More on Las Vegas Airport Whistleblower Case

Whistleblower Questions Construction Safety

at Las Vegas International McCarran Airport

Part II

By Darcy Spears

June 12, 2008

Federal investigators are coming to Las Vegas to help make sure concrete at McCarran Airport is safe.

This comes just one month after Contact 13 exposed allegations by an inspector turned whistleblower who says deadlines and dollars are trumping construction safety at McCarran Airport.

Contact 13 chief investigator Darcy Spears has the exclusive follow up.

In May, Contact 13 first exposed allegations of unsafe concrete in taxiways and tarmacs at McCarran as well as test results being doctored to keep jobs on track.

Those allegations are now being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration, the US Department of Transportation and the Clark County Building Department.

"It is about time that someone takes a real hard look at this," said John Zedler.

Certified concrete inspector John Zedler says inspection reports were being altered to make failing concrete pass strength and safety tests.

Zedler worked for Western Technologies on two projects at McCarran.

When he told his bosses test results were being doctored, they asked for his field notes and fired him the next day.

"They were more scared about me having these notes and contacting people about it," explained John.

Records Action News obtained show his notes do not match the final reports Western Technologies filed with the county.

On those reports, some cases had a failing number that was scratched out and a passing one written over it.

"They are sacrificing quality and safety for a dollar and that is the bottom line," said John.

Bechtel and the Department of Aviation, who are Western Technologies' bosses on the airport site, admit some concrete was poured after failing safety tests.

But they say that does not matter because Western Technologies standard follow up tests show the concrete is structurally sound.

They would not investigate John Zedler's allegations and they would not talk to Action News on camera.

So with the FAA, the US Department of Transportation and the County Building Department all investigating John Zedler's allegations, why is the County Department Of Aviation not looking into it?

They still maintain that the concrete is structurally sound, even though they are getting their information from the very company that all those other agencies are investigating.

"I am so happy, so glad, so relieved that the other entities are involved with this," said John.

Federal investigators may be taking John's allegations more seriously because they have seen it before.

Just in the last year, runways and taxiways at Denver International Airport and the Colorado Springs Airport had to be replaced long before their life expectancy at a cost of over $60 million.

A lawsuit revealed that quality tests at the Colorado airports were being faked to mask diluted concrete.

After our story aired, Action News heard from a contractor currently working on several McCarran projects who believes Western Technologies is involved in improper quality assurance testing.

A former Western Technologies employee wrote it is part and parcel of the company's business process.

"I believe that they were going to just think that I was going walk away from it and that I was not going to go as far as I did with it. But this is something that needs to be brought to the attention of the public," said John.

The county just closed its inquiry for the time being, saying Western Technologies has substantially complied with its quality control procedures and no action will be taken at this time.

They did no independent testing of the concrete.

They say they are waiting on the FAA and DOT to see if other action is necessary.

DOT is sending an investigator to Las Vegas in July.

Under state law, The Department of Aviation has an eight year hidden defect warranty on the tarmac concrete, what they call a safety net since defects often do not show up for years.

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8485284

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