Citations for fire safety irk U.S. Capitol architect's office

March 20, 2000
Web posted at: 4:50 p.m. EST (2150 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Office of the Architect of the Capitol says there are "no surprises" in the eight fire safety citations issued Monday by the federal Office of Compliance, the federal agency that oversees workplace safety and labor standards for congressional employees.

"We're all interested in getting these things done as quickly as possible. In issuing this citation, I don't know why it's helpful in that regard," said Herb Franklin, a spokesman for the Architect of the Capitol. "I'm glad they told us what we already know."

Gary Green, general counsel for the Office of Compliance, said it was necessary to issue citations because the architect was not acting quickly enough to remedy some safety problems in the Capitol. Green said the Architect was making progress in some areas, including training workers to dispose of hazardous materials.

The Office of Compliance is an independent office in the legislative branch established by Congress as part of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995. The act generally extends the rights and protections of 11 employment and labor laws to employees in the legislative branch of the federal government.

In January, the Office of Compliance issued a report detailing fire safety hazards in the Capitol. Green says his office "filtered out" the areas of the report which the Architect of the Capitol's office was not acting quickly enough and issued a total of eight citations.

The citations relate to three different categories of safety hazards. These are the failure to inspect, test and maintain fire alarms, the improper storage of hazardous material and inadequate fire prevention such as fire doors in stairwells.

The architect's office says it is difficult to find ways to fix safety hazards without compromising the historic integrity of the Capitol. The current Architect of the Capitol is Alan M. Hantman, appointed in 1997.

"When the Capitol was built, there wasn't central heating and air; there weren't elevators," Franklin said.

However, Franklin acknowledged that the Office of Compliance had begun to recognize the limitations and, instead of mandating how to repair problems, was allowing the office to decide the best ways to fix the fire hazards.

"These are historical buildings. If they were commercial buildings, it would be specified and mandated in the building's code how to fix the problems. But how to fix them is up to the Architect. We're giving him lots of leeway to figure out how to solve the problems," Green said.

Franklin said he was confident that they would come "reasonably close" to meeting the deadlines imposed by the citation.

However, the Architect's office said it was "puzzled" as to why the Office of Compliance expended the effort to issue citations. "We're on the same page," Franklin said.

Green said that the Architect could contest the citations, but Franklin said his office had no plans to do so at this time.

Last week, House Republicans unveiled their proposed budget for fiscal year 2001, and included is $15 million to correct fire safety hazards identified in the Capitol.