Earlier UCLA Crematory Violations Revealed : Hazards: Cal/OSHA cited School of Medicine in August for operating improper venting and exhaust system at facility. University officials say they have corrected those conditions.

UCLA, which last week admitted to mixing hazardous medical waste with cremated human remains that were nearly dumped into Santa Monica Bay, was cited three months ago for environmental violations involving its on campus crematory, The Times has learned.

In August, the UCLA School of Medicine was cited by the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) for violating worker safety regulations for operating an improper venting and exhaust system. The citation also stated that emissions and odors from the incinerator were entering medical school offices.

In response to the citation, the university said that part of the problem was that it had been burning human bodies--the cadavers used by students in the medical school--at temperatures below allowable levels. High temperatures are required to eliminate odors and kill bacteria that can cause illness or spread disease.

UCLA officials said they have since corrected those conditions. The incinerator remains shut down pending completion of a state health department investigation into the recent Santa Monica Bay case.

A copy of UCLA’s response to Cal/OSHA, dated Sept. 9, was obtained by The Times. It said of the crematory repairs: “These modifications will prevent the burning of materials below the proper temperature which should eliminate incomplete combustion and many of the odors which have been observed.” UCLA said it had “remedied” the problem using “a combination of engineering and administrative controls.”

The Cal/OSHA action followed mounting complaints about the crematory during the summer from employees of the medical school, which is near the incinerator. In response to the complaints, UCLA agreed to operate the crematory during non-business hours--on weekends or late at night.

The latest problems come after years of complaints by workers on the first floor of the medical school building that they were experiencing headaches, nausea, vomiting and other health problems. In official complaints to Cal/OSHA and in interviews, the employees said they believe that the health problems were caused either by the crematory or gases coming from medical school laboratories.

Brenda Holtzclaw, 32, a former worker in the student affairs office who now lives in Chicago, said she remembers leaving her office late one evening this year and encountering smoke in the hallway so thick she could hardly see. At first, she said, she thought the building might be on fire. But then she smelled what she described as the ripe, putrid odor of the crematory.

“People were running through the halls with sweaters over their faces. . . . We had been told it was a backup in the ventilation system. Supposedly if the wind blew a certain direction it would blow the smoke from the crematory back into the air circulation system,” she said.

David Meyer, the medical school’s faculty research coordinator and a professor of biological chemistry, said Monday that a university investigation revealed that the most likely source of some employee complaints was a harmless agent put into gas to give it an odor. He said other problems were traced to the improper handling of chemicals by one of the school’s labs and a clogged drain, both of which had been fixed.

Meyer said UCLA had turned up no evidence of any connection between the medical problems reported by the employees and the gas coming through the vents.

Meyer did acknowledge a problem with the crematory. He said one day several months ago when he and other medical school officials were attempting to learn the source of possibly contaminated air, that part of the building suddenly got very smoky.

“In checking with people from the pathology department it turned out that they were using the crematory that day. I got very upset,” he said. “As far as we know, the repair of the incinerator took care of that.”

But one medical school employee, Lianne Lund, the student affairs officer, said Monday that despite numerous complaints the health problems she and others reported have continued.

She said that as recently as Oct. 20 she and three other medical school employees filed workers’ compensation claims based on a severe reaction by all four to fumes coming through the venting system. “We all had headaches and were experiencing nausea,” she said.

Problems with the facility came to light last week when it was discovered that UCLA had attempted to dump hundreds of pounds of ashes from the crematory into the bay. Moreover, the ashes were found to contain syringes, scalpels and other materials.

State laws forbid the disposal of such medical waste at sea. Investigations are under way into possible civil and criminal violations.