News Release

FROM: Janet Michel, President

Coalition for a Healthy Environment, 423/966-5918

April 30, 1998

DEMONSTRATION PLANNED CITING UNSAFE WORKING CONDITIONS IN OAK RIDGE

The Coalition for a Healthy Environment (CHE), supported by the Office and Professional Employees Information Union (OPIEU) Local 258A, will hold a demonstration on Friday, May 1, 1998, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to protest the unsafe working environment at the U.S. Department of Energy's facilities. OPIEU represents DOE Federal Employees of the Oak Ridge

Operations Office and DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information. The two-part demonstration will begin at the Federal Building in Oak Ridge at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the second portion will be from 3 - 4 p.m. outside the K-25 plant at the intersection of Blair Rd. and Highway 58.

On April 14, 1998 Secretary of Energy Pena issued a new DOE safety policy that, for the first time, has DOE adopting a "zero tolerance" policy for serious accidents that result in life-threatening injuries or major environmental contamination. Pena stated, "It has been and will remain our policy that the safety of our workers, respect for the environment, and the public health are paramount in all that we do. At stake are nothing less than the lives and livelihood of our workers and neighbors and a healthy environment to leave to our children."

CHE is hopeful that its' past efforts in raising health and safety (H&S) concerns have influenced DOE's announcement. However, our past experience does not make us hopeful that this "window dressing" initiative will translate to real change.

On March 23, 1998, two reports were released on soil and air sampling at K-25 that confirmed suspicions that K-25 is an unhealthy place to work. Beryllium found in soil was over the EPA

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News Release (continued)

Region 4 Action Limit around office buildings. Ventilation systems were not found properly maintained with large areas of mold around intake fans. Interestingly, improvements were initiated the next day on the DOE portions of the buildings. Vaults, which are routinely entered without protective equipment, were found to have dangerous levels of mold and spores. This begs the question of what the problems are in the buildings known to have contamination but where workers are residing and working without warnings or protective equipment.

Our demands are as follows:

- Vice President Gore and Secretary of Energy Pena should come to Oak Ridge to meet with whistleblowers without managers being present (meetings have been requested with Pena on several occasions with no reply);

- All harassment, retaliation, reprisals, and firing of health and safety-conscious employees must STOP IMMEDIATELY.

- Those who have been harmed by the "frigid atmosphere" for safety should be given appropriate treatment and compensation IMMEDIATELY.

- DOE must institute real H&S procedures for companies leasing facilities at K-25.

Among the concerns raised by H&S advocates are the following facts: Employees are working in hazardous areas without being told that the areas are hazardous and without being provided appropriate and required protective equipment. Employees have filed Medical Incident Reports on heavy metal poisoning and DOE and Lockheed Martin have not followed up with Workers' Compensation. Employees are filing Employee Concern forms only to have them passed from desk to desk until they arrive back in the employee's workgroup with no actions taken. Employees are filing safety inspection reports only to have them thrown in the trash. Employees have reported safety violations. Employees who are dedicated to a safety-conscious work

environment are being harassed. Employees are being fired for raising health, safety, environment, and security concerns.

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