CRI Project Update/BSB Occupants’ Meeting
February 6, 2002 BSB 120

Next meeting: February 20, 2002, 1:30 p.m., BSB120

CRI – Currently the CRI construction project schedule has recovered a month due to the additional crane and steel crew. Most of the vertical columns are complete, horizontal steel beams are in place to the 6th floor, and the steel decking is complete to the 4th floor and has started on the 5th. The suspended slab on floors 1-4 will be completed by the end of the month. Soon, roof slab will be set, which is critical to the setting of the two major air handlers on the roof.


MACTEC, the firm MUSC has contracted to test the welds on the steel frames of the CRI, initially found some problems with the moment connections* on the steel columns and beams on floors 1-3. First of all, the contractor replaced the welders, and then re-worked all of the welds. Since then, many welds have been inspected and tested and none have been found to be defective.

*A "moment connection" is architect-nogab for "a fixed, welded connection at the intersection of a column and a beam designed to resist bending forces induced at the joint by loading conditions on a rigid frame".

There will be several types of utility outages needed in the next two weeks in order to proceed. Minor local outages of gas and vacuum to hook in the utilities will be necessary, as well as, a building wide outage of domestic hot and cold water, which will be scheduled for sometime during the holiday (Feb 14-17) weekend. This will be about an 8-hour outage. Notification of all scheduled outages will be broadcast to the occupants. Many thanks to the Facilities & Engineering crews for conducting these outages at a time that is less disruptive to the researchers.

The first floor main lobby renovation is currently about a week behind schedule. The 2nd floor lobby is scheduled to be reopened by April 1, 2003. The renovation of the elevators will continue with the replacement of all elevator cars, one at a time. The controls to the east elevators have been upgraded. Unfortunately, during this upgrade the button inside the elevator that flashes during a fire alarm was not connected properly, so the elevators failed the inspection. The elevators will be re-inspected when this problem is corrected. The good news is, that it was determined that the audible alarm could be bypassed during testing, so future tests will be transparent to the occupants.

MRE – Foundation for the mechanical room expansion should begin by mid March. Setting of steel should begin by May. The completion of this building continues to lag about five months behind schedule. There are alternate sources of chilled water and power to operate the completed CRI if the MRE schedule does not improve-- taking chilled water from the hospital loop and a temporary generator for power.


BSB-- Use of the rear doors of the BSB for anything other than an emergency exit and by authorized personnel (deliveries, biological waste disposal, housekeeping, etc) is prohibited. This area is off-limits to pedestrian traffic. An officer is now on duty at the temporary loading dock and the construction fence has been erected around the entire construction site to reinforce this restriction.

Malodorous diesel fumes continue to plague the occupants of BSB. In response to your calls to the Facilities & Engineering Help Desk (792-4119) to report the presence of diesel fumes, OSHP has reported the following:

“The Office of Occupational Safety and Health Programs has completed five consecutive days of air sampling for hazardous constituents of diesel fumes. There is no OSHA standard for diesel exhaust. Diesel particles carry substances known as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Gases in diesel exhaust, such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide can also create health problems. There are no established permissible exposure levels for PAHs.

The following are OSHA permissible exposure limits (PEL) for the above referenced substances:

  • Carbon Monoxide - 50 ppm
  • Sulfur Dioxide - 5ppm
  • Nitrogen Dioxide - 5ppm

Air sampling was performed at times when the highest exposure levels were anticipated (when the crane was started in the morning) and also at other random times in the day. Air samples were collected primarily on the first and second floors because fumes introduced into the fresh air intakes would pass through these areas first. Samples were also taken in other locations where employees smelled diesel fumes throughout the week. The following are the highest exposure levels detected:

  • Sulfur Dioxide - <0.5ppm
  • Carbon Monoxide - <2ppm
  • Nitrogen Dioxide - <0.5ppm

As you can see all of the exposure levels were at the lowest detectable levels.

An outside environmental company has been hired to perform an independent assessment. Their report will be available next week (Feb 18).
The following are additional recommendations to mitigate the diesel odors in the Basic Science Building.
  • Repair plastic on outside air intakes in west mechanical room.
  • Place plastic on outside air grills in generator room. Remove plastic when generators are in operation.
If there are questions or concerns relating to this assessment please contact Joe Avant at 2-3604.”

And from Mac McClinton, when asked how these odors enter the building:

To date, the project has spent about $96,000 for carbon filters. These filters are large, about 4 CF each; weigh about 50 pounds, 44 of which is carbon. The carbon will react with hydrocarbons in the air, and will neutralize the odor. It is important that they stay dry. The effectiveness is seriously and deleteriously affected by humidity, but it is difficult to ensure this condition on a damp or rainy day in the kind of maelstrom that is the prevalent state in the main intake. It is therefore more difficult to control these types of odors on rainy or damp days.

When the BSB windows were supplemented with additional exterior units at each existing window location a couple of years ago, some of the louvers above the windows did not get sealed. If the building pressure is allowed to "go negative" to any degree, these openings will pull air in from the exterior. If it is warm moist air, condensation may result if conditions favorable are present. If the air is carrying odors, those will be wafted in continuously.

Perhaps we should focus on the condition of every window louver, and monitor the relationship of the supply and exhaust to ensure the best relationship exists between the safety of the occupants using fume hoods, and the environmental concerns of as much positive pressure as possible in the building to discourage air infiltration.

(Author’s note: The carbon filters in the air handler were replaced on Feb 11th. Covering the window louvers is being addressed by Facilities and Engineering.)


Attendees - Bud Cooper, Beth Gladden, Hank Harrison, Cliff Harvey, Leslie Kendall, Mac McClinton, Dwayne McMillan, Kenny Murray, Dr. Jerry Ondo, Dr. David Schwartz, Paula Seelbinder, Dr. Tom Trusk and Laura Walters
Content last updated:
Friday, 21 February, 2003