JVEWS FOR AMD ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES
INSIDE:
• Human Resources Center
• Partners-ln-Education
VOLUME 6
NUMBER 2
FEBRUARY 1989
Reilly to Head EPA
William K. Reilly of the Conservation
Foundation and World Wildlife Fund,
nominated by President Bush to serve
as the next Administrator of EPA, has
been confirmed by the Senate and
awaits swearing in as we go to press.
Lee Thomas says .Reilly's record of
accomplishment, his willingness to
tackle controversial issues and his
ability to build consensus "make him
an outstanding choice for this
demanding job. I have had the
pleasure of working with Bill on such
successful efforts as the Wetlands
Forum that concluded this fall. His
other work on groundwater
protection, Superfund improvements
and rain-forest preservation has been
equally outstanding. He enjoys the
respect of environmentalists, industry,
governors and other leaders in our
continuing efforts to protect public-
health and the global environment."
We all look forward to Reilly's
arrival here as EPA enters its 19th
year.
CFG Goes Over
the Top
Continuing an 18-year pattern, EPA
again exceeded its Combined Federal
Campaign goal for 1988. Some 2,560
people gave $397,933, which is 105%
of target. About 55% of agency staff
gave—that's fewer than last year, but
each donor averaged more, so dollars
were up. Clarence Hardy, chairman of
the campaign, reported that EPA is a
"blue ribbon" winner as one of the
top agencies of 40 participating.
Notably, seven more of EPA's
organizational units exceeded their
1988 goals.
APAC
Launched
An EPA Asian and Pacific American
Community (APAC) has been formed
to promote the general welfare and
career advancement of its members in
OOON89001
conjunction with the Office of Civil
Rights. APAC has held its first general
ballot, electing Takeshi Toma as chair,
Aparna Koppikar as vice-chair, Henry
Lau as executive secretary and
Francisca Liem as treasurer.
APAC holds a monthly meeting on
the first Tuesday of each month, from
12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., notices of
which are routinely sent to the
membership and interested parties. A
Heritage Week is being planned at
Headquarters for May, 1989 to
promote awareness of the cultures of
the Agency's Asian and
Pacific-American employees. For
information, call Takeshi Toma,
557-1900 or Henry Lau, 382-2709.
Model HQ for '92
The Office of Administration has been
trying to improve indoor-air quality at
Waterside Mall by fine-tuning the
ventilation system and checking the
dampers to make sure they admit
sufficient air. Now, a recognized
expert on indoor-air quality in
commercial buildings, Hal Levin, has
been given responsibility for ensuring
maximum efficiency and fully
adequate heating, ventilation and air
conditioning systems in the new
headquarters facility planned for
1992. Call Nelson Hallman on
382-2030 if you have any proposals
that could help this vital planning
succeed.
Leave Samaritans
During FY 88, 5.579 hours of annual
leave were donated by 401 people for
53 of the 70 employees agency-wide
who requested sick leave assistance,
and both requests and donations are
still pouring in. Indeed, as of this
printing, more than 100 requests have
been registered altogether. Medical,
family or other emergencies may
qualify if you have exhausted your
sick leave and will be off at least 10
days. Note that only annual leave may
be donated, not sick leave. For
information call Marcia Brooks,
382-2678.
Health Survey
The agency's first questionnaire-based
health survey, approved by OMB last
fall, is now underway, so if you
haven't turned in your answer sheet
as yet please do so ASAP. A private
contractor is conducting the survey
and the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) will analyze the findings to
determine what pathologies may have
been triggered by conditions here at
headquarters. The air will be
monitored concurrently by ORD and
NIOSH; results should be available in
March.
Meanwhile, substantial indoor
air-quality progress has been made
over the past three years. Facilities
Management and Services Division
(FMSD) has developed an integrated
pest control plan for headquarters to
limit the use of toxic pesticides, and
(continued on next page]
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(Continued from front page)
has spent $250,000 to repair and
rebalance the existing ventilation
system. FMSD, EHSD and the
National Federation of Federal
Employees (NFFE) conduct monthly
inspections of the air-intake dampers,
and EHSD takes monthly carbon
dioxide readings. FMSD and EHSD
hold monthly meetings for employees
to discuss their concerns. NFFE has
negotiated a contract with the Agency
requiring a safe, healthy environment,
including a smoking policy.
Partners-ln-Education
Last October, EPA's
Partners-in-Education Task Force
entered into a formal arrangement
with DC's Bertie Backus Junior High
School (see August Times] that has
already attracted 120 highly motivated
Agency volunteers. Based on a series
of discussions with officials of that
school and the District of Columbia
system, EPA will sponsor several field
trips, science project support, role
modeling, a recycling campaign, a
youth leadership program conducted
by the EPA Toastmasters club, an
Environmental Day and a speakers
bureau providing weekly classroom
presentations.
The goals are to stimulate interest
in science and mathematics, introduce
students to environmental career
opportunities, and provide students,
faculty and the community with a
basic understanding of urban
environmental issues. The Agency
encourages your participation in this
project in whatever fashion you
choose, from administrative support
to on-site student guidance, lectures
and mentoring. For information on
PIE contact the liaison for your
AA-ship (see PIE posters), or call
Carolyn Scott (475-8833) or David
Grim (382-4588).
Clean Workspace
The Agency has acquired alternative
workspace to accommodate employees
experiencing contamination problems
in the Waterside complex. It's located
at 1001 3rd St., SW., next to the East
Tower. The Office of Human
Resources Management has issued
guidance to managers on how to
handle employee requests for
alternative workspace. Meanwhile, if
,you have any questions, contact
Marita Llaverias, OHRM, 382-3319.
Human Resources Center
Have you ever wondered where to go
with questions on health benefits, life
insurance, retirement, career
counseling, the thrift investment plan,
personnel forms, job vacancies,
training requests or where to get a
merit promotion announcement?
Well, that is what the new Human
Resources Service Center is all about
— a "one-stop" emporium to meet th<
needs of each employee. The staff xvil
either provide the information you
need to make an informed decision 01
refer you to an expert who can.
The Center opened last fall with a
ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring
Charlie Grizzle, AA for Resources
Management. We encourage you to
make use of this new service, located
in Room 3906 Waterside Mall
(475-9686).
Free Check-up
Mark Bradley, a board-certified
physician with more than 25 years'
experience in occupational medicine,
has joined the Health Unit and is
available every Wednesday from 1-3
P.M. Make an appointment to use this
service, free of charge to all EPA
employees, by calling 382-4347.
Medical information is strictly
confidential and cannot be released
without written permission from the
employee. General information such
as trends in symptomatology or
demographic data can be reported to
health experts, but no individual can
or will be identified.
Champion Blood Donor
Carol Buckingham of the Office of
Pesticides and Toxic Substances has
received an award from the National
Institutes of Health for donating vital
blood platelets every month during
the past year. She was honored during
a dinner at the Bethesda Armory. The
continued commitment of donors is
essential to basic research in
leukemia, aplastic anemia and many
other hematological disorders.
Congratulations to Buckingham for
her signal contribution to this worthy
program.
Grizzle opening Human Resources Center
Security:
Still an Enigma
Christmas demonstrated that crime
never takes a holiday here at
headquarters, and thieves are again
targeting government offices as handy
sources of revenue. So don't be a
sucker, make life hard for them. Here
are some tips which, sad to say, are
always timely.
• Don't leave valuables, money, credil
cards or checkbooks in, on or under
your desk.
• Don't assume the stranger in your
office is somebody's brother-in-law.
• Don't leave your office unlocked or
unattended during the workday.
• Make a list of your purloinables,
including brand name, model and
serial numbers and place purchased.
Keep all receipts for tax loss or
insurance purposes.
Know the phone numbers for the
Security Office during the day,
382-2010, and Guard Control at night
and on weekends, 382-5040. Report
any losses or any suspicious activity
at once. The Editor, himself robbed
recently, speaks from painful
experience.
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Sci-Tech Opportunity
In 1987, Congress established a
nationwide task force to develop a
long-range plan lor broadening
participation of women, minorities
and the handicapped in the sciences
and engineering. The task force,
comprising leaders from 15 federal
agencies, educational institutions and
the private sector, has issued an
interim report with recommended
action and has required agency chiefs
to describe progress toward
implementing these actions by
December 1989. A work group has
been appointed to determine how best
to implement task force
recommendations here at EPA.
Chaired by Clarice Gaylord of ORD,
the group includes Tom Clark (ORD),
Eileen Claussen (OAR), Tim Eields
(OSWER), Clarence Hardy (OHRM),
Ed Johnson (OIA), Harold Keeler
(ORD), Denise Link (ESD Reg. VIII),
Clarence Mahan (ORD), Harold Podall
(OTS) and Dave Ryan (OARM).
Drinking Water Survey
A joint task force of OA and ODW
staff has applied a test protocol
developed and field tested by ODW to
EPA Headquarters drinking water. All
fountains and representative taps in
every restroom in our Waterside Mall,
Eairchild and Crystal City facilities
were examined on a worst-case
basis—water samples were taken on
Sundays during a period of little or no
water use, so that lead would be
expected to accumulate.
The results? Some 91% of the water
outlets tested provided water with
less than 20 parts per billion (ppb) of
lead—the maximum recommended.
Six coolers that provided water with
elevated lead content were taken out
of service at once and replaced with
bottled water for the time being.
The Facilities Management and
Services Division staff is now running
each restroom tap with more than 20
ppb lead and all untested taps every
morning, thus ensuring that all
washroom faucets are thoroughly
cleared of any standing water which
could possibly contain more than 20
ppb. Most of the dubious sinks are in
newer areas ot the complex. None was
in the West or East Towers at
Waterside Mall. In any case, the
procedure will continue until taps
consistently provide less than 20 ppb.
This type of ''water ranger" program
has proven successful in several
Connecticut buildings.
In addition, remaining sinks will be
sampled to determine the lead content
of the water they provide. Follow-up
samples will track down the cause of
elevated lead levels and permit
permanent corrective action. Finally,
the agency will make sure that our
new building is constructed with
lead-free pipes and solder.
If you have questions, call Stephen
Buchanan, Environmental Health and
Safety Division, 382-3648.
No Nimby Here
The bad news is that America's
landfills are filling up, and finding
new locations is becoming impossible
due to the "Not In My Backyard"
(NIMBY) syndrome. The public is
concerned about health and
environmental hazards of incinerator
emissions and ash. The good nevys is
that the recycling bug is spreading
among the public and is entering a
new phase at EPA.
A collection program targeting
computer paper and white office
paper has been in motion here tor
several years. This year, a recycling
work group has recruited activist
members to encourage even greater
participation, and has procured new
recycling boxes, now available free to
all at the headquarters supply store.
They should make the process more
convenient, and all employees are
urged to use them, but not to
contaminate them with
non-recyclables. Headquarters will
also be investigating the purchase of
recycled papers and programs for
recycling aluminum, glass and other
tossables, and is sponsoring a
Recycling Awareness Week, a
slogan/logo contest and an analysis of
the headquarters waste stream. Some
offices have already set up their own
newspaper, glass and paper recycling
programs. Region I recycles all
computer paper and white office
paper. Massachusetts has a bottle bill,
so cans and bottles are returned to the
store for the deposit. "Earthworm", a
local group, picks up the Region's
paper. Region II in New York also has
a bottle bill and recycles computer
and other paper throughout the office.
Region III recycles aluminum cans,
newspapers, computer paper and
office paper. These materials are
picked up every two weeks by a local
non-profit group, Old City Recycling,
which plants trees in Philadelphia
with the proceeds. Regions IV, V and
VII actively recycle paper, and
aluminum cans are recycled in the
Water Office of Region V. Region VI
has just begun recycling aluminum
cans through the Employee
Association. Region VIII recycles
aluminum cans and newspapers along
with office paper, etc. through WISE
(Women in Science and Engineering).
Regions IX and X recycle white office
paper and computer paper, and
Region X's cans are "born again"
through a separate program.
Remember always to recycle the
EPA Times.
A Headquarters Profile
Catherine Milbourn joined EPA on
December 12, 1988, in the immediate
office of the Acting Assistant
Administrator for Water as a
community relations specialist
working in communication strategy.
Prior to joining EPA, Milbourn spent
ten years as a consultant to the
Department of Energy, the federal
emergency management team, EPA
and various state environmental
agencies where she coordinated
public affairs activities among state
governments, Indian tribes, utilities,
interest groups and the public.
Milbourn and her husband Gordon,
also an EPA staffer, are committed to
historic preservation. Through
letter-writing campaigns to
Congressmen, Boards of Supervisors,
preservation magazines and local
newspapers, they helped rescue
Manassas Battlefield from developers,
who proposed a giant shopping mall
on the site. Recycling is routine in the
Milbourn household. On a bi-monthly
basis, the couple take newspapers and
bottles to the West Ox recycling
center in Fairfax, and encourage
county residents to use one of three
recycling plants.
Cream or Sugar?
A survey of top federal women in
Government Executive Magazine has
revealed that:
• 26 percent say being a woman has
hurt, instead of helping, in getting
promotions.
(Continued on back page]
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• Nearly one-third of the executives
felt their personal lives are subject to
much closer surveillance than the
off-duty social and sexual habits of
their male counterparts.
• More than half sense resentment
when they assign male subordinates a
task.
• 63 percent say they've been
mistaken for secretaries at meetings
and automatically asked to serve
coffee, take notes or run errands.
• 65 percent believe their views are
not taken as seriously as men's.
• 21 percent said they have felt
sexually harassed, much fewer than
the 42 percent reported in a June
survey by the Merit Systems
Protection Board, whose data
included lower-level women said to
be more likely targets of colleagues or
bosses. Unwanted sexual teasing,
humor, remarks, questions and
innuendoes are the most frequently
reported incidents.
Although 48 percent of the federal
white-collar work force is female.
women held only 627, or 8.9 percent,
of 7,076 SES jobs. The median age of
women in the SES is 44 years (it's 50
for men), women have 15 years of
service compared with 22 years for
men, and about 23 percent of women
are political or noncareer appointees
versus 8.3 percent of men. Social or
personnel-oriented agencies (Labor
Department, Office of Personnel
Management, Departments of
Education and Health and Human
Services) have the highest percentage
of female executives. Agencies with a
military or scientific mission, such as
Army, Navy, NASA and the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, have the
smallest. One woman being
interviewed for a top U.S. job was
asked if her husband would let her
travel. Another said, "it only takes
one high-ranking man with an
anti-female bias to exert a chilling
effect on others' behavior in hiring,
counseling and promoting women."
Computer Stress
Encore
Using a computer can be a pain in the
neck, plus the back, the arms, the
wrists, the shoulders, the knees, the
eyes, etc. But it doesn't have to be
that way, according to recent research.
The jury is still out over the
long-term health risks of personal
computers, at least regarding low-level
electromagnetic radiation from the
monitor. It appears to be especially
prudent for pregnant women to limit
computer time and avoid the backside
of the monitor, the most likely source
of emissions. Moreover, poor working
conditions are common around
terminals: both private and public
sectors have installed computers
rather absent-mindedly, putting
terminals on desks or tables designed
for the age of typewriters, and
ignoring chair design, illumination
and break patterns.
Studies have shown that computer
operators stare at their screens
without blinking for much longer
periods than their typewriting
predecessors. Also, computer screens
reflect glare from windows, overhead
lights and even the user's own bright
clothing. It is not surprising, then, to
hear of eye-muscle strain and optical
symptoms like the Karl Marx
effect—the pink afterglow one
experiences upon looking away from a
green screen.
But that isn't all. To avoid glare,
operators cock their heads, squint and
turn slightly in their chairs. To reach
attached keyboards they lift their
arms, rotate their wrists inward and
lean forward. Hours pass without a
7th-inning stretch to obviate back
strain.
Here are some steps you can take to
miminize health risks:
• Arrange an eye exam every year.
• Follow the 20-20-20 rule. Keep your
face at least 20 inches from the screen
and pause every 20 minutes for 20
seconds to look around the room,
focusing on distant objects.
• Get a glare filter; it should polarize
light without blurring the characters.
Reorient the screen to avoid
reflections from windows or overhead
fluorescents.
• Order a stable, comfortable,
adjustable chair. Some prefer
ergonomic backless stools that put all
the weight on the knees. Few people
have access to adjustable tables, the
kind with a lowered front platform for
the keyboard, but adjusting chair
height can compensate.
• Above all, abandon the computer
from time to time; this will preserve
your sanity as well as your sacroiliac.
One Of US By David Wann
David Schaller, Region VIII's
innovative Superfund section chief
and once an OFA-Headquarters
staffer, is locally famous as a running
enthusiast. Not so well known is his
background as an amateur
anthropologist, solar energy pioneer
and Peace Corps volunteer in the
South Pacific.
Not long ago Schaller flew down to
Utirik Atoll in the Marshall Islands to
check out a newly-installed
photovoltaic power system first-hand.
Utirik, a 0.63 square-mile speck
boasting 410 inhabitants, lies some
2200 miles southwest of Hawaii at th
far end of the global oil
"pipeline"—an ideal spot to test
remote solar operations.
Schaller had the right stuff for this
follow-up study; he had been a
member of the federal team
investigating the solar potential
several years before. It struck him as
kind of reparations to try to bring safe
renewable energy to a community
heavily impacted by fall-out from the
hydrogen bomb tests of the 50s.
Schaller found the new solar unit ii
a clearing at the center of the island,
delivering a steady 18 kilowatts
underground to 45 households. He
also discovered, much to his surprise,
that night lighting had fomented a
social revolution. People stayed up
later, recalling ancient tribal tales,
playing games and working on their
unique crafts, which might become a
economic asset if overseas markets
could be exploited. Since the
islanders went to bed later and had
other things to occupy their time, the
fertility rate was trending downward,
thus easing pressure on local resourc
And that's not all. The local
electrician, formerly a landless man
without any particular prestige, was
now a leading figure in island society.
The old electrical system had been set
up so the matriarch's residence would
be the last one to lose its juice if the
voltage dropped. "But he must be a
socialist," Schaller speculated. "He
rewired the system so that when it
loses power, all the lights go off at the
same time. I guess that's democracy i
action."
Schaller enjoys his Superfund work
as much as his overseas expeditions.
"It's all part of the task of saving the
ecosystems that sustain all life on
earth". Right on.
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