Field Office Compliance - Assistance

Assistance ID - 67818
Northwood Ag. Products, Northwood - 311907005
2106 Central Avenue East Northwood, IA 50459
Worth County

FO 2

Report
File Name File Type File Date Note
Comments
3/13/2014 Zach Tesar, claims adjuster for Austin Mutual Insurance, called me on 12MAR14. He had been to the cleanup site and saw the workers wearing protective suits, and had become concerned. He stated that he had walked around the burned area days earlier with no protective suit. He asked me if he should destroy his clothes or should he be alarmed that he had been exposed to anything. I indicated that, while the array of chemicals at the site could not be fully known, I didn’t, based upon my past experience, believe there to be a significant toxic inhalation hazard. I suggested that the primary hazard would be through dermal exposure, which is why the workers were wearing suits. I also mentioned the suits were probably an OSHA requirement. I asked Mr. Tesar if he had actually entered the fire area or had gotten any soot on his skin or clothes. He indicated that he had not. I stated that I was not a certified toxicologist, but I have received more than 100 hours of safety training related to health exposures at uncontrolled toxic sites, that I had personally visited perhaps 500 contaminated sites in my career, that I had walked around the site just as he had, and I had no concern that I had been exposed to any toxic chemicals. Mr. Tesar asked me to explain why the metal was being washed. I indicated that it was industry practice to wash metals involved in hazardous materials incidents, and doing so ensured that no contaminants left with the scrap and demonstrated an abundance of caution to the stakeholders and community. I shared some previous discussions I had with Mr. Eastman where I suggested that it was difficult demonstrate that no toxic substances were present on the metal by testing, and I had taken the position that it was much more practical to just wash the metal and collect the water for proper disposal. DAVID MILLER
State of Iowa DNR Home Site Policy
Leading Iowans in caring for our natural resources
Version: 2.3.2.24780