Question: Could you find out why our city and county workers do not have to follow any safety or environmental laws when doing work on our roads? On Monday, April 13, city workers began working on two drain inlets on Kalaeloa Boulevard just past Komohana Street. They were chipping the concrete with no erosion control deployed. The next day, they left the area with reinforcing steel exposed with no safety caps. As a contractor, I know the consequences of doing work like this, as we would be fined by the state environmental and Occupational Safety and Health Administration divisions, but obviously our city is immune to these laws. Are they being fined?
Answer: We checked first with the state Department of Health and were told the city is "obligated" by the department’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to prevent pollutants, such as waste concrete, from entering into and discharging from the storm drain system.
As far as the department’s Clean Water Branch is concerned, the city did not violate terms of the permit.
The work in question was done by the city Department of Facility Maintenance’s Division of Road Maintenance.
The storm drain catch basin inlets apparently were damaged by vehicles, causing large chunks of concrete and other debris to fall into the basin, said DFM Director Ross Sasamura.
"Conventional storm drain inlet protection devices were not initially deployed during the work as the subject catch basin already contained broken concrete and other debris, and the (Road Maintenance) crew needed to work within the inlet area to chip and break a wider section to prepare it for the forms needed to pour new concrete," he explained.
After the damaged inlet was chipped to remove cracked and loosened concrete, a storm drain jet rodder/vacuum truck followed to suck out the chipped and broken concrete and other debris from the basin, he said.
"We appreciate your reader’s comment relating to use of safety caps on the ends of the exposed steel rebar and will ensure such measures are employed," Sasamura said.
He added that workers will ensure storm drain inlet protection devices are deployed during reconstruction.
Based on Sasamura’s explanation of what happened, the city appears to have acted appropriately
The Health Department can’t completely confirm that without an investigation, but "the situation appears to be a minor issue and our staff does not intend to investigate at this time," said spokeswoman Janice Okubo.
Facility Maintenance "needs to safely implement good practices to comply with the permit."
DLNR FINES
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands is recommending landowner Frank Z. Fistes be fined $15,500 for disturbing more than 10,000 square feet of conservation land along a steep hillside in Maunalani Heights without obtaining approval, causing "a permanent change in the land."
A complaint by a Kokua Line reader about dirt being tossed over a ledge prompted investigations by both OCCL and the city Department of Planning and Permitting. (See bit.ly/ 1HmF3Xy.)
Planning and Permitting issued a Notice of Violation to Fistes on March 30, giving him 30 days to "stop the illegal work," stabilize the property and protect abutting properties.
Meanwhile, OCCL’s report is on the agenda of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, which will meet 9 a.m. Friday at the Kalanimoku Building.
In its report to the board — 1.usa.gov/1OfMW5k — OCCL said the landowner authorized or caused dirt to be pushed over a ledge onto the hillside and that work continued after a verbal request was given to stop.
OCCL recommends Fistes hire a geotechnical engineer to determine what needs to be done to remediate the hillside, and to reduce slope destabilization or the potential for rockfall within two weeks of board action.
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