IRS employee safety at risk at Missouri storage site

The Internal Revenue Service needs to make improvements to protect the health and safety of employees working at an underground file storage site, where the perils include falling rocks and broken ladders.

The so-called “C-site,” located in Independence, Missouri, has been the subject of complaints by IRS employees and their union, according to a report released last week by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. In August 2022, the National Treasury Employees Union president sent a letter discussing various health and safety concerns at the C-site. Among the NTEU’s complaints were rocks and debris falling onto vehicles parked outside, busted ladders, unacceptable air quality and fire safety hazards. In response, the IRS temporarily closed the C-site. TIGTA conducted an evaluation to assess operations at the facility, including the IRS’s efforts to address health and safety concerns reported by employees working at the facility.

The C-site mainly stores forms such as the Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping) Tax Return, as well as Forms 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, and Forms 8821, Tax Information Authorization. Employees there are responsible for filing the forms and providing them to other IRS employees who may need them to perform examinations, collections and tasks. However, any workers there are vulnerable.

“Unless the IRS addresses the issues identified, the IRS exposes its C-site workforce to unnecessary safety risks,” said the report. “Further, these concerns can slow the retrieval of needed tax forms, thus delaying the IRS’s ability to perform its tax administration duties.”

The report noted that repeated concerns have been raised about possible damage to vehicles from debris and rocks falling from the ceiling in the area that C-site personnel park their vehicles. Employees told TIGTA this has actually happened. IRS management indicated that they did consider installing a net system but noted that it would cost about $1 million. During TIGTA’s visit, it observed other businesses that had installed plastic sheeting to protect their employees’ vehicles and recommended installing a similar ceiling protection net above the parking lot.

TIGTA’ s report found immediate action needs to be taken by the IRS to address employee health and safety concerns at the C-site. That includes reducing the unnecessary storage of tax documents that can be purged, as well as shipping and storing Forms 2848 and 8821 in another IRS facility. The report also recommended installing a catwalk to eliminate the use of ladders that often aren’t meeting safety standards and would improve the safety of employees. 

During an onsite inspection of the C-site in May, TIGTA identified health and safety issues that hadn’t been previously identified, including with fire extinguishers. IRS Facilities Management and Security Services officials indicated C-site staff weren’t allowed to use the available fire extinguishers located throughout the facility because they haven’t been trained.  

TIGTA’s on-site inspection also uncovered concerns raised by the Federal Occupational Health agency and employees working at the site were not addressed. Among the concerns, the ladders being used at the C-site don’t meet safety standards. On top of that, IRS employees said requests they’ve made for health and safety equipment aren’t being carried out, including requests for protective equipment, a camera at the entrance to the C-site so employees can see who is at the door before providing them entrance to the facility, and protective covering in the parking lot to protect personal vehicles from rocks falling from the ceiling.  

IRS officials contended that a camera was installed that enabled employees to monitor who was at the door. However, TIGTA pointed out that the two cameras that were installed were inside the facility and not outside the door.

Not only that, but the lease of the C-site expires in October 2024 and the IRS doesn’t have a clear plan yet to determine its future options, whether that means extending the C-site lease, securing another building to store existing and future forms, or scanning and digitizing the documents.    

TIGTA made 18 recommendations in the report, including to develop processing procedures to timely purge documents, identify a suitable facility to store Forms 2848 and 8821, access storage boxes without the use of a ladder, train C-site staff on fire safety including the use of fire extinguishers, ensuring that fire extinguishers are appropriately placed, take corrective actions to address all of the Federal Occupational Health agency recommendations, address employee health and safety requests, and evaluate options that can and need to be taken to address the pending lease expiration of the C-site. 

The IRS agreed with TIGTA’s recommendations and plans to take action to correct the problems. “Our employees are our most valuable resource, and addressing the legitimate concerns that TIGTA, our employees and NTEU raised will help us to provide our staff a safer work environment,” wrote Richard Rodriguez, chief of the Facilities Management and Security Service at the IRS, in response to the report. “The IRS started using the C-site in 2004 and is one of several lessees in this man-made cave complex.”

He added that FMSS has ordered new ladders, but agreed in principle that employees should be able to access the stored boxes of paper files without ladders. The IRS is pursuing options such as relocating forms to lower shelves and other storage areas that employees can access without having to climb tall ladders. The IRS is also contracting a feasibility study to look into installing raised catwalks.