Mercury contaminates workers at Kirkwood Hall

IU officials have instituted some new safety policies after two IU plumbers were exposed to mercury this summer, while some in the worker's union are claiming that more precautions could have been taken. \nIU's Office of Environmental Health and Safety responded to an incident July 19, when two plumbers spotted beads of mercury rolling out of a pipe they removed in an empty Kirkwood Hall classroom. Both men were sent to PromptCare East for treatment as the OEHS sent workers to remove what remained of the highly toxic substance, according to reports issued by the OEHS. \nMike Jenson, associate director of the OEHS, said plumbers usually take precautions when renovating pipes in the science buildings. But in this case, the men did not expect hazardous chemicals to be trapped in the pipes of Kirkwood Hall, which has been used solely for classrooms and administration for at least 40 years.\nKirkwood Hall housed bacteriology labs in the 1950s.\nOEHS is now advising IU plumbers to extend their precautions to include any "older" buildings, or those that are part of "Old Campus," and to notify OEHS first if any work is to be done so that they can assess the hazards and prescribe whatever equipment and protective gear might be needed, Jenson said. \nIn the days following the incident, the Environmental Management Group of OEHS removed mercury from the building and tested levels throughout. They found mercury levels to be below the hazardous limit set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to a report filed by Dan Derheimer of OEHS. According to the report, mercury readings were brought down to zero.\nLarry Stevens, director of the Office of Risk Management, said only one of the plumbers had high enough levels of mercury to warrant Chelation therapy -- a treatment that allows mercury to pass through the body.\nBoth men are back at work, although the one with the highest exposure is still showing symptoms, said Dallas Murphy, president of IU's service workers' union. \n"He's still got the shakes," Murphy said, "It's attacking his nervous system." \nMurphy said OEHS has not done enough to inform workers of unexpected hazards. \n"Unless OEHS tells them what's in the building, they don't even know what sort of protection they need," Murphy said \nMurphy has worked at IU for 25 years, and said he never knew Kirkwood was used for anything other than administration and classrooms. \n"Those of us who've been around here for a while didn't realize that 40 years ago, they had labs (in Kirkwood Hall)," Murphy said, adding that scientists in the past did not take the precautions we use today, making many other hidden hazards a possibility. \nJenson agreed the history of each building on campus is not common knowledge. \n"We're not really sure when Kirkwood was used for science," Jenson said. "We're told it was at least 40 years. Once you get beyond 40 years, the institutional memory is not very reliable." \nStill, Murphy said OEHS should have shown more accountability in this case. \n"I just think it's kind of irresponsible the way these things get handled," Murphy said. "We were told we were overreacting. In some states, somebody would be in jail over this"