Macabre Costumes, but Not for Halloween

Today is Halloween and a time for dress-up. For some people in North County, dress-up is an everyday thing, and very serious to boot. These people follow an environmental dress code.

These days, the smartly dressed environmental hazard worker is often clad from head to toe in white Tyvek plastic.

Bob Lutzenberg, an environmental engineer in Carlsbad, was so clad as he emerged from the bushes behind a house where he had been checking soil conditions. He was approached by the man who lived next door. Panicked, the man pointed to Lutzenberg’s apparel and asked, “Does this mean we’re all going to have to sell and move out of the neighborhood?”

To the immense relief of the neighbor, Lutzenberg replied: “No, this is just safety apparel because of pest-killer residue under there which I don’t want to take home on my clothes.”

Lutzenberg then peeled off his Tyvek outfit, turned it inside out, rolled it in a ball and popped it in the toxic waste container in his truck. Just another day on the job as an environmental engineer. Except that day he knew of no toxic gas or leaks in the property’s history. So he didn’t have to wear Class B gear, which involves a face mask and air filters. Or more serious yet, Class A gear, which is a terrestrial diving suit with air tanks inside the plastic complete body cover.

Sometimes this is a business where there are grandstand plays involving gear like that--that’s the stuff we see on TV. But it’s also a business where you study the site and its history, literally looking before you leap, to determine what “Class” to dress. Unless it’s an emergency. Then it’s Class A all the way.

Mike Handman is a hazardous materials--”hazmat”--expert and an instructor on the subject at UCSD Extension in Rancho Bernardo and other sites. He also heads the area Hazards Incident Response Team. “Inhalation is the biggest concern, skin (contact with spills) is second and injection by puncture or mouth is third,” said Handman.

“I work for every fire chief in the county,” he said, referring to the countywide Unified Disaster Council, which holds joint training exercises uniting firefighters and county hazardous materials teams. “We live together and train together,” he said.

Handman and a fellow hazards expert from private industry, Jeff Fields of Scuhmacher Inc. in Carlsbad, are active in a group that held an environmental safety conference in Carlsbad last week.

Over a hundred industry and government people who deal with hazardous stuff met with the Community Awareness and Emergency Response Assn., this county’s branch of a nationwide organization.

The association handbook states: “The public wants and needs to know what chemicals are present in their community and what safeguards are in place for handling these chemicals.” It offers a speaker’s bureau whereby schools and community organizations can hear from experts like Handman and Field on how to deal with environmental safety problems--especially regulatory problems that can vex small businesses.

Environmental safety consciousness is rising in North County and has spawned a thriving enterprise in Oceanside. Carl Lineberger of Alameda Industries sells environmental safety gear.

Although Tyvek suits are usually used to protect people working near hazardous materials, they also are used to keep people from contaminating delicate environments.

“Every business is getting cleaner,” Lineberger said. “They’re afraid of chemicals. Cloth overalls are absorbent and the new Tyvek outfits are not.” Whether a local manufacturer intends to protect workers from spills or sensitive electronics from sweaty hands, Lineberger’s gear will do the job. “Nothing can enter these suits and nothing can come out of them,” he said. During the Huntington Beach oil spill, Lineberger says, high demand emptied his shelves.

Don’t go away thinking this is some terrifying, suffocating, space-creature skin, added Lineberger’s wife, Dixie. The suits are made of the same cloth-like material being used to make strong, lightweight mailing envelopes, she said.

“Carl keeps one (of the suits) in his golf bag to put on when it rains. And I keep one in the car trunk for changing tires,” said Dixie. Carl says he gave everyone in his club one--with the club name lettered on the back. His daughter got a Tyvek lab coat to wear to school on the last day of class, so everybody could autograph it instead of the customary sweat shirt. “I’ve even thought of wearing it myself at Halloween,” Carl said.

If you see him in your neighborhood tonight, don’t get panicky about your real estate values.

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

For inspections, license issuance and revocation, site clean-up, contact State of California Department of Toxic Substance Control, duty officer for North County San Diego, (213) 590-4968

Speakers bureau of the Community Awareness and Emergency Response Assn., presents information on chemicals present in North County and safeguards in place for handling them, Jeff Field, 931-2078

In emergency, contact Hazards Incident Response Team at 911, or San Diego County Hazardous Materials Management Division, Mike Handman, 338-2222.