Norton Announces Hearing on Capitol Complex Safety Violations Tomorrow (09/29/2010)

Norton Announces Hearing on Capitol Complex Safety Violations Tomorrow

September 29, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, which Norton chairs, will hold a hearing entitled "The Congressional Workplace: Safety Concerns and Future Plans" on Thursday, September 30, at 2:00 p.m. in 2167 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will examine serious claims by the Office of Compliance (OOC) of an estimated 6,300 safety hazards in the U.S. Capitol Complex, many of them potentially fatal, and by Capitol Visitor Center's (CVC) staff of alleged violations of homeland security and of their rights as workers. The Architect of the Capitol, Stephen Ayers, who met with Norton in July when the safety violations were first reported, will be the lead-off witness.

"We will take a hard look to see if the Capitol Complex is indeed safe, how the long-term plan will fix the violations, and how allegations of abuse against CVC staff are being resolved," said Norton. "What is at stake is no less than the millions of visitors to the Capitol Complex, who must not be exposed to preventable harm. The allegations of abuse of CVC employees and violations of homeland security cannot be separated from the infrastructure violations that imperil safety."

The OOC report detailed serious safety violations -- from open stairwells in the Russell Senate Office Building that could create a dangerous smoke funnel, preventing people from escaping in case of fire or explosive attack, to the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, which lacks adequate exit stairwells.

Other witnesses are Office of Compliance Executive Director Tamara Chrisler; Schooley Caldwell Associates President & CEO Robert Loversidge; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Wallace Reed; University of Virginia Architect David J. Neuman; and Capitol Visitor Center Employees Union Organizing Committee Member Megan Marie Burger.

WHO: The Office of U.S. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management

WHAT: Hearing entitled "The Congressional Workplace: Safety Concerns and Future Plans"

WHERE:2167 Rayburn House Office Building

WHEN:Thursday, September 30, at 2:00 p.m.