A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
A CHRONIC STRUGGLE
WEDNESDAY,APRIL23,2003
Mark Umholtz, former Marvin Hall shop supervisor, displays the mask he has to have with him if he goes outside of the house and the seven different medications he takes a day. Umholtz said he developed a chronic respiratory disease from the air quality conditions in the craft shop.
Kelley Weiss/Kansan
Struggle CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
When Umholtz got sick, the department of environmental health and safety tested the shop's air quality, said John Gaunt, dean of the school. Results showed that the shop's air quality met Occupational Safety Health Administration regulations, he said. Because the shop met federal standards, the law did not bind the school to install a new ventilation system.
"We had one person who has had respiratory problems that he attributes to the shop,following which we have made many,many accommodations," Gaunt said. "It could seem as if somehow we did nothing about it,which would not be true."
Mike Swann, associate dean of the school, said there was not enough evidence to prove Umholtz fell sick because of the shop's air quality.
"If a number of shop users started saying 'We think the air quality is bad,' then we would probably very quickly go back to
Mike Russell and discuss installing a new ventilation system." Swann said.
Nathan Witte, the shop supervisor now, said a dust collection system would improve safety and make cleaning easier because there would be less dust accumulation.
"I've thought all along that a dust collection system should be implemented," Witte said.
"You could say there really isn't a dust collection system," he said. "It really isn't a complete system." AN ILNESS EVOLVES
Only 50 percent of tools are hooked up to any type of collection system, Witte said. That leaves the other half putting dust particles in the air because there is no collection system.
In late 1999, Umholtz's health problems climaxed. He'd been on sick leave for three months when he said he realized the University was not going to fully accommodate him.
Shortly after Umholtz returned to work on Jan. 3, 2000, the school told him he had to leave. The School of Architecture and the department of human resources asked Umholtz to take
sick leave, without pay, because he could not perform his required work duties. Umholtz thought differently and took a claim to workers' compensation court for review. In February 2000, Brad E. Avery, the administrative judge for the division of workers' compensation for the state of Kansas, ruled that the University had "compelled" Umholtz to leave his job and that he must be reinstated to his job as shop supervisor.
Avery also ruled that Umholtz be compensated for the time and wages he lost while on leave.
Umholtz requested a new respiratory specialist during the claim review. The judge agreed to appoint Umholtz a new doctor, Shawn Magee, a pulmonologist in Topeka. Magee did breathing tests on Umholtz in early 2000 and looked at his medical history before and after he got sick. Through his medical evaluation, Magee found that Umholtz had developed occupational asthma and chronic sinus problems from the work environment in the shop. Magee still concedes that the shop caused Umholtz's respiratory problems.
"We think both his asthma and chronic sinus problems are related to the fumes and exposures in the shop." Magee said.
When Magee determined that Umholtz was sick because of the poor ventilation in the shop, he made a list of accommodations for the School of Architecture to meet.
Swann, the school's associate dean, said that of the seven requests, the school had met five:
- Only one person could use the welding hood at a time;
- The number of people allowed to use the shop at once was reduced;
Umholtz could take five minute breaks every hour;
The physical activities of Umholtzwere limited;
And an office that could not be contaminated by airborne particulates and fumes, called a "clean room," was built for Umholz.
Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the last two changes that Magee suggested circulating outside air inside his office and installing a new ventilation system — were considered
unreasonable. The act says that when an employee request would cause the employer "undue hardship" the employer does not have to meet the accommodations.
The last two changes did fall under ADA's "unreasonable accommodations" category, according to Steve Ramirez, assistant director of the Equal Opportunity Office.
He said installing a new ventilation system in December 2001 would have cost about $70,000. The school's budget for improvements that year was $90,000. Spending a large portion of the budget is considered an "undue hardship," said Swann, associate dean of architecture.
"I think ideally they should have been met," Magee said. "For him, that's what he needed to be able to stay there."
Magee, the doctor, said Umholtz was forced to leave his job because not all of the accommodations he suggested were met.
Because the new dust collection system was never installed, Umholtz's doctor told him he had to leave his job.
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
Both dears of the school said a new ventilation system had not been installed because the school did not have the money.
In December 2001, Gaurit and Swann said the school had weighed the value of improvements. Installing a new ventilation system was not a high priority, he said, because the current system met OSHA regulations.
"To do that would take money away from academic problems," Swann said. "I think there would be great reluctance to shut down a computer lab or something else."
Gaunt said the estimates for replacing the ventilation system were all relative.
"As those things go, $70,000 is not an enormous amount of money." Gaunt said. "As our things go, it's an astronomical amount of money."
But money was not the issue, because the deans did not have to pay for everything, said Russell, director of environment, health and safety. He said that if the School of Architecture could not
SEE STRUGGLE ON PAGE 9A
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