|
Contact: Cindy Parmenter
Director of Communications
(303) 692-2013
(303) 891-8382 - Pager
For Immediate Release Friday, December 10, 2004
HEALTH WORKERS HONORED FOR REMOVAL OF DANGEROUS
CHEMICALS
DENVER – Three employees of the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment’s Hazardous Materials and Waste Management
Division and a Denver attorney have been honored by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency for their work in removing hazardous chemicals from Colorado
schools and in training first responders to deal with such problems.
Honored were Ken Niswonger, a senior chemist; Chris
Erzinger, a compliance assistance staff member; and Fred Dowsett, their
supervisor and the head of the Compliance Assistance and Technical Support
Program in the department’s Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division.
Also honored was Tim Gablehouse, a Denver attorney and
long-time chair of the Colorado Emergency Planning Committee. Gablehouse was
recognized for promoting and supporting the project and keeping local emergency
planning committees committed to the effort. The awards were presented at a
recent meeting of the Colorado Board of Health.
Niswonger, Erzinger and Dowsett were recognized for their
“chemical accident prevention activities, local coordination and preparedness”
work over the past five years to remove old, deteriorated and unsafe chemicals
from school and college storerooms used by chemistry classes throughout
Colorado.
This cooperative effort has involved Colorado school
districts; fire departments; the Colorado State Patrol; law enforcement
agencies; local health departments; and county public health nursing services.
Niswonger said the dangerous chemicals have been found
across Colorado in locations ranging from elementary schools to colleges.
Niswonger has been the one, in high-level protective gear and respirator, who
usually removed the chemicals and handled, advised and oversaw the destruction
of the least stable materials. The unstable, dangerous chemicals have often been
destroyed by detonation with the assistance of various public safety personnel
and bomb squads, depending on the locations.
Niswonger explained, “We have inspected more than 250
Colorado schools by invitation of the school or the fire marshal, about 10
percent of which had really serious problems. Close to 40 percent had less
serious problems, but needed to institute some chemical materials management
practices. The problems are frequently discovered by a new science teacher
walking into the school storeroom for the first time.”
Douglas H. Benevento, the Department of Public Health and
Environment’s executive director, said, “One of the most important aspects of
the work that this team has performed has been in providing training on the safe
storage of chemicals to the state’s chemistry teachers. They have provided free
workshops to some 400 teachers at all levels, often on weekends, on how to
manage their own chemicals properly. Police officers, firemen, and hazardous
materials technicians also have participated in the training.”
Erzinger and Niswonger also have instructed classes for all
students graduating from the University of Northern Colorado and planning to
become science teachers.
Dowsett was acknowledged for proposing and supporting the
efforts when it was clear that there was no other government agency willing to
take on the task.
Howard Roitman, the Department of Public Health and
Environment’s director of environmental programs, said, “All three men knew
there was an important job to be done to protect the students in our schools.
They did whatever was necessary to make that happen, in addition to their
regularly scheduled work.”
The employees were nominated for the award by Barbara Benoy,
a staff member for the Emergency Response Branch of the Superfund Program at
EPA’s regional office in Denver.
Top of Page
|
