WTHI, ActionNews10, Terre Haute, is reporting today that:
An attempt to get the lead out of a southern Indiana courthouse winds up closing down some offices. Parts of the Greene County Courthouse shut down over worries about lead contamination. The $10,000,000 courthouse construction project in Bloomfield has been full of problems since it started.[Update 5/18/04] The Linton Daily Citizen reports today that "work continues on courthouse." Some quotes:Action 10 News discovered more worries about the work there led some employees to get out of the building. The Greene County Courthouse construction project had been stalled for more than a year, but earlier this month work resumed. When a crew came in to start taking out some lead contaminated areas, however, employees became worried. Even though crews closed off the area, workers behind the curtain were wearing masks and suits, but not all the dust was staying inside.
"It concerned me enough, I notified the court employees if they felt unsafe or insecure we should go home, and they chose to go home," said Greene Superior Court Judge Pro-tem Joe Sullivan.
Workers from LEPI Enterprises were back to work at the Greene County Courthouse this morning after some controversy about the lead abatement work they were doing Friday. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management Services were called when concerns were raised about a sign cautioning about lead.Posted by Marcia Oddi at May 15, 2004 03:07 PMJohn L. Clevenger of IDEM met with Jim Corey, project manager for the courthouse renovation project, and representatives from Weddle Brothers and LEPI Enterprises on Friday after his inspection. "He gave me a verification of inspection. No violations were discovered with respect to the particular items observed during the inspection. We are just fine," said Corey.
Clevenger noted he was inspecting for asbestos and not lead. "The lead rules don't apply because the courthouse is not target housing or child occupied," explained Clevenger. As for the asbestos concerns, Clevenger was pleased to know that LEPI Enterprises is an Indiana licensed asbestos abatement contractor. * * *
The amount of dust generated by the work was an area that Clevenger did make a suggestion to the contractors. "Out of a courtesy to the courthouse employees they need to seal up the area better," said Clevenger. Corey said the inspection confirmed that the work being done was "well within the IDEM's specifications."