(The Center Square) - The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries is investigating nonprofit We Heart Seattle over the way its volunteers pick up and dispose of used hypodermic needles and fentanyl foil.
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health opened the case in late July and initially gave Andrea Suarez, the founder of We Heart Seattle, just two days to produce a long list of safety documents.
“We received the notice through an email. I sent it to my board of directors. I talked to an attorney. Kind of scary, right? You get this letter demanding all these forms. We, of course, asked for an extension,” said Suarez in a Monday interview with The Center Square.
Suarez noted that the very materials she’s being accused of improperly handling are provided to drug addicts by Seattle King County Public Health for free.
Considered “harm reduction”, the supplies include clean syringes, safe smoking kits, foil, and fentanyl test strips, and condoms aimed at preventing disease transmission and fatal overdoses.
Harm reduction vending machines are placed in many locations across the county.
“This whole city's a bloodborne pathogen nightmare. I’ve been saying that for years. I mean, Seattle's a biohazard,” said Suarez.
The letter from a compliance officer at Labor and Industries demanded nine categories of documentation including a personal protective equipment hazard assessment, bloodborne pathogens training logs and safety related employee disciplinary records.
“Somehow, I'm in trouble because somebody claimed that I improperly picked these things up. That is an egregious overreach,” Suarez said.
The We Heart Seattle founder said she doesn’t know who filed the complaint.
“Does this harm the people we're all trying to help when you slow down an agency that's out there on the ground, not just picking up hypodermic needles and paraphernalia of all kinds. It’s not just fentanyl foil, but cookers, used Narcan cartridges, vials of Narcan, tourniquets, used alcohol pad wipes, bloody gauze strips, poop, barf, urine filled bottles that lay strewn all over our shared spaces,” Suarez said.
Suarez told The Center Square the volunteers that go out with her to clean up drug debris in parks and on city streets are always cautioned about safety. They wear gloves and use tongs to pick up needles and used foil.
“Volunteer by definition means by choice, so those folks out there doing this work do it on their own and we have waivers,” Suarez said.
“The woman investigating me said 'I need to walk around your office and your operation,' I go, well, that would be the park. And you're more than welcome to come out to the park and step on foil and needles and Narcan and poop with me.”
L&I Public Affairs Manager Matt Ross did not divulge to The Center Square who filed the complaint.
“We (L&I) have jurisdiction over workplace safety, and this involved employees...When we receive allegations with significant safety and health concerns, we take those seriously.”
“Any organization using employees to handle used sharps is required to follow the same set of basic rules to protect their workers. Generally speaking, they must have:
Documented programs for accident prevention specific to the hazards of their work and communication about those hazards to their workers;A documented program for preventing exposure to blood-borne pathogens; andWorkers who have access to and use personal protective equipment appropriate to the work.
Suarez said the investigation is a distraction but won’t deter the mission of We Heart Seattle.
“We will we will comply with what we have. We could potentially be fined. So, money that should go to helping somebody get a new pair of work boots or a phone or a ride to treatment, we'll have to be diverted to potentially a fine for being found guilty of not picking up a needle properly,” Suarez said.
“I believe that this is a political hit job, I really do.”
