HHE ASSIGNMENT
HETA:

OPEN DATE:

20080055

FACILITY:

11/30/2007

U.s. Department of Justice (DOJ),
Federal Bureau of Prisons
3 Locations

CATEGORY:
3
Valid?:
Yes
REQUESTOR:

CONFIDENTIAL
Reason:

S. Randall Humm
Office of the Inspector General
1425 New York Ave, Ste 13100

OR, TX,C

Washington
Phone:

Phone:

(202) 353-0332

DC

(202) 353-0332

REQUESTER

MANAGEMENT

PROCESS:

electronics recycling operations, glass-breaking - 3 locations: FCl Elkton, FCl Texarkana,
USP Atwater

EXPOSURES:

lead, cadmium, heavy metals

EFFECTS:

ummown

NAlCS:

922140

KEYWORDS:

UNION:

Correctional Institutions

Please contact Judy Riley @ (513) 841-4341 if you have questions regarding the NAICS Code

ASSIGNMENT:

NIOSH OFFICE:

1st PO:

Page

2nd PO:

Sylva in

RET AB

C~~v\ ), /2.1.( f 0 8)

3rd PO:
NOTE:
FOLLOWUP?:

Chgd PO assignment 12/17/07
YES

Requestor Notification Letter?

no

Fed/State Agency Letters?
Comments:

Tbursday, January 24, 2008

NO

yes

U, S. Department of Justice
Office of the Inspector General

November 27, 2007
Bruce P. Bernard, M.D., M.P.H.
Captain, USPHS
Chief Medical Officer
Health Hazard Evaluations and Technical Assistance
CDCjNIOSH
4676 Columbia Parkway R-IO
Cincinnati, Ohio 45226
Re:

Request for Technical Assistance

Dear Dr. Bernard:
I am writing to request that NIOSH's Health Hazard Evaluation
Program provide technical assistance to the Office of the Inspector
General at the United States Department of Justice (GIG), which is
overseeing a health and safety investigation of Federal Prison Industries'
(FPI) recycling of electronics equipment. FPI, otherwise known by its
trade name UNICOR, is a wholly owned government corporation that is
part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The OIG is seeking NIOSH's
assistance with the formulation and implementation of a medical study
of UNICOR and BOP staff who likely were exposed to heavy metals and
other hazardous materials while demanufacturing computers and
breaking cathode ray tubes. We also are seeking help with an
assessment of the BOP's medical surveillance program.
Approximately one year ago, the Federal Occupational Health
Service (FOH) and NIOSH's Engineering and Physical Hazards Branch
started field work at the request of the OIG at seven UNICOR recycling
plants. This work has complemented efforts that OSHA and U.S. EPA
also have undertaken at the request of the OIG concerning UNICOR's
electronics recycling operations. Within the past month the FOHjNIOSH
technical team completed an assessment of the lead and cadmium data
that was collected from the first institution that the team visited (FCr
Elkton) and have concluded that personal exposures of BOP and
UNICOR workers to lead and cadmium likely have occurred. The data
further revealed that the areas where UNICOR has conducted recycling
at FeI Elkton are contaminated with lead and cadmium to a degree that
warrants remedial action.

Personal exposures also may have occurred at UNICOR recycling
plants besides the facility at Elkton. Interviews conducted by the OIG at
other BOP institutions revealed that UNICOR staff worked in conditions
that were similar in many respects to the conditions at Elkton.
Industrial hygiene data collected by FOH and NIOSH at these institutions
should be available in the near future. A concern that some UNICOR
staff expressed to us during these site visits, in addition to concerns with
their own health, was that they may have inadvertently exposed their
families to heavy metals by wearing their dust-laden work clothes home.
We believe that the medical review should initially focus on three
institutions that have or had glass-breaking operations: FCI Elkton, FCr
Texarkana, and USP Atwater. For each institution approximately 15
UNICOR staff members and 100 inmates currently are involved in the
recycling operations. I am attaching a "scope of work" document that we
used when Dr. Singal was involved with the project that outlines our
earlier plans for the medical review. Due to his untimely death we have
not carried out the activities that it describes. We are amenable to
revising our plans for the medical review in accordance with your advice.
As you are aware, I recently have spoken to Dr. Tepper about this
project and met previously with Mr. Wallingford to discuss our field
work. We anticipate that our recent findings concerning exposures at
FCI Elkton will result in many questions about the health status of the
workers and inmates who are or have been involved in UNICOR's
electronics recycling program. We therefore are eager to initiate a
medical review promptly with your assistance.
We appreciate your assistance with this matter. If you have any
questions, please contact me at (202) 353-0332.
Sincerely,

S. Randall Humm
Investigative Counsel
Attachment

2