Austin IRS building and denial

[Guest guest]

I know that so many of you have been dealing with various private

businesses over the years, trying to prove that [a] something is wrong

and something needs to be done about it. I have only just begun

to fight in my workplace, and fortunately (or unfortunately) I am not

alone.

I do not have any major symptoms like you'd see in most sick-building

cases. I suffer primarily from burning eyes and trachea, like so many

of the people I work with, but there are a number of people with

severe health problems who are working with me to get our workplace

healthy again. My biggest problem, personally, is deciding whether or

not I should get another job to protect myself and my own health, or

stay as long as it takes to get the results that are so important to

me.

One of the biggest problems that we're facing is that the majority of

employees at the Austin Submission Processing Center (AUSPC) are

seasonal (mainly a spring through summer season). Most people who

have health problems that may be caused by our building attribute

their symptoms to seasonal allergies (a big problem in central Texas)

or stress. Certainly it's possible that a lot of these people aren't

actually affected by the conditions in the building, but enough people

are seriously affected that we have reached a point where the powers

that be *must* do something, and must do it soon.

Unfortunately, " the powers that be " are part of a government agency,

and the government likes to " police " itself and sweep problems under

the carpet. Everything you've heard about the laziness of government

employees is unfortunately true...for most of them, if something

doesn't affect them directly or they haven't personally noticed it,

they refuse to get off their butts and do something.

We have yet to find anyone in Facilities who will admit that they

don't sweep the floors nightly (despite obvious evidence to the

contrary... " The floor in our area is filthy. " " No it isn't, my people

swept your area last night. " " No, they didn't. Perhaps you'd like to

come and see for yourself? " " I don't need to, because I know your

area was swept. It's right here on my schedule. " ), so how can we get

anyone to admit that the air ducts have not been properly cleaned,

possibly since the building was constructed in the 1960s?! (Then

again, these are the same people who installed new " air handlers " last

year, but placed one of them in the smoker's courtyard!)

A chunk of a mold colony that was pulled from an air intake vent was

shown to some union representatives who are working on one

employee's case, and magically that vent got cleaned...but no other

vents were touched, because they apparently think we're all *that*

stupid!

We have noticed an interesting trend, though. Employees who have

complained of health problems due to sub-standard working conditions

have been shuffled out of the building, into a newer, cleaner facility

across the street...but they are never heard from again. One woman

who was transferred a few months ago (and had a nearly instant

recovery of most of her respiratory problems) was promised that this

solution was only " temporary " and that her union representatives would

continue to work on her behalf, to make the building safe for her to

enter again. They have done *nothing* since she was transferred. No

" independent IAQ testing " , no meetings with building

management...nothing. Since she's been in the other building, she has

met other employees who were sent there over the past few years, for

similar reasons...but nobody in the main building has ever heard of

this happening before! And now, another woman's health has

deteriorated to the point where there is talk of relocating her...but

she's afraid to be transferred, because she knows that it will be the

end of her case. The AUSPC doesn't seem to understand that we are not

only worried about our own health, but the health of every single

person in the building!

The people who have worked there for 20-30 years, close to retirement,

and have had declining health for years (some areas in that building

look like a hospital ward...so many sallow faces, so many people out

of breath just from walking down a hallway), but never once considered

that it might be the workplace that is causing or accelerating their

condition! The young mothers working full-time and keeping their

small children in a child care facility that is maintained by the same

liars who get angry when we complain to their supervisors about the

filth! The people who enter the data from your tax forms whose eyes

burn so badly by the afternoon that they can hardly see to type!

We are working our way up the chain of command, and are close to

having a meeting with the AUSPC director. He was only transferred to

our site last year, so he knows very little about what goes on beyond

the executive offices at the front of the building. We plan to take

him on a tour of the building, showing him moldy ceiling tiles and air

intake vents so thick with dust and debris that I shudder to think

what's behind them. I'd like to give him a present...a ziploc baggie

filled with filth that I collected from the vent outside my work area,

and ask him to open it and leave it on his desk for a while, because

if it's good enough for me to breathe every day, it's good enough for

him. (We'll see if I can muster up the courage to do it!)

As long as the people who have control over the buildings we work in

can avoid seeing the mold colonies in the air ducts, the mysterious

black soot that falls onto our desks every time the AC comes on, the

reality of working in a building that is maintained year after year by

people who know they can't be fired and don't care about their fellow

employees...nothing will ever be done.

Wish us luck! I'll keep you posted! )

[Guest guest]

<snipped my previous message>

Update:

A guy from OSHA agreed to do an " unannounced investigation " yesterday.

Whether he came to look at our building yesterday or today, we don't

know yet, because it was all done very quietly. We should have his

report by next week!

I wonder what the reaction woud be of someone who is an " expert " at

finding violations when they come into our building...even the

over-the-phone description of some of the things we've seen got a

reaction that was part disgusted, and part excited! ;o)

One more thing...

My eyes are burning worse today than I think they've burned all year

so far. (I've rinsed them thoroughly with saline three times since

I've been home and they're still dry and sticky!) Because of a

special project I'm working on, I've been temporarily stuck in a room

in a corner of the second floor. This area is mainly divided up with

semi-permanent " walls " that reach almost to the ceiling. About

fifteen feet in front of my desk there is a hallway which, up until

yesterday, had those same semi-permanent dividers...but this morning,

the one on the opposite side had been replaced with a real wall! Not

only was the construction dust horrible, but that new wall runs right

along the edge of a row of ceiling air vents (the circular vents are

so close to the wall that they touch it), so the air coming out of

those vents bounces off the drywall (or whatever kinds of board are

making up this half-finished wall) and right into my work area! And

the poor people on the other side of that wall, who used to have vents

above them to circulate the air, now get *nothing*. I think I wish I

could sit with them! )