OSHA probe: Were workers at Portland's Franklin High School exposed to lead paint?
Paint chips and debris that could contain lead dust swept into a at Franklin High School on July 19, 2016. (Don McIntosh/The Northwest Labor Press)
By Bethany Barnes | The Oregonian/OregonLive
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on August 04, 2016 at 2:51 PM, updated August 04, 2016 at 5:19 PM
A state safety agency is investigating if construction at Franklin High School exposed workers to lead paint.
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health investigation follows a story by The Northwest Labor Press that said lead-laced chips and dust littered the massive bond-funded project.
A Labor Press reporter went on the $104 million construction site with a representative from the District 5 International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.
The proof comes not just in the reporter's first-hand account, but in photos he took on scene. Photos show paint chips swept into a heap and mingled with dirt.
The union said its members, who are doing other work at Franklin, saw workers repeatedly scraping lead paint without wearing a protective suit or respirator, as required by OSHA.
The reporter noted he saw a person with a respirator and a vacuum while on the job site, but no suit and only a sheet many feet below to catch harmful debris.
Vern Forrest, owner of Chosen Wood Windows, the subcontractor at the center of the complaint, said his workers followed the rules and wear respirators. He said workers did not need protective suits as air monitoring showed they were not overexposed. He also said suits weren't needed because they weren't doing lead abatement.
But OSHA refers to scraping as a "trigger task" that can "expose workers to extreme amounts of lead." As such, OSHA says it should be assumed workers are overexposed regardless of air monitoring.
Workers scraping paint are required by OSHA to wear protective clothing and use high-efficiency particulate vacuums to suck up harmful chips and dust.
If the company can prove the workers are not overexposed with air monitoring, the requirements are less stringent and a suit isn't required, said Penny Wolf-McCormick, health enforcement manager for OSHA's Portland office.
But until that proof exists the company must take the precautions. Additionally, monitoring must take into account every specific task a worker would be doing, she said.
OSHA's rules say they apply to "renovation of structures, substrates, or portions thereof, that contain lead, or materials containing lead."
Forrest, who had not read Labor Press' story or looked at the publication's photos, questioned if the paint chips shown were the result of his workers or whether another contractor on site could have caused the debris.
David Winkler, the business representative for the union, said the only painted parts at Franklin are the windows, so the culprit had to be Chosen Wood Windows.
But Dianne Danowski Smith, a spokeswoman for Skanska, the contractor overseeing the subcontractor, said the Franklin site had lots of lead paint chips lying around before Skanska began work there. She said she was unsure what requirements, if any, that triggered for keeping workers required to walk through those chip-strewn areas.
She said Skanska is cooperating fully with OSHA's investigation and wants all questions answered. "Skanska's responsibility is to ensure that all of our vendors and subs are working within all safety requirements," Danowski Smith said.
Portland Public Schools referred comment to Skanska.
"Franklin is a closed site. There are no students or staff there," said Portland Public Schools spokeswoman Courtney Westling. "Skanska is solely responsible for all of the activity that occurs on that site, including best practices for the subcontractors with whom we don't have a contract."
The district has admitted to previous slip-ups with lead paint, including failing to remove rampant lead dust debris from an Alameda playcourt during a schoolwide painting project in 2014 and failing to notify a Head Start program that workers would be scraping lead paint near an open classroom full of preschoolers.
At Franklin, Forrest said he didn't understand why the union would complain about his workers, who are not represented, unless the union was upset about the job going to non-union workers.
Winkler agreed his union's involvement was an important question.
"Why did it take us coming out there to point this out?" Winkler said. "Do they just not care? It's weird to me, knowing with all the lead in the water, all the press, why no one stepped up. That's what I had an issue with."
Franklin dates back to 1915, and lead is presumed present in building constructed before 1978. The union tested paint on site and found lead, and Forrest said his workers always assume they are handling lead because historical renovations involve old paint.
"Jealousy isn't something that motivates what we do," Winkler said. "It's just trying to make sure everybody is following the same rules."
This isn't Chosen Wood Windows' first OSHA investigation.
In 2012, OSHA fined Chosen Windows $540 after a complaint that workers were getting sick from having to remove lead-based paint in a poorly ventilated room. OSHA deemed the violations "serious."
Forrest said that violation happened when Chosen Wood Windows was new to restoration.
"That was a learning experience back then as we were getting into the restoration process," Forrest said. "From that time to now our engineering for how we do all of our work is many times better, many times cleaner."
Lead is extremely dangerous and has "a plethora of symptoms that it can cause," said Wolf-McCormick, of OSHA.
Lead is a powerful neurotoxin and, while panic has lately been focused on drinking water, paint is the most dangerous form.
Lead, if inhaled, is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, Wolf-McCormick said. That's why OSHA requires workers to use a respirator and suit and to entrap dust and debris. Loose lead dust and paint chips could scatter off site and harm people in the community, too, she said.
In addition to inhalation, OSHA worries about people ingesting lead, which is easier than it might sound if safety protocol is lacking, she said.
Imagine a worker is chipping paint without protection. Lead dust may be on his hands and sneak into his sandwich during his lunch hour, she explained. Or lead could slip into a worker's mouth during his regular smoke break. Perhaps he doesn't ingest it, but his family does, she said. Imagine lead falls off a worker's shoes and into his living room carpet, the same carpet his kids, who like to suck their fingers, play on daily.
OSHA has 180 days to complete its investigation.