You can’t get clean air from a ventilation system unless you keep the system dirt-free with routine maintenance, a step the Dept. of Sanitation skips regularly. Its registers and air vents are filthy and covered with black soot.

Staff of the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept. and the Clerical-Administrative Division inspected Sanitation facilities twice, on April 22 and again Oct. 4. They found the same filthy air vents both times.

Improper furniture
On Oct. 4, Assistant Division Director Ron Arnero toured three DOS facilities in Queens. “The air vents in all three locations have not been cleaned for some time,” he said. “Apparently, no one has been assigned to clean them.”

In addition to the unhealthy ventilation systems, the members of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 in Sanitation are working on computer terminals without the proper ergonomic (adapted for workers) furniture.

Also missing is ergonomic equipment such as document holders, anti-glare screens, footrests, tray rests and articulated keyboards.

Safety Coordinator Russell Johnson said the union has been trying to get the DOS to recognize that its civilian employees have a contractual right to a clean, safe and sanitary environment. “Just because they work in a Sanitation garage doesn’t mean that they have to be subjected to the conditions of the field workers,” said Mr. Johnson.

Clerical Division Council Rep Eddie Douglass summed the situation up more bluntly: “For an agency that’s supposed to be in charge of cleaning up, they’re one of the worst at cleaning! Their offices are so dirty I don’t know how they got the name ‘Sanitation!’ ”

The local’s grievance on these issues is scheduled for arbitration Nov. 18.