DOI Building Project Improves Infrastructure, Safety, and Health
The Department of the Interior (DOI) contacted the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) in June 2006 to conduct a health hazard evaluation of the Modernization Project Interior Building. NIOSH completed that evaluation in August 2006 and made recommendations for improvements.
DOI has worked with the General Services Administration (GSA), which is the project lead on the modernization, and the hired contractor to implement these recommendations over the past nine months. On May 24, 2007, the DOI received the NIOSH final report.
“The department has been out front of the final report, having made significant progress in all areas of the recommendations,” said Nina Rose Hatfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Business Management and Wildland Fire.
The DOI National Business Center (NBC) Modernization Project Office has been working with GSA on the 12-year, phased modernization of the Main Interior Building. The project is designed to improve the infrastructure, including heating, ventilation, air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, plumbing, and electrical systems. The chief purpose of the project is to improve the health and safety conditions for all of the building’s employees and visitors.