PVCC Puma Press: April 2006

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	Photo by Travis Lane
	Before this sprng, the M-142 art studio was cluttered with a mix of furniture, supplies, flammables and toxic materials.
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Last fall, ceramics student, Frank Imel, voiced concerns about safety in the M-142 art studio in a letter he sent to top administrators and art faculty of PVCC. Having over 30 years experience in ceramics, Imel said the state of the PVCC ceramics program shocked him.

The studio had been overrun by furniture and supplies in disarray. It contained flammable materials and unlabeled glazes and paints, some of which may be toxic, stored wherever they could fit.

However, little action was taken until after a February fire in M-142 and another contact by Imel, this time to the Maricopa Community College’s legal department.

Imel reported to the District what he believed to be violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. About the same time new fine arts faculty, Adria Pecora, shed light on the troubles in the art studios in an assessment report revealing the need to set up first aid and safety solutions, to maximize cramped space and to train professors in OSHA practices. Pecora submitted her report to the college in March. As a result, college faculty and administrators have been scrambling to reorganize the art space, making it safer.

The M-142 studio has been reorganized in the cleanup that started the day of the fire when arts faculty, Pecora, cleaned out flammable materials from the room, averting potential disaster as ashes discarded in a club activity smoldered to flames a few hours later.

Pecora brings expertise in health and safety from her previous post as assistant to the dean of Cooper Union Art School in New York City, where she served as facilities manager and health and safety coordinator.

Her assessment report notes that M-142 is “full of ceramic dust that contains silica,” while the classroom has “no ventilation system in place to manage the dust levels.”

The Center to Protect Workers’ Rights, lists crystalline silica as “one of the most dangerous kinds of dust you can breathe.” The CPWR states that symptoms of silica inhalation include shortness of breath, silicosis, which scars air sacs, and other respiratory problems. Over time, these symptoms are known to occur with high levels of exposure to silica.

“There is potential for danger only when crystalline silica particles are in the air,” OSHA states. The danger comes from inhaling the dust, which contains the silica. “Likewise, there may be silica particles in the air even though you don’t see any dust.”

The CPWR advises using local exhaust ventilation to reduce airborne dust and to wet down surfaces before working with them. However, Pecora’s report says, “the floor [in M-142] is not configured with drains as would be ideal in order to hose down daily.”

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	'The good thing is that if we ensure that there are no hazards for employees, then we also ensure that there are no hazards for students and the public'
	—Jane Saldaña-Talley Vice president Admin. Services
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Because of the inability to clean and control dust levels in M-142, “it may be that neither facility is sufficiently equipped to operate as a ceramics studio,” the report concludes.

The nighttime custodial staff on campus is also understaffed, and according to ceramics faculty David Bradley, can’t always come to clean the art room, a problem currently under discussion between Bradley and maintenance.

In a Feb. 15 meeting, arts faculty requested David Matus, director of facilities services, to test the indoor air quality of M-142, to see if it poses health risks to students and faculty. A preliminary test was administered March 9. According to Dr. Jane Saldaña-Talley, vice president of administrative services, the results of this test indicate the air needs further study.

Consequently, Saldaña-Talley says, “On the basis of those studies David Matus is trying to locate an appropriate consultant to perform a full test of the classroom air—to provide information on the extent and substance of the air cleanliness problem and steps for a strategy of remediation.”

She hopes that a second test will be completed by the end of May.

Meanwhile, Imel’s complaint to District resulted in the appointment of an OSHA consultant to inspect the studios April 26.

According to Saldaña-Talley, the OSHA consultant, Ernie Miller, inspected the two art rooms and did not identify air quality problems in M-142 relative to OSHA standards.

Another problem addressed by Pecora’s report is the lack of labels identifying the content of arts materials: “One type of glaze may contain metals considered toxic and is not indicated as such.”

Bradley says Miller recommends precautions to minimize employee and student exposure to heavy metals such as cobalt, cadmium, manganese and titanium, all of which are used as colorants in paints and ceramic glazes. However, Bradley says, “In [Miller’s] expert opinion, the quantities of these chemicals and other solvents used in the art classes are nowhere near the levels determined by OSHA to be harmful.”

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	Photo by Travis Lane
	Arts faculty and administration have focused on clean-up of dust and clutter in the ceramics studio.
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The art department must also consider waste management. Toxic materials, such as those in the glazes, are considered hazardous waste and must be disposed of under appropriate guidelines. Currently, glazes are poured down the drain without any kind of trap to catch them.

Miller also recommended that cleanup of the clay and glazes, which are kept in big buckets in the sinks, be done while using gloves because there might be a concentration of metals that may be harmful if in contact with soft [body] tissue, Bradley says.

The art department is currently in the process of finding a waste management firm. Also, the college approved a supplemental budget request for oily waste cans and solvent cans to use when disposing of potentially combustible painting materials. The department also purchased a fireproof paint and ink storage cabinet in which to store these materials.

Overall, assessments so far reveals the need to oversee storage and use of glazes, paints and other materials that may contain toxins, to set up first aid solutions, to maximize space by clearing clutter and to produce safe methods for disposing of wastes.

Pecora’s report recommends that all art professors be trained in OSHA standards and that they relate health and safety practices to students.

“The good thing is that if we ensure that there are no hazards for employees, then we also ensure that there are no hazards for students and the public,” says Saldaña-Talley.

Improving facilities has been the number one priority for the Fine Arts Division for this past year, according to Dr. Chris Scinto, the division chair for the Fine Arts department.

Plans for the art program also include expansion.

Bradley says, “There will be a new (ceramics) studio by 2009 and it’ll be a much better situation.” But now “we’re trying to use the studio as best we can because we’re just maxed out.”