An inspection last year found that the agency had not addressed concerns raised in a Labor Department review. Image: Castleski/Shutterstock.com
Safety hazards at an IRS underground file storage facility in Independence, Mo., remained as of the time of an inspector general review last spring despite prior warnings, a report has said.
That inspection last year found that the agency had not addressed some concerns raised in a Labor Department review of the site and an internal IRS review that followed, it said, and which resulted in the IG taking the unusual step of alerting management even while its review was ongoing.
Issues that had been the subject of recommendations but which remained included missing pieces in locking mechanisms of ladders that employees use to retrieve boxes weight up to 50 pounds from as high as 13 feet off the floor. In addition, the agency had not addressed employee requests for a security camera “to show who is at the door before opening it, and the installation of a protective covering in the parking lot to protect vehicles and personnel from falling rocks and debris.”
In addition, auditors said that while they understood management’s policy that in a fire employees should exit rather than attempt to fight the fire, there were no fire extinguishers “in areas where employees may have trouble exiting the facility during a fire” and that employees had not been trained in how to use those that did exist.
The auditors added that in a return visit in October security cameras had been installed at the place employees had asked for one but they were not positioned so that the person outside could be seen before being allowed in.
Management agreed with recommendations including that it: consider relocating some records and purging some others related to long-deceased individuals; replace faulty ladders and consider installing a catwalk for reaching upper shelves; add a security camera where employees requested one; and train employees on using fire extinguishers.
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