August 22, 2008 MWAA Issues

Welcome to my first blog posting. I will try to keep articles short and informative.

I've made several phone calls to MWAA Safety and Security concerning construction dust over the last two weeks. Not helping any, it is August and its been very dry. A lot of the dust is dirt stirred up from the construction equipment. As sections of runways taxiways are poured there are cure dates set. Afterwards the contractor will cut expansion gaps in the concrete, which according to one contractor has not happened in over a month. There are many contractors working on the field which is a problem in itself. Through several phone calls today I have found out (believe it or not), Alliance, the contractor doing the concrete crack repair, is not using water when they cut. Due to the nature of the product, an epoxy DEERY, wet cutting is counter productive to the setting process. They cut, pour, and cure, before the sun rises. Of course this is done on midnights to have less impact on the operation, but maybe there are other reasons as well. I believe contractors exposing employees to silica dust are required to do air sampling. I will be taking the matter up next week.