Facilities in Many National Parks and Forests Do Not Meet Health and Safety Standards

Gao ID: CED-80-115 October 10, 1980

The National Park and Forest Services have not protected the health and safety of their visitors and employees. Substandard water and sewer systems and hazardous lodges, dormitories, bridges, and tunnels need to be repaired, upgraded, or limited in their use.

Health and safety inspectors found some facilities to be so hazardous that they recommended immediate closure until the facilities could be repaired or upgraded. The costs of bringing facilities up to standard range from $5,000 to $3.2 million. The Services took a broad range of actions once they became aware that a facility did not meet health and safety standards. The actions ranged from immediate closure of facilities to doing little. GAO was told of numerous actions taken to improve deficient facilities, but the improvements were often not sufficient to meet safety and health standards. During fiscal years 1979 through 1981, 50 percent of the construction funds that the Park Service recommended, and 69 percent of the recreation construction funds that the Forest Service requested were for projects other than health and safety. To correct identified health and safety deficiencies, the Park Service will have to spend about $1.6 billion, and the Forest Service needs about $109 million. There would have to be a five-fold increase in appropriations over the construction funds requested for fiscal year 1981. Two alternative funding methods are: charging higher entrance and camping fees at parks and forests, and negotiating with concessioners on a case-by-case basis to make health and safety improvements on facilities they own or manage.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Michael Gryszkowiec Team: General Accounting Office: Community and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 275-5514


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