Water Gremlin employee blows the whistle on what he calls health hazards, safety violations

By Jennifer Mayerle

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    WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP, Minnesota (WCCO) — A worker at Water Gremlin is blowing the whistle on what he says are systemic problems at the manufacturing plant. His concerns range from health hazards to worker safety.

WCCO News’ investigation into the White Bear Township plant began four years ago, leading to more accountability and enforcement action. For the first time publicly, a long-time worker told Jennifer Mayerle things aren’t changing fast enough, and he’s ready to talk about it.

“Steven Wurtz, over 25 years at Water Gremlin,” Wurtz said.

Wurtz says since Water Gremlin got in trouble over pollution violations four years ago, he’s tried to be part of the solution.

“I’m a training coordinator at Water Gremlin and I care about people’s health and their livelihood, and I feel like our lives are in jeopardy. And I’ve been speaking up numerous, numerous times and I don’t get anywhere,” Wurtz said.

He says he didn’t know about the excessive emissions of TCE until the state slapped the manufacturing plant with $7 million in fines and corrective action in early 2019.

The toxic chemical known to cause cancer and birth defects was released at elevated and unsafe levels into the surrounding neighborhood for more than 15 years. Ninety-five people have sued the company alleging cancer, chronic illness and wrongful death. Since then he says he took it upon himself to learn more about the inner workings of the White Bear Township plant.

“So you’re willing to risk your job to speak up?” Mayerle said.

“Absolutely,” Wurtz said.

“What is the overall concern for you with Water Gremlin?” Mayerle said.

“Overall concern, there’s a lot of issues. Health and safety is really a big one,” Wurtz said.

Wurtz says he’s witnessed persistent problems. Lead tops his list. The plant produces lead fishing sinkers and battery terminals.

“We’ve had the past before with migrating lead home to children,” Wurtz said.

A WCCO News investigation led to the Department of Labor and Industry temporarily shutting down the plant in October of 2019 due to lead migration. Workers were unknowingly bringing lead home, poisoning some kids. A judge declared Water Gremlin a public health nuisance. It was allowed to re-open with forced improvements and court oversight.

Wurtz showed us recent lead sampling results. Month after month, charts show lead levels above their goal in certain areas.

“We don’t do enough. Whatever it is, we’re not doing enough,” Wurtz said.

He says he’s careful, but recently failed what’s called a lead wipe test. He showed us an email depicting how some of it may be happening.

“We threw contaminated booties into the garbage,” Wurtz said.

“How should they be disposed of instead?” Mayerle asked.

“They need to be in a hazardous barrel, labeled and the lid closed,” Wurtz said.

His concerns extend beyond lead. He worries about the safety inside.

“We have operators on the machines that are not supposed to be running machines by themselves, who are not training them,” Wurtz said.

In a February 2023 email, Wurtz writes: “How does he run machines without being trained.” The next day, another email shows someone did order the training.

“I bring up a lot of this stuff actually at safety committee meeting, the lockout-tagout training…the melt burn test, so for months and months there’s notes and documentation where I bring that stuff up,” Wurtz said.

He points out the issues he’s raised in the safety committee meeting notes.

Another concern: he says he’s seen violations with how chemicals are handled and transferred.

“Sometimes they drop off the chemicals in south campus. They bring it in shipping area and then a forklift puts it out at Door 7 and it just sits there. It’s a serious chemical and it needs to be set in its own department,” Wurtz said.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) previously fined the plant over hazardous waste violations. Wurtz says he’s raised these same concerns with the company and state agencies.

“When I went to my managers, I went to my boss for help to no avail, so I did reach out to MPCA, Ramsey County and of course OSHA. So yes, I did reach out because I wanted a change, I wanted it different,” Wurtz said.

OSHA recently opened a new health investigation into Water Gremlin as a result of Wurtz coming forward. Ramsey County said a recent complaint helped inform its latest inspection. Wurtz is asking for more.

“I’m worried about MPCA, OSHA and Ramsey County. I want to find out if we matter or not. Our lives are in jeopardy. We need help. I’m pleading for help,” Wurtz said.

“Do you fear people will get hurt if things continue the way they are?” Mayerle said.

“There’s no doubt. There’s no doubt people will get hurt if we don’t wake up like right now,” Wurtz said.

“Do you think Water Gremlin should still be open?” Mayerle said.

“Wow, that’s a tough question. I so believe in giving second chances. I so believe in forgiving to move on, I’m so compassionate about that. But I also believe we had three or four years where we had to turn our ways, change our ways and we haven’t done it. We haven’t done it. I feel bad for people and myself that would lose their jobs, we’d have to start all over again, but I don’t think we deserve it right now,” Wurtz said.

Wurtz is currently taking a few weeks of vacation to give him time to decide what’s next.

The president of Water Gremlin, Bradley Hartsell, sent this statement:

Water Gremlin has 175 employees who are encouraged to raise any safety concerns at any time directly or anonymously. We investigate every safety report and take corrective action when necessary. We have a full-time safety director and staff who provide ongoing training for all our employees, as well as a safety committee. We have a robust lead testing program, both for our facility and our employees, including yearly blood testing to document that we are meeting safety standards. The well-being of our employees is of utmost importance, and our safety programs are fundamental to our management team and to each of our employees.

WCCO News reached out to MPCA, Ramsey County and OSHA.

OSHA replied with a statement:

Minnesota OSHA Compliance (MNOSHA) is investigating a complaint at Water Gremlin. Because of that, no further public information is available until the file is closed. Priority is given to formal employee complaints concerning unsafe or unhealthful working conditions. Every employee can notify MNOSHA to request an inspection when he or she thinks there is a violation of an OSHA standard that threatens physical harm to employees.

Ramsey County:

Ramsey County takes complaints very seriously and connects with other regulatory programs and agencies when the concerns are outside of our jurisdiction. When Ramsey County receives a complaint involving workplace safety, we consult with our state partners and forward concerns to the appropriate agency to investigate. We also advise the individual who has contacted us with that concern to report it directly to the agency with regulatory responsibility so they can provide first-hand knowledge of the situation and additional details that might be needed.

In regards to the worker that has come forward with concerns about health hazards and worker safety, our public health department received complaints earlier this year with similar concerns. We contacted the department of health and MN OSHA and were told that the complainant should contact MN OSHA directly as well. We provided information to the complainant on different methods they could use to report their complaint to MN OSHA. We continue to work with the MPCA, MDH and other agencies to inspect and monitor the situation at the facility and work with Water Gremlin to follow up on compliance with our hazardous waste inspections. While the complaints we received weren’t the impetus for our most recent inspection, it did inform our work to regulate hazardous waste management.

MPCA: The MPCA has not directly received any complaints that would have triggered our staff to conduct any special inspections at the Water Gremlin facility. Our air permitting staff continues to work toward issuing a new air quality permit that will hold the company accountable to well defined operating guidelines.

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