Newsnet5.com has a couple of updates on concerns about possible excessive cancer rates in one of the buildings at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
NASA Defends Workplace Safety Amid Cancer Rate Claim
April 11
“NASA Glenn Director Woodrow Whitlow said the agency has no data that supports the union’s claim. He spoke at a news conference Friday on the third floor of the Development Engineering Building, which the union says is unsafe for workers.”
Alleged NASA Cancer Problem May Have Existed For Years
April 15
“The retirees are telling me — and these are even some management officials — that there were concerns way back to the 80’s and there were never any answers provided,” said Virginia Cantwell, president of IFPTE Local 28.
The Lewis Engineers and Scientists Association is asking for an investigation of what it calls high cancer rates among workers on one floor of a building at the NASA Glenn Research Center, according to The Plain Dealer.
The union says about 40 of 100 workers on the Developmental Engineering Building’s third floor have been diagnosed with cancer over the last three to four years. Officials are worried about mold, asbestos, a dirty air filter, and other problems at the 44-year-old building.
However, the Ohio Department of Health and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health say that cancer rates are within the normal ranges. The Plain Dealer reports that they based their findings on a survey of workers, but it also quotes a union official as saying some employees skipped the survey out of fear of being identified.
Glenn officials say that tests show safe working conditions in the building. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who represents the district, has instructed his staffers to question Glenn officials and examine relevant documents.
The results of the 2007 NASA Cultural Survey have been published, and it does not paint an especially good picture of the credibility of the agency’s management under Administrator Mike Griffin.
Only 51 percent of the 5,408 employees who responded to the survey answered “Yes” to the statement: “I can rely on management to be honest.” When broken down by field center, only 36 percent of employees surveyed at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., found management to be honest. This was followed by NASA Glenn in Cleveland (39 percent) and NASA Headquarters in Washington (46 percent). The highest figure was at Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston (62 percent).
Continue reading ‘NASA Cultural Survey: Only Half of Employees Believe Management is Honest’
NASA MEDIA ADVISORY : M08-055
CLEVELAND - Reporters are invited to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on Thursday, March 13 at 11 a.m. EDT to view a full-scale element of NASA’s Ares I-X rocket. The test launch and flight of the Ares I-X in April 2009 is a critical milestone in the development of NASA’s Constellation Program that will send astronauts back to the moon.
Reporters will be able to see and climb inside the 18-foot wide, 45-foot tall simulation of the Ares I upper stage, which was designed and manufactured at Glenn. The simulated element represents the size, outer shape and mass of the second stage of the Ares I rocket. Media also will receive an update of NASA’s Ares I-X Project and a tour of Glenn’s Fabrication Shop.
Continue reading ‘NASA Offers Ares I-X Media Opportunity at Glenn, March 13′
