Worker Files Suit Against Smithsonian

Richard Pullman has a beef with the Smithsonian Institution.

For the past 27 years, Pullman, 57, has installed lighting and displays at the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington.

Last year during a routine safety meeting, the speaker mentioned that there is some asbestos in the walls of many of the Smithsonian buildings, including the Air and Space Museum.

Pullman has been drilling and sawing through those walls for decades, and three physicians have now said Pullman suffers from asbestosis.

The long-term employee is furious that Smithsonian managers have known about the asbestos since a 1992 study, and did not disclose that fact to most employees.
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"[Management] denied the existence of dangerously high levels of asbestos and concealed the risk posed for decades to museum workers and the visiting public," Pullman told reporters.

Linda St. Thomas, a spokeswoman for the Smithsonian, conceded that the organization did not inform workers about the asbestos.

"We've acknowledged there was a lack of training in those years due to staff changes," said Ms. Thomas, who hurriedly added that air samples from the museum in December show no evidence of dangerous levels of asbestos. "The museum is safe."

Pullman believes his complaints to OSHA have harmed his career with the Smithsonian. Thomas points out Pullman is still employed by the museum, and has retained his pay grade.

Pullman has now filed for protected federal whistleblower status. Thomas says that is Pullman's right, and the museum will comply with whatever decision ultimately comes down in the case.