R.J. Lee's expertise at work in analysis of 9/11 material
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_758837.html
By Joe Napsha, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Stored in plastic bags and bottles inside the R.J. Lee Group Inc. building in Monroeville are more than 100,000 samples of the dust and debris created when the World Trade Center towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001.
R.J. Lee's extensive testing on those samples found "a most frightening cocktail of environmental contaminants" that were pulverized in the collapse of the skyscrapers onto adjacent buildings with the force of an F3 tornado, said Richard J. Lee, the company's CEO and founder. The contaminants included asbestos, jet fuel, lead from computers, a variety of other toxins.
Remnants from the towers ended up in the basement of R.J. Lee's building because the company was selected to conduct environmental assessments for owners of about 10 buildings around the site in lower Manhattan, beginning in April 2002. Before the buildings could be reused, owners had to know their level of contamination.
With more than 30 years in the business of testing materials, R.J. Lee had the needed expertise in industrial forensics, in determining the severity of an environmental hazard, and of health risks, said Casey Bunker, director of marketing and business development, who worked on the job.
Industrial forensic services is one of several focus areas for R.J. Lee and its 300 employees. The company provides a range of laboratory and testing services, support for civil and criminal litigation, and development of software to improve engineered systems.
At the World Trade Center site, R.J. Lee employees found pervasive levels of dust and debris in nearby buildings, even filling electric light switches. The blast of air from the collapsed South Tower had winds of up to 200 miles per hour, Bunker said.
"We worked with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), so they could use our data as a basis for cleaning building spaces," Bunker said.
R.J. Lee's work, completed more than seven years ago, and is still relevant today, as people develop illnesses from the event, Bunker said.
Last month, just before the 10th anniversary of the attacks, a New York City police officer hand-delivered to R.J. Lee a plastic bag containing the dusty uniform he wore to the World Trade Center that day. The officer, who is suffering from asthma and other health-related problems, wanted to know what he had been breathing on Sept. 11, 2001, Bunker said.
"We found what we call the 'World Trade Center signature' (of dust) all over his uniform," Bunker said.
The scientific testing company was born out of necessity in 1985.
Lee, 67, worked at U.S. Steel Corp.'s Monroeville research laboratory for 12 years, starting in 1973, moving up to become lead managing scientist in the 1980s.
When high operating costs and low-cost imports forced the steel industry to retrench in the 1980s, forcing mills in Homestead, Rankin, Duquesne, McKeesport and elsewhere to close, the steelmaker's research laboratory did not escape cutbacks. "It was pretty obvious research was going down," Lee said.
The day they were laid off in 1985, Lee and some of this coworkers held an organizational meeting to form R.J. Lee Group, hoping their experience and knowledge of steel could be applied elsewhere.
"We felt we could support a dozen industries. ... We could do for any number of them what we were doing for U.S. Steel," Lee said.
U.S. Steel gave them some business, allowed them to use the research laboratory and sold them instruments and equipment needed for testing, he said. "We had 15 to 20 people on unemployment, including me," Lee said. "There was no salary, no paycheck. People just showed up" for work.
Today, with its expertise, an array of electron microscopes and other instruments, R.J. Lee conducts quality tests on materials and investigates processes so companies can improve manufacturing. Industrial forensics "is the bread and butter of the business," Bunker said.
"That's what replaced traditional corporate research," Lee said. The company's scientists learn the "language" of the businesses that hire them, "then we apply our tools."
Part of the business is linked to lawsuits. Tests determine whether a material or product failed and why. Testing is done on whether a product or material was the cause of a health problem.
The company also tests criminal evidence for gunshot residue and trace evidence such as human- and animal-hair comparison and fiber identification for the Allegheny County Police, Pennsylvania State Police, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and more than 200 other law enforcement agencies.
"We augment their staff when they need help with specialized work," Bunker said.
R.J. Lee could not escape the impact of the recession. Business this year should be about the same as last year, Lee said, and he sees a brighter future.
"In five years, we intend to be double our size," Lee said. The key is to "replicate our expertise internationally." He said he expects a huge growth market for analytical services and criminal forensics in India, China and the Middle East.
Reply With Quote