen victi
Page 46 and 47: covering up monitoring data, or pro
Page 48 and 49: APPENDIX B: Chemical Vapor Exposure
Page 50 and 51: APPENDIX B: January 2002 - August 2

Knowing Endangerment - Hanford Challenge

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