Hanford agency target of inquiry

YAKIMA -- The U.S. Energy Department announced yesterday that it has begun formally investigating a private contractor that monitors and provides health care to workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The department's Office of Independent Oversight and Safety Assurance last week began investigating allegations of fraud, supervisor misconduct and medical-records mismanagement at the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, a non-profit Energy Department contractor.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham also asked the department's inspector general to investigate the allegations.

"Ensuring the safety and health of our workers is paramount, and I will not tolerate any action by any contractor that will undermine worker safety," Abraham said in a letter to the inspector general.

In a five-page statement yesterday, the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation denied the allegations, saying independent investigations last fall concluded that the claims were false.

After the announcement, Rep. James Greenwood, R-Pa., the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee, sent a letter to the department requesting a briefing on the allegations.

The announcement follows several inquiries in recent months into whether Hanford workers have been harmed by vapors from 177 underground tanks that hold about 53 million gallons of radioactive waste.

Allegations of misconduct by the foundation include violation of patients' medical privacy rights, employee harassment and mismanagement of employee medical care, the Energy Department said in a statement.

A department official said the allegations against the Hanford foundation had come from within the organization and not Hanford workers.

Since 1965, the foundation has been a contractor to the Energy Department, providing medical services to more than 11,000 federal and contract employees at Hanford. The group lost out in the competitive bid process in January, however, and its current contract expires in March.

The Energy Department's Richland office began reviewing its work in September, after the non-profit Government Accountability Project asked the inspector general to investigate.

Earlier that month, the government watchdog group published a report contending that toxic vapors escaping from the waste-storage tanks had hurt workers.

While the federal review of the foundation was initiated because of concerns about the tanks, it is being expanded because other allegations have come to light, a department official said.

The Government Accountability Project report said that workers were denied adequate safety equipment, and that workers who reported problems were often told by Hanford doctors that they were suffering from allergies or even psychological fears.

The report said 67 workers had been hurt in 45 exposure events between January 2002 and August 2003. That compared with just 16 vapor releases that required medical attention for workers between 1987 and 1992, the group said.

Hanford officials did not dispute the number of incidents, but said the increase was the result of rule changes that required more workers to see doctors if they smelled vapors.

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