Incident Latest Example Of "Botched" Handling Of Health Issues,
Union Says
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association -- a group
never at a loss to point out what the Federal Aviation
Administration has done wrong, especially in the aftermath of
failed contract negotiations last
year -- says the agency delayed evacuating air
traffic control tower personnel at Washington Dulles Airport on
Wednesday morning for 45 minutes, resulting in prolonged exposure
to high levels of carbon monoxide fumes.
That incident sent five people to the hospital, NATCA
says, and providied what the union says is the third
major recent example of a botched FAA response to a health problem
in a major air traffic control facility in the Eastern United
States. As a result, Dulles controllers are demanding that carbon
monoxide detectors be installed at both the current tower and the
new Dulles tower that is being completed for future opening.
NATCA asserts the Dulles incident comes just two months after a
botched roofing project and a badly delayed and ineffective cleanup
effort at Jacksonville Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON)
resulted in employees having to breathe toxic odors. Five
controllers are still out and being treated by the Mayo Clinic,
according to the union.
On April 25, scheduled maintenance on an engine generator at the
New York TRACON sent diesel exhaust fumes into the ventilation
system for the building, resulting in a slow leak of deadly carbon
monoxide gas. Six controllers in the Newark Area were sickened...
but FAA management prevented them from leaving the room to seek
fresh air and medical attention, NATCA claims, and denied a request
to call the fire department for assistance.
As ANN reported, the
Wednesday incident at Dulles Tower was caused by fumes from a
construction project at the airport. NATCA states the FAA response
to protect employees was slow.
Contributing to the problem, NATCA claims, was the fact FAA
managers at the facility no longer work in the tower with
controllers. They have moved to offices in the new tower.
The sickened controllers who went to a nearby hospital were
released after being treated for carbon monoxide exposure. Most
were suffering from dizziness, lightheadedness, faintness, burning
throat with the taste of fumes, elevated blood pressure and burning
eyes.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association officials have been
advised that at 20 parts per million of carbon monoxide, the tower
should have been evacuated. But local fire and rescue officials who
were on scene initially measured the amount of carbon monoxide at
28 parts per million and later told hospital officials, according
to controllers, that the level peaked at 35 parts per million.