SIMSBURY — Connecticut State Police have shut down their firearms training range on Nod Road in Simsbury to look into the possibility of elevated lead exposure, a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.
A safety shutdown was initiated April 4, with all live firearms-related training temporarily halted while the agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration conduct a “comprehensive evaluation of occupational health risks,” the spokesperson said.
State police did not specify what prompted the temporary shutdown, but said the agency “takes the health and wellbeing of its personnel seriously.”
The agency is now working with Connecticut OSHA to do a site assessment, a Department of Labor spokesperson said. Conn-OSHA has not recieved a complaint and the assessment is a consultation, the spokesperson said.
Rick Green, spokesman for the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said testing levels for lead were “elevated” but below OSHA standards. Green declined to comment on whether the testing was done on troopers who worked at the range or on the facility itself.
As part of the shutdown and evaluation, state police will provide voluntary occupational health screenings for employees assigned to the Firearms Training Unit and engage OSHA for an on-site “consultation and assessment regarding operational suitability,” the statement said.
The agency also will institute employee training on lead and noise mitigation and review and implement risk mitigation strategies “that can reduce occupational exposure to airborne lead, noise and other potential hazards associated with firearms training environments,” the spokesperson said.
In June, the state Bonding Commission approved nearly $12 million for a renovation of a training facility where the range is located, according to Green and Bond Commission documents.
Green said there also is a second proposal to upgrade the firing range currently before the legislature.
The range has been a source of controversy for years. Griswold residents nixed a plan to build a new state police range in their town, causing the state to withdraw the proposal. The project then morphed into a new plan to renovate the existing range in Simsbury, which neighbors also bucked, according to Relocatetherange.com.
A state police spokesperson said CSP has no other range so all firearms training has been halted for the time being.
Officials with OSHA did not immediately return emails or phone calls seeking comment Thursday.
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