OSHA office in Bangor set to close

BANGOR – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regional office here is slated to close Friday, the regional administrator has confirmed. However, where the operation will set up next remained unclear Wednesday.

Until the matter is resolved, calls to the Bangor OSHA office automatically will be forwarded to the office in Portland.

Located on the second floor of the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building, the Bangor office has been one of only two OSHA work force assistance centers in Maine.

The Bangor office must move from its current location because the General Services Administration needs the space for other federal government functions, John Chavez, regional public affairs director for the U.S. Department of Labor in Boston and New York, noted in a statement issued Jan. 31. Chavez had no new information late Wednesday afternoon.

According to Chavez, the closure of the Bangor office arose as a proposal to increase efficiency and save costs by consolidating the Bangor and Portland offices into one site that would serve the entire state.

Despite the proposed consolidation, Chavez said, OSHA remained “fully committed to protecting the safety and health of workers in Maine regardless of the location of any office.”

OSHA Area Director C. William Freeman III, who works out of the Bangor and Portland offices, said last month that the work space OSHA now occupies in Bangor is needed by the federal court system, which also works out of the federal building. He said that OSHA’s offices must be vacated by Feb. 14.

On Wednesday, Freeman said he had not yet been told where the operation will move. The GSA was considering several options, including a consolidation in Augusta. However, he did not rule out the possibility that OSHA might continue to maintain a presence in the Bangor area.

He said there were no plans to reduce the number of staff, 14 of whom currently work out of Bangor and seven of whom are assigned to the Portland office.

The anticipated closure of the Bangor office prompted a protest in front of the federal building in Bangor on Jan. 31 that drew more than 20 demonstrators, including U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, a papermaker by trade, and former Maine AFL-CIO President Charles O’Leary.

Organized by the Greater Bangor Area Central Labor Council, the protesters cited the hardships moving the office to Augusta would impose on workers from northern Maine, who would have to travel an additional 78 miles.