Concerns regarding the safety of the Rensselaer Student Auto Shop finally reached a breaking point this summer when the shop failed a surprise inspection on July 22. The shop has been closed since then pending renovations.
The inspection, made by the Environmental Protection Agency, found that the shop didn’t meet certain health and safety requirements in order to run the shop.
“The inspections made by the EPA are done on random basis. However, the car club had failed to meet the requirements that the agency had set up,” said Cameron McLean, Rensselaer Union activities coordinator. “These requirements are to protect the safety of the people that work in the shop.”
The shop was closed once before for five months for similar reasons. However, it was re-opened after the management of the auto shop had cleared out the health and safety issues to meet the EPA’s standards.
According to Rick Hartt, Managing Director of the Rensselaer Union, the shop will only be reopened when it is operating in such a way that benefits people and is safe.
“Right now the shop’s management needs to clear out and rebuild,” he said. “They need to rebuild, rethink, and re-engineer what the auto shop is.”
According to Hartt, the reorganizing process is all being handled by student members of the club, but operations have to eventually meet with EPA standard. The Risk Management, Health, and Safety Department will supervise the situation and advise the students as necessary.
Hartt is confident that the process will be successful under the leadership of president Carol Kane. “Carol was really critical in assuring that things would currently meet standards,” said Hartt. “I think she's up for the task.”
Attempts to reach Auto Shop members for comment were unsuccessful.
