Pipe Explosion: Unsung Staffers Had Key Roles; Checked Debris For Asbestos, Helped Reroute Traffic

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

There were hundreds of them, and their role was as quiet as it was crucial.

JAMES HUNTLEY: Need more training.

They collected the debris after a steam pipe shot mud and road into the rush hour air in midtown last week. They shuttled workers and officials in and out of the disaster zone, and they shunted the public away from it. Some of them were called in to examine samples from the site at 4 a.m., while others never went to sleep. And not all of them wore the protective equipment required by law when asbestos contamination was suspected.

'Invisible Work Force'

"The civilian workers," said Lee Clarke, District Council 37's head of safety and health. "We refer to them as the invisible work force."

When the city was alerted that a steam pipe had burst underground on East 41st St., scores of workers were mobilized to cope with the calamity. A team of Industrial Hygienists and Chemists from the Department of Environmental Protection hazardous materials division was deployed to collect samples of the debris. The 22-person unit worked continuous revolving shifts beginning at 6 p.m. on July 18.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES: Police Officers deployed around the perimeter of last week's steam-pipe explosion were ordered to wear respirators, even though air tests indicated no exposed asbestos. Some of the other workers in the area wore paper masks or nothing at all.

The samples were transported to the city's lab in LeFrak City in Queens, where four asbestos experts poured over the samples for signs of the hazardous material.

Out of the 56 samples they tested last week, 14 were positive, and 12 of those had only trace amounts.

Initially DEP workers began sampling the air quality, but a private contractor was quickly called in. The firm's employees took 12 air samples and examined the results in its own lab. The company determined that none of the samples was positive for asbestos.

'It's What They Breathe'

DEP officials did not return calls seeking an explanation for why the private firm was used, but several workers had the same explanation for the city's move.

"For the public," said Richard Stadnycki, who works in DEP's Bureau of Environmental Compliance, "given what's happened with [former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd] Whitman, it's more palpable to have it be private." Mr. Stadnycki, along with other workers who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal by their employer, was referring to Ms. Whitman's claims - later discredited - that government tests showed the air at the site of the World Trade Center was safe to breathe less than a week after 9/11.

Traffic Enforcement Agents were also deployed throughout the week to handle the tangle of cars as commuters snaked around the frozen midtown zone. But some of the TEA commands were not issued any respirators or protective gear, even though they were stationed within blocks of the explosion.

"While air quality issues are important, it is ultimately what gets into the breathing zone of workers that is what is of concern," said Joel Shufro, the executive director of the New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health. "Debris, or material that may not have been airborne previously may become airborne."

'Insufficient Training'

James Huntley, the president of Local 1182 of the Communication Workers of America, which represents the TEAs, said his members' training has been minimal. After 9/11 he said the city gave some of his 2,500 members respirators, but did not provide enough for everyone.

"If there's a catastrophe in New York, we respond to the emergency," he said. "We should have the proper training and equipment to be able to deal with the situation."

Workers say that the rain, along with hosing down by firefighters, was helpful in keeping much of the dust rooted. But the day following the explosion, a strong breeze still lifted enough dust into the air to make it pungent. Standing next to the Police Officers, who only removed their masks to answer questions from the public, were several transit workers with no protection.

"I have a mask," said one of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority service diversion workers, "but I smoke already, so what's going to kill me?"

'If You Like to Breathe'

Another 13-year veteran who also had worked at Ground Zero, and had his mask dangling around his neck, said his beard blocked the respirator from sealing properly. When asked if he thought people should be wearing them, he responded, "Only if you like to breathe."

A manager from the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, who said he could not give his name because he had been instructed not to speak to the media, said that masks were made available to all workers in the area, but that it was up to each agency whether to mandate its workers to wear them. "Because of 9/11," he said, "the NYPD made the decision to have all cops wear them."

The MTA did not respond to requests for comment about its safety policy.

Mr. Shufro said that the law required that workers deployed into potentially hazardous conditions undergo training. "What we learned in 9/11 is that a large numbers of workers who we do not consider to be emergency response workers are called upon in an emergency," he said. "If you just hand out respirators and tell people to wear them, you're not in compliance with the law." He added that workers needed to be fitted for the respirators, so that facial hair did not block the seal, and that they needed to be advised of the health hazards of not wearing them. The masks require more effort to breathe and are not necessarily comfortable, especially for people with respiratory problems.

Must Test Buildings

Mayor Bloomberg has ordered real estate owners in the vicinity of the explosion to perform asbestos inspections in and around their buildings. After a steam pipe explosion in 1989 in Gramercy Park, tests of material found in the hole were negative for asbestos. But after residents hired a lawyer, the city performed tests on nearby buildings and surfaces and found asbestos contamination, which led buildings to be evacuated for months.

Although protocol calls for HazMat workers to respond to steam pipe explosions, there is another team of about 10 city Asbestos Investigators whose expertise lies in inspecting, identifying and collecting potentially contaminated material. Those workers were not deployed, and will not perform the building inspections, in part because their small numbers would make the task a prolonged one. They will likely be asked to perform audits of the private inspectors' work.

Mr. Bloomberg said the city would do everything possible to protect residents' health while cleaning up the mess in midtown. "We'll do it as quickly as we can," he said at a press conference the day after the explosion, "but safety is our number one priority."

'Hope City Learned'

Union officials said they hoped that the city's practice would bear out that sentiment, and that they were pushing for improved transparency in the process.

"We certainly hope the city learned lessons from the Trade Center," said Ms. Clarke. "You may think it's a leap of a comparison, but we are again dealing with an event that released toxins and asbestos, and we are trying to make sure they are documenting which workers they are sending down there and what the real conditions are."