Patriotism Shown in Red, White and Gilian Blue

September 11, 2001 is a date we will remember for as long as we live. On that day, the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed and about 2800 lives lost in the worst act of terrorism in our country’s 230 year history. We are all familiar with that terrible tragedy, but did you know that Sensidyne’s Gilian pump’s had a role in the historical site clean-up?

The EPA was given the task of environmental monitoring during the clean up at the World Trade Center site to assess the air quality of neighboring areas. They had to monitor the area for airborne dust, asbestos and heavy metals like lead and mercury, resulting from various building materials, electronics and even fluorescent bulb debris. For this task they used 40 of our AirCon-2 air samplers, placed in a grid pattern around the perimeter of the site. The EPA chose the AirCon-2, because of its wide flow range, battery operation and programmability feature that allowed the pumps to start and stop automatically at pre-set times. The AirCons proved to be so rugged and reliable that the EPA used them again for the New Orleans clean up after Hurricane Katrina. There, the units were utilized to monitor for nuisance dust and for airborne mold. In fact, since 2001, the EPA has purchased dozens of the AirCons so that EPA offices around the country have access to the venerable product, and they will be ready in the event of another disaster.

That takes care of the neighborhood air quality, but what about the breathing air quality for the 1500 workers at the World Trade Center site? Once again, Gilian was chosen. Workers at the site wore Gilian GilAir-3 and GilAir-5 personal sampling pumps to monitor for dust, asbestos and other air contaminants during the clean up.

We can be proud of the fact that we have products that have been employed into such noble duties. Our Gilian pumps are well known for their rugged reliability in the field. After all, the EPA doesn’t have to buy from us. They could purchase sampling pumps from a number of companies, but they chose Sensidyne and the Gilian air sampling pumps for this important work.