‘The chemicals are hazardous’: Union concerned Trump’s rushed Reflecting Pool job might be putting workers at risk

A union monitoring the work on Washington DC’s Reflecting Pool, which was arranged by Donald Trump, has warned that workers installing the “American flag blue” waterproof layers could be putting themselves at risk to complete the work on time. Concerns that safety regulations might have been circumvented were also brought up.

In April, Trump announced plans to fix the Reflecting Pool once and for all after decades of algal blooms turning the water green. The pool was drained of water, and a $13.1 million no-bid contract was given to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia based company although the work reportedly won’t be fixing the leaky pipes thought to cause the algal blooms. 

According to The Guardian, Trump told journalists at the time that the company had previously worked on a pool at his golf club in Virginia. The no-bid contract led other companies to express indignation at not getting the chance to compete for the job, according to the director of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Herbert Zaldivar. Federal contracts don’t typically get awarded without companies bidding for the job. 

The fact that the project “didn’t go through the right processes,” meant there was no chance for “a union-affiliated contractor to be part of the competition,” explained Zaldivar. When he visited the site, he claimed that none of the workers were willing to talk to him about the project, but he had concerns over the safety of the work being done.

The union warns that workers could be at risk

Zaldivar expressed worry for workers, “they are trying to rush on a timescale that is most likely to leave some liability with the contractor,” he said. “The chemicals are hazardous. My concern is usually the level of risk when it’s rushed. Are workers taking the rightful steps to protect themselves?”

Al Havinga, a former civil servant with the Environmental Protection Agency also voiced fears over the work. “People are breathing in poisonous chemicals.” he explained, adding, “There’s no consideration to the risk to the public in applying this stuff.”

However, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, the parent agency of the National Park Service, denied the accusations that workers were not being protected. They stated, “There is no merit to these accusations. Like every federal agency, we follow all laws and regulations designed to ensure fair treatment and safety in the workplace.”

The work on the Reflecting Pool has been the subject of much scrutiny these past couple of months with people voicing their opinions on the aesthetic of the pool most of all. Trump has since stated the work on the pool is finished and promised it would be refilled soon.