Oct 21, 2014 6 min read

WAYNESBURG – Greene County Judge Farley Toothman asked Waynesburg Borough to have its engineer inspect the courthouse to ensure it complies with Labor and Industry standards in light of changes made to the building in the last few years.

Toothman asked the borough, in a letter dated Oct. 9, to authorize K2 Engineering to complete the inspection. K2 administers the uniform construction code for the borough and would determine compliance with those standards.

Toothman said he remembers the difficulties the county had in receiving state Department of Labor and Industry approval for the building when the addition was completed in 1998. He was a county commissioner then.

Recent changes made to the building and its uses, he said, warrant a review to make sure the courthouse has adequate ingress and egress in an emergency. “Because the access points and the way we use the building have changed, I want to make sure it continues to meet Labor and Industry standards,” Toothman said.

One of the changes is the addition of security equipment at the main entrance that was installed in March. The security station, he said, blocks one of the two curved stairways in the front of the building to Courtroom No. 1.

Courtroom No. 1 has an occupancy limit of 300 people, Toothman said. “But that was based on having two major stairways,” he said.

The court, in addition, recently began holding child dependency and custody hearings on the third floor of the new section, which now means that at times many more people are on that floor. The only egress is the elevator and two stairways, one of which is a fire stairway, he said.

Toothman said he feels safe in the building but believes when modifications are made issues such as how quickly people can exit in an emergency should be reviewed. “As a public building, it’s a safety issue,” he said.

Greene County Chief Clerk Jeffrey Marshall said the county believes the building is safe and in compliance with all building codes. “We’re not opposed to having a third party look at the building and will work with K2 to determine whether there is a need to re-evaluate it,” he said. “We want to insure the safety of our employees and the public in all of our facilities.”

Marshall noted, however, all structural changes made to the building since the addition was constructed in 1998 have been inspected and approved by K2 Engineering.

The county early last year spent more than $750,000 to repair timbers that had begun to separate at joints between the ceiling and roof in the building’s old section. As part of the project, the county also updated the sprinkler and the heating and air conditioning systems.

The commissioners also decided last year to install the security equipment, feeling there was a need to make the building more secure, Commissioner Charles Morris said. “But being as old as it is, with the floor plan and design, it’s not necessarily conducive to security; there’s not much room.”

The equipment the county has at the main entrance is portable, Morris said. “So if an emergency arose it can be easily pushed away for access to that side of the spiral stairway,” he said.

The equipment doesn’t block the stairway; however, a plastic police tape at the top prevents people from using it. Anyone who would walk down the steps would end up behind the security station. Marshall said he believes the matter can be easily addressed by removing the tape and putting up a sign “for emergency use only.”

He also noted sheriff’s deputies are now at the station when the building is occupied and could assist in any emergency evacuation.

No changes have been made to the building in regard to access to the third floor. The third floor has two approved stairways, Marshall said.

The entrance to the fire stairway on the east side of the building is open on all floors except the second floor where it enters the judge’s chambers. On that floor, the door automatically unlocks when the fire alarm is activated, he said.

The courthouse was inspected last month by Cocciardi and Associates Inc., a safety and emergency preparedness consultant, for the county’s workers’ compensation coverage.

The inspection was conducted in accordance with standards established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National Fire Protection Association and other regulatory agencies, the company’s report said.

Only two minor issues were noted, both in the boiler room. The report noted a garden hose was lying on the floor and there was an unguarded floor opening, presumably for a sump pump, both of which could create a tripping hazard.

Toothman, in his letter, also asks K2 Engineering to consider whether other conditions in the courthouse constitute a hazard, including the storage of materials in the fire stairway and the front elevator area and the storage of flammable materials in the furnace room.

Recyclable materials are placed by employees under the fire stairway on the ground floor, Marshall said. Maintenance employees try to remove them twice a week, but they are not in an area that would inhibit ingress or egress to the building.

Items such as tables for the courthouse bake sales are stored in the room in front of the courthouse on the first floor. The front elevator is in the room, but access to it is not blocked by the stored items, Marshall said.

A lawnmower is kept in the furnace room but is away from the boilers, Marshall said. He said he would check to make sure it does not present a problem. The workers’ compensation consultant also had not cited it as an issue.

Toothman also asked whether a wooden walkway constructed on the roof for workers to cross over the ductwork meets the building code.

Marshall said the 6-to-8-foot-long structure was built for the safety of employees to gain access to part of the roof. If it were not there, the employees would have to walk about 30 feet along the edge of the roof to get around the ductwork.

In addition, Toothman said that since work was completed to repair the ceiling in the main courtroom he believes the building’s masonry foundation has begun to show signs of weight stress, water or fatigue cracks and sinking.

Marshall noted, however, work on the ceiling had actually lightened the load from the ceiling. The sprinkler system was changed to a dry system that only fills with water when activated; the air handlers also were relocated as part of the project, he said. Marshall said the county architect will be in Waynesburg on another matter in the next few days and would be asked to look at the issues Toothman cited regarding the foundation.