Henshaw to speak at BIG ARTS 9/11 event
A first-hand experience of 9/11 will be shared during a special commemorative event honoring the 25th anniversary at BIG ARTS on Sanibel.
That experience will be shared by city of Sanibel Vice Mayor John Henshaw, as he believes the heroes of that day should never be forgotten.
“Never forget them. Never forget the sacrifices they made. Never forget we are vulnerable in the sense that others want to do us harm and we need to be vigilant,” he said. “Live in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice — respect the freedoms that we have as a country, which are those freedoms in which they gave their lives.”
Henshaw began volunteering for the Tunnel for Towers Foundation about two years ago to help with one of the foundation’s objectives: Never forget 9/11. He said he has given similar presentations, many of which have been for students who may not have been alive on 9/11, which gives him the opportunity to share the history of that day.
The connection is given through his personal experience.
This year, BIG ARTS partnered with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation to present a special commemorative event honoring the 25th anniversary of 9/11 at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10.
“I go through the timeline at least in my presentation of what happened that day and then my involvement,” Henshaw said. “I think it is important that all of us, regardless of how old we are, remember that day and make sure we never forget those victims, and heroes at two levels — firefighters and police officers and the heroes that actually drove the plane into the ground, so it didn’t kill other people.”
Although the event is free, tickets are required by visiting my.bigarts.org/5600/5601. There is a limit of six tickets per customer.
Henshaw said Bank of the Islands underwrote the whole event, so it could be offered for free for those who attended.
The microphone will be passed at the end of the presentation for those who wish to share where they were on 9/11 or talk about who they lost.
In 2001, Henshaw was the assistant secretary for labor and occupational safety and health for OSHA, a federal agency in the Department of Labor that sets the standards for workplace safety and health. He worked for OSHA for about three and a half years before resigning after the 2004 election and moving to Sanibel in January 2005.
Henshaw said he was talking to staff in Wisconsin on that Tuesday morning when he got word of what was happening. He drove back in the government car to Washington, D.C., and then traveled to New York by train.
OSHA had 21 people in Building six who were able to evacuate before the North Tower came down.
“I didn’t know whether they made it home after the towers collapsed,” Henshaw said until a day later.
He recalls the first days as pretty traumatic, as the pile at ground zero was not cornered off, leaving it accessible for anyone to walk onto. The National Guard soon came in and put a chain link fence around the area.
Upon his arrival in the emergency vehicle, he remembers New Yorkers waving flags and thanking them for coming to help through the disaster. He said he was pretty moved by the reception the people of New York provided.
“All the OSHA folks made it through. Some were traumatized significantly. Eventually they came back, all of them came back to work,” Henshaw said.
When they returned to work they started talking about what they could do to minimize further risk of life.
He explained that OSHA did not have jurisdiction over municipal employees, but over the private sector — contractors.
“Our first objective was to get a hold of the four primary contractors that the city had identified to help in search and rescue, clean up and recovery,” Henshaw said.
They remained at ground zero around the clock to ensure OSHA standards were being followed, and if something was found wrong, it would be fixed right away.
“We spent 10 months, 24/7 advising, helping inspectors that OSHA standards be followed,” Henshaw said. “We did what we could to assure people were following the right kind of procedures and practices as it relates to safety and we began to monitor the air.”
He said their data indicated because of the unknowns, anytime someone was on the pile or ground zero, they had to wear respiratory protection.
“That’s what we imposed on contractors and subs as soon as we got them on Wednesday and Thursday of that week,” Henshaw said. “Eventually we got fire, police and port authority folks on board, as well.”
There were thousands of OSHA federal and state employees who rotated in an out during that 10-month period. He said their injury rate was about half in that 10-month period of what would normally be expected from a demolition project.
Afterward, a recap was done to discuss what worked and did not work. Henshaw said going forward after 9/11, all emergency responders — whether within the OSHA jurisdiction or not — will wear respiratory protection. He said everyone knows what an air purifying respirator is and are properly fitted, tested and trained with the devices.
“God forbid they ever need it again — they now have the equipment to wear that protects them,” Henshaw said. “The key is having them available and wearing it when you need it.”
BIG ARTS is at 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel.