Times NEWS FOR ANID ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES INSIDE: •SCAC •CRTs VOLUME 4 NUMBER 10 OCTOBER 1987 CFC Redux The Administrator has agreed to serve as Chairman of the 1987-1988 Combined Federal Campaign for EPA and has designated C. Morgan Kinghorn, Acting Assistant Administrator for Administration and Resources Management, as his Vice Chairman. Their plans for this fall's campaign will include special efforts to encourage the support of all EPA employees such as: • Organizing key workers and training them effectively. • Conducting a high visibility promotion of the new campaign theme, "Remember, Someone Out There Needs Someone Like You". • Ensuring that every employee is given the opportunity to view the campaign film and contribute. • Encouraging generous contributions through payroll deduction. Thomas said he accepts this assignment with alacrity and hopes this year's campaign sets a high example of stewardship for the multitudes in need. Security Lee Thomas recently responded to a Congressional interrogatory on GAO's Employee Security Report, observing that the safety of EPA employees has always been a paramount concern, especially since the demise of colleague Linda Billings in late 1985. The Agency has worked closely with GSA to upgrade the security of Headquarters facilities. Since the issuance of GAO's final report, EPA has enhanced security by publishing five security awareness bulletins, implementing more responsive security operating procedures, posting additional guards inside our three Headquarters buildings and tightening peripheral security at Waterside Mall. Further, EPA has supported Congressional efforts to have GSA establish minimum security standards for government-occupied buildings and believes that these standards will allow agencies to do a much better job of protecting employees. They, in turn, must help themselves by taking common-sense precautions and reading their security awareness bulletins. Cardio-Exercise: The Smoking Gun Federal officials now say that the link between heart disease and physical inactivity may be as strong as the links to smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, heredity and high serum LDLs. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control undertook a two-year analysis of all studies in English, and after eliminating the unreliable ones, found that the least active people were almost twice as likely to have heart disease as those who were most active. Nearly 60% of Americans get no regular exercise and 80 to 90% fail to pursue adequate aerobic exercise, the best way to keep that old ticker healthy. In contrast, 18% smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, 10% exhibit systolic blood pressures above 150, 10% have combined blood cholesterol levels over 268, and 30% are overweight for their height and somatype. You've Got The Right Idea! The EPA Clerical Suggestion Program, sponsored by the Support Careers Advisory Committee (SCAC) and financed by the Productivity Improvement Investment Fund, invites all clerks and secretaries to submit suggestions to cut costs and improve services. This approach has proven highly successful in the private sector. "Our clerical employees can help us cut costs and increase the productivity of all EPA employees," noted Jim Barnes, Deputy Administrator. "They have hands-on knowledge of agency systems in supply management, telephones, mail handling, office automation and administrative procedures, and their suggestions can result in significant cost reductions and higher productivity." The top 10 implemented suggestions will bring cash awards of $1,000 each. The winners will be appointed to the "Ten Club" and serve as panel reviewers for future programs. Get an application form and send your ideas to Personnel Management Division (PM-212), EPA/HQ, Washington, D.C. 20460 not later than February 1, 1988. EPA Smokers Take Notice Those who are still covertly smoking despite the new rules may be interested to know that according to a federal study published in the CDC September 11 weekly report, their habit is increasingly unpopular in the United States and coming under broad censure. The study found that as of late last year only 26.5 percent of American adults were cigarette smokers—down from 30.4 percent in 1985, and the lowest recorded in this country since the days of the spittoon. EPA's non-smokers fervently hope to see the percentages approach zero over the next decade, for the benefit of all of us. ------- Eyeballing CRTs Video terminal operators may think they are going blind when actually they just need to blink more often, says an ophthalmologist writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Frank Weinstock claims that VDT users "have a tendency to stare. They cut their blinking rates to avoid missing anything on the screen." This, and not the screen itself, is what causes eye fatigue. So, he advises, "just keep on blinkin' to lubricate the eyes and you'll be much less tired at the end of the day." Many VDT operators report that glare filters diminish eyestrain by eliminating reflections from white shirts or blouses. Such filters are especially advised for the ocular stress caused by numbers and spreadsheets. Another tip is to obey the 20-20-20 rule. Keep your eyes about 20 inches from the screen and take a break of 20 seconds every 20 minutes. Focus on a distant, immobile object—like your boss—to maximize the relief. Then there's the Karl Marx effect, produced by long hours of staring at green letters on a dark background—a common setting for many monochrome monitors. When the operator turns to glance at white letters on a dark field, such as glyphs on a typewriter keyboard, the white letters appear pink. This phenomenon is quite innocuous and should not persist for more than a few moments or hours at the most. SCAC's New Chair In a ceremony on September 16, 1987, Bill Henderson, Director of EPA's Office of Human Resources Management, appointed Ann Johnson as the new Chairperson for the Support Careers Advisory Committee (SCAC). Jim Barnes presented certificates of appreciation to members for their contributions over the past two years and Mary McCaffery, outgoing chairperson, was presented with a plaque in recognition of her dynamic leadership. Johnson is well known to many at EPA and brings to the Committee a wealth of knowledge and experience in development and training of secretarial and clerical employees. She headed up the SCAC Awards and Incentives Subcommittee and served as Special Assistant to Mary McCaffery. To promote growth on the job, Johnson urges all to adopt the motto "Excellence is not just a goal, it's a lifestyle." SCAC was established in May 1985 by Administrator Lee Thomas to find ways to utilize the full range of clerical and secretarial talents, and has done a superb job in advising management on how to recruit, train and motivate first-rate support staff. Computer Breaks Sound Barrier by Andrew H. Lowe Note: The writer is a hearing-impaired computer programmer for the Office of Air and Radiation at EPA headquarters Many deaf people are under-employed or fail to find any job at all because it is difficult for them to communicate with their peers. Management cannot be expected to hire a sign-interpreter. That's either too expensive or time-consuming, but there is more than one way to skin a cat. Here in the Office of Mobile Sources people find many ways to communicate with me, the only hearing-impaired employee in the whole division. When working alone, for example, I can be reached through my IBM PC. When people upstairs need to talk to me, they use their PC or terminal and communications software to dial my phone number. My modem will answer automatically and capture the call. A phone ring flasher, a little over $10 at Radio Shack, informs me of the call. I answer the phone by typing on the keyboard: "Hello, Andy here—GA (go ahead)." The conversation then continues smoothly on the PC monitor. The caller leaves a messa^H on my screen if I don't respond. A software open log file can record messages of virtually unlimited length. The MicroVAX II computer I work with every day also has a phone capability. When it is invoked, the video terminal's screen splits into two windows, each of which can accommodate two people simultaneously. If the deaf employee has a PC at home, as many like me now do, the EPA-DialCom-Email should work fine. Management only needs to establish an address for the employee, so he/she can call in or receive messages. I also intend to start wearing a radio pager similar to a beeper, but which vibrates instead when activated. No matter where I am at work, I can be targeted by phone. When the pager vibrates, a quick glance at the code appearing on its liquid crystal display (LCD) will tell me what to do. Planned uses include urgent conferences and building evacuatioj due to fire or terrorist attack. Intensive research and development is underway on synthetic voice and voice recognition. A DEC Rainbow PC now can read documents from its word processor, according to my hearing companions. IBM also has a Voice Augmented Card for the PCs that can translate the human voice from an analog microphone into text on a monitor screen and input to a word processor. When these two functions become commonplace, hearing impairment will be a much smaller obstacle in the world of work. A deaf employee will then be able to speak through the computer keyboard, while his co-worker will use standard speech and let the computer "lip-read" his voice and transform it into characters on the monitor screen. Costs are still high, of course, and a few technical bugs must be worked out, but I see a new day ahead for the hearing-impaired. Addendum: In our August issue, for reasons of space, we had to omit credili™ R-5's David Segal as the source of the first-rate text on the cost of office automation. Our apologiesfed.) ------- Crisis in the Ranks ¦rig a "quiet crisis" in the quality, efficiency and ership of the civil service, erstwhile Federal Reserve rd chairman Paul A. Volcker has launched a National Commission on the Public Service to build respect for careers in government. The group will seek the ear of presidential candidates and try to get its objectives included in the platforms of both major political parties. "Our effort is entirely independent of the question of the size of government," Volcker declared. "It is still spending 23 percent of GNP, so it must be run efficiently. There should be no controversy about whether federal inspection of planes is done properly, whether those who oversee atomic energy are competent to prevent meltdowns, or whether those who predict hurricanes know their meteorology" he said. Contributing to the crisis, Volcker claimed, are: • Unprecedented and counter-productive "government bashing". ® Temporary political appointments much deeper into the bureaucracy. • Deliberate exclusion of career personnel from policy discussions. • Inadequate executive training and sabbaticals. • A growing disparity between federal compensation, especially in the senior ranks, and pay in the private ^¦^or. ^^Be low priority given by young people to, and their ^OTtempt for, government service. Volcker declined to speculate on what pay levels the commission will recommend, but he believes that to attract and retain the best people, government salaries must become comparable with industry's. The Commission is one of a growing number of organizations worried about civil service management, morale and remuneration. Public service has declined markedly as a career vis-a-vis global competitors like Japan, which emphasizes a healthy partnership of public and private initiatives. Volcker said he wants to work with other groups to turn things around and restore the prestige of the civil service as an honorable pursuit. Advances in Performance Management Lee Thomas has told managers and supervisors that they can take pride in their accomplishments regarding the performance appraisal and standards-setting process over this past year. Hindsight, he said, can also help identify areas where EPA could have accomplished even more with a different approach. Extraordinary efforts come from motivated people, and motivation depends on how people feel about themselves and what they do. Thomas urged managers to use the appraisal process to show people who have worked hard how much they • eciate their efforts, and to recognize the special |mplishments of those whose labors have resulted in ificant leaps forward. The entire process can be used to help employees focus their energies and set high performance goals. This year Thomas is placing special emphasis on standards because many Performance Standards Review Boards report that performance goals and measures are vague and undemanding. He admitted that "it is sometimes awkward to tell people who are driving hard that they need to do more or do it better. But that is the challenge we all accepted when we came to work for an Agency charged with the vital task of protecting the country's environment. And we are making a difference," Thomas claimed. One essential tool in maintaining recent progress is to continue to upgrade performance management, and it's up to managers to make that happen. Thomas Lauds SAB Thomas has thanked the Science Advisory Board (SAB) Integrated Environmental Management Subcommittee for its thorough review of the Integrated Environmental Management Program (IEMP) and its constructive recommendations for program improvements. The IEMP is an important element in the Agency's continuing efforts to improve its ability to assess environmental risks and find effective strategies for controlling them. SAB guidance in this review offers both encouragement for continued application of IEMP concepts and methods in local settings, and thoughtful suggestions for technical and procedural changes. The review of the IEMP has been a year-long process of exchanging information and views between the Subcommittee and Agency staff. Over that period, EPA staff in touch with the program have enjoyed valuable opportunities to observe the science review process and to hear the concerns of the science community. In turn, staff provided information on program goals, constraints and needs to the scientific community. Indeed, EPA staff have been able to anticipate many of the recommendations in the review and have begun to act on them within the practical limits of both new and ongoing IEMP projects. The Subcommittee's recommendations and staff actions taken to date: ©The IEMP needs to adopt clearly articulated, measurable objectives. Staff working on the recently-initiated Denver IEMP project have aggressively sought out members of the scientific community (including a member of the Subcommittee) to assist in the development of measurable objectives for the project. • The program should more clearly document the scientific assumptions it uses and communicate the limits and uncertainties of its various studies. Staff working on the Baltimore IEMP project, scheduled for completion this fall, have sought out experts from Johns Hopkins University to assist in documenting and communicating the scientific assumptions, limits and uncertainties associated with the project's air-toxics monitoring study. ® The IEMP should identify the range of scientific disciplines needed to maintain competence for the variety of scientific issues addressed in the program. The Denver staff have established a Science Review Panel, comprised of specialists in the field of environmental science, for the Continued to next page ------- SCIENTIFIC/TECHNICAL CERTIFICATION AND LICENSING SURVEY Location: Organization: Mail Code: Phone Number: Are you currently certified or do you have a current license from a scientific or technical society, association, institute or board? YES ~ NO ~ If yes, list group(s). Are you interested in becoming certified or licensed? YES ~ NO ~ If so, by whom? ; Would you be willing to advise others attempting to become certified or licensed? YES ~ NO ~ Please list any materials (study guides, work books, biblographies, etc J you believe would be useful in obtaining certification or a scientific or technical license PLEASE RETURN QUESTIONNAIRE TO TONY TESORIERO, EPA HEADQUARTERS, MAIL CODE EN-340f, WITHIN 15 DAYS OR AT YOUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE, OR CALL HIM ON 8-382-2490 FOR INFORMATION. ------- CERTIFICATION AND LICENSING The Scientific and Technical Careers Advisory Committee (S/TCAC), in conjunction with the Office of Human Resources Management, has recommended to the Administrator that the Agency develop a program to promote the certification and licensing of the Agency's scientists and engineers within their disciplines. Not only will the Agency benefit, but professionals will enjoy a higher level of credibility among their academic and industrial colleagues. You are invited to fill out the questionnaire on the reverse. If sufficient interest is demonstrated the committee will try to develop refresher courses in specific disciplines, organized at convenient times and locations, to assist applicants in preparing for examinations. Speakers from professional organizations will be invited to explain the requirements and benefits of certification and licensing. Workbooks and study guides will be available in EPA libraries for those preparing for examinations. A roster of EPA staff members who have become certified or licensed will be established to advise future applicants, and a display board will be established listing the names of certified and licensed employees. The S/TCAC is an EPA committee comprised of representatives of the technical disciplines determined to improve the work environment of the scientific and technical community, and to advance the high level of expertise essential to the fulfillment of the Agency's mission. ------- purpose of identifying the expertise needed to ensure high-quality development and review of study methods and findings. • The IEMP should more aggressively seek technical input from experts in the environmental and scientific community. Staff working on the Baltimore and Denver IEMP projects have established partnerships with experts from the Office of Research and Development to enhance the air-toxics monitoring studies underway there. The IEMP staff have continued to pursue and perfect their method of assessing health effects from non-oncogenic agents and believe the time has come to consider it with other approaches in an Agencywide forum. They have sponsored an Agency work group with the mission of reviewing current approaches and developing better ones for non-cancer risk assessment. The work group will submit its work for formal science review. The IEMP will continue to look for opportunities to implement the Subcommittee's recommendations and to seek the advice of the science community in the conduct of IEMP projects. The Subcommittee's review will be a benison for the IEMP and has already provided the scientific community insight into the practical problems attending IEMP projects. The support and assistance of the science community will make this program a practical success. New Thrust in Community Relations On August 11, the Administrator approved a "Plan for Agencywide Community Relations" to promote more public involvement in program office decision-making. It outlines a procedure for the early identification of major issues with community-relations implications, and stresses the need to give both regional and headquarters program managers time to plan and carry out effective community-relations activities. The plan was developed by the Office of Community and Inter-governmental Relations in the Office of External Affairs. It builds on the Consultation/ Negotiation/Consensus-building protocol developed at the Baltimore EPA Senior Managers' Forum and the upgraded communications strategy-development process, issued as an EPA Order last July. It recognizes that the activities and policies of EPA have significant impacts on communities and, therefore, the Agency has a responsibility to make greater efforts to educate citizens and solicit their participation where possible. In announcing the program to Assistant and Regional Administrators, Lee Thomas emphasized that "the success of certain environmental protection programs will be measured by how well they are accepted and carried out in communities across the country. For this reason, it is crucial that we make all reasonable efforts to inform citizens about environmental issues uniquely facing their communities and to involve them in our decision-making chain". Each Assistant and Regional Administrator has designated a Community Relations Coordinator to be responsible for reviewing program activities to dotormino where an intensified community relations thrust is needed. In addition, the Assistant Administrators for Air and Radiation, Pesticides and Toxics, Water, and Solid Waste and Emergency Response each have been asked to identify and undertake community relations "pilot projects" in cooperation with a regional office to demonstrate the benefits and requirements of community-relations planning. To institutionalize community relations in the Agency's planning and operating functions, program managers are to incorporate community relations into annual operating guidance, budget planning, awards programs, workload modeling for management systems reviews and performance standards. The Office of External Affairs has briefed all Assistant and Regional Administrators and their senior staffs on the plan and efforts are underway to proceed with the pilot projects. A roster of community relations coordinators will be published in the November Management Notes. Ventilation Update At the August meeting of the Facilities Management and Services Division, Mark Antell of the Ventilation Committee noted four problems: the damper for the second floor of the SW Mall is sometimes closed, concerns about short-circuited air flow in the second floor SW Mall have not been addressed since first reported in May, the damper for the second floor of the SE Mall is not always open far enough and one of the West Tower dampers was partially closed. Facilities promised to address these problems and do a follow-up inspection. The Occupational Health and Safety Staff (OHSS) monitored carbon dioxide (C02) during August using a™ new test protocol and found that levels were generally 25 percent lower. Levels in the Mall were 400-800 ppm (over 600 ppm indicates a potential indoor-air-quality problem). In the Crystal City building, C02 was higher than 1000 ppm, exceeding the proposed limit. Facilities has been negotiating with GSA and the building manager and now plans to modify ductwork to improve air distribution. OHSS sent a letter on September 29 to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, asking it to conduct a health survey at Waterside Mall and Crystal City. The ventilation system repair/balancing project continues. The East Tower has been repaired and is now being balanced; facilities is making repairs in the West Tower; the Mall area is essentially finished. Facilities has announced it will spend $1,000 to improve air flow in smoky restrooms. It is also putting in two more air conditioning units on the third floor of the Mall. Town Center Management will install a dehumidifier in the NE basement, and Facilities will continue to work on the temperature problem in the NE Mall, checking to see if there is a problem in locating the air intake for the NE Mall adjacent to an emergency generator and a trash dumpster. The origin of diesel-fuel odors reported in peripheral offices in the East Tower is being checked out. Facilities is trying to get integrated pest management^ programs started in the Crystal City and Fairchild buildings; eliminating toxic sprays is an essential aspeiJi an indoor-air-quality program. ------- |