European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 26, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday March 26,1989 the stars and stripes Page 7 Lockheed faces possible $1.5 Milliorn Fine Washington a the government Friday proposed fining the military aircraft division of Lockheed corp. It.5 million for worker safety violations at inc California Plant where in builds he radar evading stealth fighter. The occupational safety and health administration said it is also Starling a Wall to Wall inspection of the entire Burbank calif., facility because of the More than 400 violations uncovered during a four month investigation of a classified area where the fighter is Osha procedures Lockheed has 15 work ing Days to contest the proposed Fine. Lockheed spokesman Jim Ragsdale said the company had no immediate comment on inc alleged violations and Likely would not comment until its management had an Opportunity to review the citations. Osha cited Zil instances in which it said lock heed aeronautical systems cd wilfully failed to record illnesses and injuries to employees and 88 alleged wilful violations of Federal regulations re Quiring employers to inform workers about the potential dangers of chemicals they work with and instruct them on proper safeguards. In addition the company was cited for 99 alleged violations of various Osha standards including mis Labling or failure to Label chemical containers and failure to include health warnings on information the company was required to provide to its workers other altered violations included failing to Lisi suspected carcinogens on safety sheets provided to workers Over exposing workers to Asbestos and fail ure to provide workers with gloves impervious to a hazardous chemical used on the fighter. The proposed Fine follows a highly publicized Osha inspection after numerous complaints were received from workers Al the Plant which employs about 14,000 people. \ in october a month after the inspection began John c. Brizendine the president of the division said we have seen nothing to indicate the Materi als we work with arc fundamentally unsafe or pose a health Hazard provided proper procedures arc Fol a month Laler the government for the first time acknowledged the existence of the stealth fighter a single scat dual engine Jet Hal resembles a Bat and is formally designated the Al 17a. The defense department has ordered 59 stealth fighters and 52 had been delivered As of the novem Ber fighter uses advanced technology to help in evade enemy radar including radar absorbing mate rials and other coatings. Seventy five employees at the Burbank Plant have a suit pending against Lockheed and companies that make and Supply the chemicals used to help the tighter avoid radar detection. More than 100 work ers have filed workers compensation claims alleging Pilicy suffer from injuries caused by the chemicals. The suit and the claims allege composite materials used in the fighter and chemicals used to Mill and clean those materials cause rashes nausea dizziness memory loss and concentration problems. Osha spokesman Frank Kane said the si.49 Mil lion Fine represented the ninth largest in the Agency s17-year history and the largest Ever levied in califor Nia. The record Fine was $5.1 million against two companies involved in an april 1987 Bridgeport conn., building collapse. Heart patient passes Milestone he s longest to live on electric blood pump Pittsburgh a Jack Fisher broke a record saturday As the person to live longest on an electric blood pump to help his ailing heart More than any thing though the 46-year-old Bond Salesman Hopes for a transplant. It s not a record 1 want to break he said Grin Niilo. But "1 Don t mind being a medical Pioneer Fisher said it living in his Hospital room with his wife edic 39, and four of their five daughters,1 the girls arrived thursday from the family s Home in Rumson to spend the easter weekend with their father. Surgeons at presbyterian University Hospital of Pittsburgh implanted a Noy acor left ventricular assist device into a dying Fisher in an operation that ended dec. 9. Saturday was Fisher s 107th Day with inc de vice while awaiting a transplant. He had been diagnosed 3 i years earlier with cardiomyopathy a disease of unknown origin that dam Ages heart muscle"1 think the toughest part psychologically is knowing that in order for you to live you have to Lake some thing a heart from somebody else even though you know the person can t use it he said. One of Fisher s daughters 13-year-old Alison has mixed emotions about her father s feat. It s kind of funny to think of my dad breaking a record she said. I mean thought it. Would be different record that he d break nol this one. I m upset that he s ski and everything but i m Happy he s the Ivy Pound polyurethane pump was implanted behind the muscle of the front abdominal Wall As a temporary Means of helping the left ventricle which docs 85 percent of the heart s work. Unlike the Jarvik and other total artificial hearts the Nova Cor and other assist devices do not req arc removing the patient s own diseased heart. They Are intended to keep people alive while awaiting trans plants although a Long term device May eventually be developed. The Nova Cor is the Only one of the devices to be driven by electricity making it less Bulky than the air driven models. A heart assist device driven by electricity rather than compressed air allows a patient awaiting a trans Plant More mobility and reduces the risk of infection said or. Peer Portnor president of inc California based Nova Cor division of Baxter healthcare corp. A tube protruding from Fisher s Abdomen carries if this stops clicking i m in Jack Fisher electrical wires that feed into a tiny White Box on his Lap. The Box in turn is connected by 20 feet of Cable to a 440-Pound console and computer that control the pump and Monitor his heart rhythm a technician pushes the equipment beside Fisher on his daily strolls Down Hospital hallways. Ever present is the loud constant Click of the pump As it distributes blood throughout Fisher s body the noise does t bother him and the pump is painless. If this stops clicking i m in trouble he said. Or. Robert Kormos one of his surgeons said it s hard to say How Long the Nova Cor pump could sustain Fisher. It s been essentially working faultlessly Kormos said. Since inc first Nova Cor implant in 1984 Al Stanford space Chick hatched from egg Louisville by. Dpi the world s first space Chick broke out of its Shell at 8 29 . Friday 12 Days after launch of the space shuttle discover 1. Discovery lifted off March 13 carrying 32 Chicken eggs As part of in Experiment to determine for the first Lime How an embryo dec Lopes in space. A control group of 32 eggs remained on the ground for compari son purposes. The Experiment named chix in space was de signed to measure inc effects of weightlessness on embryo development. It was conceived and developed by John Dillinger now a senior engineering student Al Purdue University. The first Chick to Hatch named Kentucky was to remain in its incubator for six to eight hours before being moved to a Coop in Louisville. Dolling or began the project in 1981 As an entry in a Hometown science fair. Since then he has worked with two space shuttle Crews witnessed the challenger disaster with his Experiment on Board and built a Sec Ond on Board incubator to Fly aboard discovery. This project May yield data which will help scientists understand the loss of Bone mass in astronauts prospects for human reproduction in space and the potential of chickens As a food source in space,1 Dyl Ling said. While in space the eggs were tended by he Astro nauts who monitored the humidity and the tempera Ture of the incubator dolling or designed. When the shuttle resumed the embryos contained in half of the eggs 16 from each group were examined to determine if any differences existed in tissue muscle or Organ development. The remaining half of the embryos will be allowed 10 grow into adulthood with close monitoring of their development. University 41 of the pumps have been used on people awaiting transplants Portnor said. Eighteen of the 41 patients went on to receive human hearts and were alive As of Friday Portnor said. Of the remaining 23, Fisher and three others were still on the device 15 died while on the Nova Cor and four died after getting a transplant. Until saturday the record for the most time on a left Van trial assist device was Tofi Days set in january by a 64-year-old pal incl on a Nova Cor Al methodist Hospital in Houston he received a human heart but the transplant was not successful and the patient died three Days later. The survival record for a total artificial heart is much longer William Schroeder of Jasper ind. Lived 620 Days on one before he died in August 1986. But patients with artificial hearts have All had various com plications and the use of the devices As permanent heart replacements has been largely suspended. More than 1.200 americans Are awaiting heart transplants. Obviously there s a great need to increase As much As possible the number of heart donors available Portnor said. The Only alternative for All those patients is a mechanical Fisher on leave since january 1988 from Scarson Lehman Brothers in new York said he is confident hell pull through with a transplant once a suitable donor heart is found. He does t sit around worrying when his Day will come. You Don t have any control Over in. There s Noth ing 1 can do he said shrugging. These Guys already took care of me once. I say they re going to take care of me he s always been one to fight the Odds his wife he s already proven thai Utah governor seeks fund for fus on Deve pm end Salt Lake City up Utah Cov. Norm Bangerter said Friday he will Call the stale legislature into special session to consider creating a s3 million fund to develop a breakthrough nuclear fusion process discovered at the University of Utah. The discovery which could revolutionise Energy generation was announced thursday by Stanley Pons chairman of the school s chemistry department and Martin Fleischmann electrochemistry professor at England s University of and Fleischmann said i Clr process using Sim ple equipment has the potential to turn common sea water into an inexhaustible Supply of Energy the governor s decision followed action by the school s regents Friday calling for an emergency meet ing with lawmakers and Ulah industrialists to secure funding for its scientific and engineering development
