In the wake of alleged maintenance lapses at Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines, the agency is likely to face intense grilling by legislators at more than one upcoming Congressional hearing (see Aviation Safety & Security Digest, ‘As Hearing Looms, FAA Launches Investigation of Carriers’). The hearings are scheduled to focus on the FAA’s supervision of the airlines to ensure that practices assure the highest level of safety. But also in question is the FAA’s oversight of its own functions, notably air traffic control, and whether its air traffic facilities are being properly maintained to assure worker health and safety.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union of FAA air traffic employees, has complained bitterly about leaking roofs, moldy walls, and so forth at various radar control centers. It now appears that the FAA has problems assuring worker safety in the face of asbestos pollution on the grounds immediately outside of its radar centers. Asbestos, used in the past as building insulation, is a known carcinogen contributing to lung and other cancers.

When the FAA decided to knock down an old guard shack on the grounds of the Leesburg facility, no precautions – such as the wearing of respirators and protective clothing – were taken. Instead, managers called in a crew of mentally disabled people and put them to work at the site, which had been found in 1993 to contain asbestos.

The disabled persons normally maintain the grounds and are from Echo Inc. (Every Citizen Has Opportunities), a Leesburg, Va.-based charity that trains and provides jobs for mentally retarded and other disabled people. According to Echo Executive Director William Haney, the company has handled grounds keeping duties at the FAA facility for three decades.

Haney said when he heard about the asbestos incident, he asked the FAA for a written report on what role his workers had played but “never got anything.” Haney was told that the workers’ role in the demolition of a two-room guard shack was “incidental,” but, he said, “I just don’t know what went on.”

Richard Santa, who represents NATCA at the Leesburg facility, said FAA employees there determined that the mentally disabled workers were ordered to handle asbestos-laden material without any protective gear. Santa alleged that an FAA employee who reported the incident to managers at the center was told to mind his own business.

“Management said first that there was no problem, and then said it was handled properly,” Santa recalled.

Diane Spitaliere, an FAA spokeswoman, said the manager who ordered the grounds crew to handle the debris from the guard shack “is no longer in that position.” She declined to say where he is currently stationed.

She admitted that, “They used a grounds keeping crew from a disadvantaged group to clean up the debris.” The Department of Transportation Inspector General (DOT/IG), federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, and a grand jury are now investigating whether the decision to give part of he demolition clean-up job to people with severe disabilities was a deliberate attempt to circumvent procedures.

Shortly after the shack demolition in July 2007, a security guard at the facility told superiors that “mentally-challenged contract employees were disposing of asbestos containing material.”

“We didn’t follow our own procedures,” which require special permits and handling of material containing asbestos, Spitaliere said. She added that a required pre-demolition test for asbestos “was not done.” Further, the FAA was unable to trace where the debris ended up. Federal environmental regulations require that asbestos laden materials – floor tiles and insulation in this case – must be placed in labeled bags and sent to an approved landfill.

NATCA’s Santa said that especially because asbestos had been found in other structures at the facility, managers knew better than to charge ahead with demolition of the obsolescent guard shack.

“The idea that someone would say, ‘Have the handicapped people do it’ is very disturbing,” Santa said. “They just cut the grass and do the weeding.”

An unsigned FAA white paper on the incident, which the FAA refused to release but which was obtained by this publication from other sources, provides further grist and indicates grievous shortcomings in environmental oversight. Extracts from the white paper:

“Incident description.

“Sometime between July 10^th and 24^th, 2007, technical support (TSO) employees demolished the original guardhouse … The guardhouse was dilapidated and deteriorating ….

“[The] security guards raised a concern to the Safety & Environmental Compliance Manager (SECM) that the guardhouse was demolished and mentally-challenged contract employees (ECHO, landscaping contractor) were disposing of asbestos containing material ….

“Extent of problem.

“A. It appears that the demolition notification required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP (40 CFR 61.145) was not performed. Additionally, NESHAP requires that all hazardous materials are removed properly to any demolition. This was also not performed prior to demolition.

“B. An asbestos work permit was not completed per FAA policy.

“C. The FAA Pre-Construction and Maintenance Project Safety and Health Checklist (FAA Form 3900.57) was not completed per FAA policy.

“D. Prior to demolition, there was no determination of what materials were ACM [asbestos containing material] or were assumed ACM. If material is assumed, there should be additional samples collected prior to demolition to determine if asbestos is present.

“E. One FAA employee involved in the demolition and cleanup of debris may have been exposed to ACM. This employee has received asbestos awareness training in the past.

“F. It appears that the ACM was in a non-friable condition during the demolition activity. This would greatly reduce the potential of the asbestos becoming airborne and becoming an employee health hazard.

“G. ACM debris was improperly transported and disposed of. EPA requires hat ACM must be put in labeled bags and sent to an approved landfill.

“H. Currently, the FAA is not certain where the debris is located (e.g., is it with private employees, in landfill, etc.”

It appears the FAA can’t even tear down a small building without causing a scandal. The scandal, of course, is that FAA managers cut corners and took advantage of mentally challenged workers who are most in need of protection against abuse. We await the DOT/IG report on this incident, and what it may reveal about asbestos pollution at other FAA facilities.