Feds violate OSHA standards at thousands of government properties

The Environmental Protection Agency, which polices chemical contaminants, has been subjecting employees at its Chicago offices to water contaminated with metal and Legionella, the bacteria that causes the deadly Legionnaires’ disease.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that at least five water fountains or kitchen faucets were found to have Legionella. Two kitchen faucets also busted the acceptable limits for lead and copper.

In Michigan, meanwhile, another federal building was found in 2017 to have a high risk of fire, and experts said it needed a sprinkler system. Seven years later, the problem remained unaddressed, an inspector general found.

And in Bethesda, Maryland, surveyors found stone crumbling off the sides of the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2019. They called it an “immediate and potentially imminent danger.” Four-and-a-half years later it still hadn’t been fixed, according to the inspector general.

When the General Services Administration, the government’s chief landlord agency, does get around to fixes, it takes an average of nearly three years to put a plan in place. That shatters the Occupational Safety and Health Administration deadline.

Public Buildings Service “data shows that there are nearly 36,000 actionable, open-risk conditions at almost 2,000 GSA-managed assets nationwide,” the inspector general said. “The same data shows that there are more than 5,000 open-risk conditions that were not corrected or did not have an abatement plan in place within the 30-day period required by OSHA regulations.”

The report is the latest embarrassment for the PBS, the GSA’s division that manages government properties.

Auditors say the GSA bungled office reopenings after the pandemic, when empty buildings allowed dangerous bacteria to accumulate.

At least two cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been attributed to contaminated water at GSA-run buildings since the start of the pandemic.

The GSA didn’t respond to an inquiry for this story. But in an official reply to the inspector general’s backlog report, the agency said it needs more money.

“Full access to the Federal Buildings Fund, as proposed in our FY25 budget request, would support a more timely closure of open-risk conditions that require funding,” said Elliot Doomes, the PBS commissioner.

He acknowledged failing to meet the 30-day deadline for fixes but said the agency is working on improving the system for tracking open issues.

Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, has been tracking the government’s pandemic reopening and safety procedures at its buildings. She sent a letter this week to EPA Administrator Michael Regan demanding he force the GSA to fix the water contaminants.

She pointed to a study that found contaminated water in child-care centers in government buildings.

Ms. Ernst said the EPA should issue emergency orders to protect those children and others at the tainted buildings and should require a warning go out to everyone already exposed.

“Federal employees showing up to work and EPA guaranteeing safe drinking water in government buildings are nonnegotiable bare minimum expectations,” Ms. Ernst said.

EPA employees in Chicago were miffed that their agency let the issue fester, and their labor union has filed a grievance, the Sun-Times reported.

The EPA, in a statement, said it’s working with the GSA to fix things.

That includes warning signs and providing bottled drinking water.

The Metcalfe Building, which houses the EPA and several other federal agencies, was tested on July 31. GSA told building tenants of contaminants on Aug. 15.

Of 145 tests, nine showed contamination with Legionella or unacceptable levels of lead or copper.

GSA runs 1,600 federally owned buildings and leases 7,000 more spaces across the nation. The Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970 says those properties must be free of hazards.

The inspector general said it learned about the massive complaint backlog from a hotline call in June 2023.

When investigators probed, they found unresolved OSHA risks dating back to at least Oct. 1.

GSA’s Southeast/Sunbelt region had the most unfixed issues, with nearly 13,000 of the 36,000 complaints. The District of Columbia area was second with nearly 6,000.

Investigators said one federal courthouse in Florida had a broken panel in an electrical room that exposed workers to “live electrical parts.” It took more than a year and a half for the GSA to come up with an “abatement plan” — installing screws to repair the cover.

Another federal building in Tucson, Arizona, was deemed at risk because its roof had no guardrails to prevent falling into vertical shafts. It took GSA six years to install warning signs and develop an abatement plan.