OSHA Inspection: WAMU 88.5 FM RADIO

Issued

Mar 6, 1990

Abate by

Apr 6, 1990

Penalty

Initial $450 · Current $100 Reduced

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  The
employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were
free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death
or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to
unquantified levels of RF radiation:
a) WMAU, the American University did not provided employees working on
the braodcasting tower a radio frequency protection program which
would prevent part of full body radiation.
On 9/18/89 employees of United States Tower Services working in
multiple bays on the tower at WAMU were exposed to unquantified
levels of RF radiation for 10 + hours resulting in body
thermalization, headaches, nausea and other symptoms requiring
medical evaluation.
A radio frequency protection program was not implemented to:
1) Reduce or eliminate RF radiation exposure.
2) If work is to be short-lived, powering down should be at a level
ensuring at a minimum of 10mw/cm2 with a lock out policy to prevent
stations from increasing output and overriding the transmitting
tower.
3) Fully identify all areas of the tower structure classified as "hot",
properly label with warnings and determine safe distances from
radiating elements.
4) While work is performed, continuous monitoring of surrounding areas
should be done to ensure that RF radiation from other elements is
not exposing employees to part of full body radiation.
5) Before any worker is allowed o the tower, he or she should be advised
of all procedures, monitoring protocol and methods of alerting the
employee when conditions change.
6) Provisions should be included for work performed under other than
moderate conditions to address variables such as heat stress and the
effects of low RF radiation levels.
7) Establish a tower maintenance safety program which addresses the
preceding issues and allows for daylight hours activity to ensure
the safest conditions.