From Federal Times:
Elevated levels of Legionella bacteria were recently detected in water fixtures during routine testing at the Social Security Administration’s headquarters building in Woodlawn, Maryland, officials said.
A spokesperson for Social Security said in a statement to Federal Times on Tuesday that after a broad sweep of water fixtures, some came back with elevated levels, which is not unusual given testing experts have told the General Services Administration that roughly half of the water samples they take come back positive.
Upon retesting, only “a small subset” of water sources in the main campus building indicated elevated levels, according to the official. Impacted fixtures have been removed, and the spokesman said employees have been notified. Officials also said they’ve flushed the system, which helps disrupt any film that have developed over water sources and stops the growth of any naturally present Legionella. …
6 comments:
When it rains it pours.
CMS had a similar issue, and they were sent home to telework for 10 weeks. I guess building sitting nearly vacant for 4 years have issues opening back up.
SSA HQ should be moved to 100% telework as a precaution, as CMS was. If someone gets sick it will be too late.
I often wonder what a life is worth to those who make these decisions. This can be fatal to people, especially the immunocompromised. Why not err on the side of caution and close the building until the situation can be remediated?
Just another way the agency and top executives are demonstrating complete and utter lack of care, concern, or consideration for employees’ health, safety, and welfare.
Well, this is what you get with a Commissioner responsible for Baltimore's Zero Tolerance policy, the precursor to the 2016 riots.
Their 'town hall' to discuss the contamination was a sham. The commissioner's office is completely MIA on this. This leadership is completely unfit to protect us. They gave telework for an entire week of July 4th for 'employee appreciation', but I guess that doesn't apply to real health matters. I wish they would appreciate our health and safety as well.
Are they also testing for E. Coli? Whenever I drink coffee from the office Kuerig, I have watery diarrhea for a few days. I brought in a couple of gallons of distilled water to do a test, but no one else was willing to continue the experiment.
Post a Comment