Before DC 37 was displaced on Sept. 11, the union headquarters was a home away from home for many members - a place for the union family to hold meetings, attend classes and participate in social and cultural activities.

Now that 125 Barclay St. has reopened, members should know it's safe to come back home. The building has passed strict environmental tests with flying colors.

There are now walkways to the building along Murray Street, but Real Estate Manager Ralph Pepe cautions that members should be aware of outdoor construction hazards near the building as area power and water lines are repaired. The Barclay Street entrance remains closed.

As for air quality issues, "The union went all out to be sure the headquarters was hazard free before we reopened," said Mr. Pepe.

Professional engineer
DC 37 hired an experienced environmental engineer, Howard Bader, to oversee testing, cleanup and re-testing of all areas of the building.

Mr. Bader is a New York State Licensed Professional Engineer and a consultant to the U.S. Public Health Service with over 15 years of experience in environmental engineering.

Following is a summary of reports he has made on the extensive environmental testing and cleaning that was done before and after the union moved back in:

Some test samples from ventilating equipment and rooms showed that there were some asbestos fibers present.

Asbestos cleaning
Mr. Bader recommended thorough environmental cleaning of the air handling equipment, mechanical rooms, ducts and office areas up to 15 feet from all windows, in case asbestos fibers had entered through window leaks.

A wet cleaning and high efficiency particulate (HEPA) vacuuming was done in the rest of the office areas on all floors. The strictest testing method, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), was used, and Mr. Bader supervised the cleaning process.

Retesting
After each cleaning, H.A. Bader conducted "aggressive testing" throughout each floor using leaf blowers to agitate the building air before taking samples.

Results were very good, with many samples showing not even one asbestos fiber. All samples were well within the allowable levels for school buildings.

To keep the air clean, on Mr. Bader's recommendation, the union installed high-efficiency filters with charcoal pre-filters in all air handlers.

These special filters are changed frequently, and the building windows are also kept closed as a precaution.

Other measures
Mr. Bader tested for lead, heavy metals, silica, fiberglass, mercury, PCBs, dioxin, volatile organic compounds and particles. Results indicated very low or no levels of these substances.

The water was also tested for contaminants and found safe.

Special electrostatic "walk-off mats" in the entrance remove particles from peoples' shoes.

Before and for several weeks after reoccupancy of the building, Mr. Bader conducted daily sampling. To date, the results show the building remains safe.

Basement mold abatement
After Sept. 11, the basement was flooded for about a week when downtown power went out and the pumps failed. This caused extensive mold contamination.

Mr. Bader developed a microbial remediation plan and oversaw the work, which was performed by Safeway Environmental. After post-abatement mold samples came back clean, complete renovation of the basement was started.

— Molly Charboneau