Oceanic Time Warner Cable is threatening to cut service to Kuhio Park Terrace, saying its employees have faced continuous harassment at the public housing project and in several cases have been spit on or urinated on and had objects thrown at them from upper floors.

The situation has worsened in recent months, Oceanic officials said, because workers are going onto the property with more frequency for disconnections or to fix vandalized equipment.

"All we're trying to do is make sure that people can work safely," said Norman Santos, Oceanic vice president of operations. "Our guys told us something needed to be done for their own protection. If the situation continues, we may be forced to remove our services."

Oceanic and public housing officials met earlier this week to discuss the situation, which Santos said has been festering for years. Chad Taniguchi, executive director of Hawai'i Public Housing Authority, said he had never heard concerns about assault or harassment from Oceanic before.

But he had added that he is taking the issue seriously.

"Obviously, assault is not tolerated," he said.

Taniguchi said Oceanic workers will be escorted to apartments at KPT by staff at the housing project from now on. He also said that any residents witnessed assaulting an Oceanic worker would be evicted. KPT residents will meet with public housing officials on the issue.

The Oceanic concerns represent another black eye to the housing authority over its management of Kuhio Park Terrace, the largest public housing project in the Islands with 614 units in two 16-story high-rises. Residents of the project, along with their neighbors have long raised concerns about security, vandalism and backlogged repairs.

In December, a federal class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of its tenants, alleging unsanitary and substandard conditions at KPT. The suit was one of the reasons lawmakers in the last legislative session asked for an audit of the authority and the state of its projects.

Santos said Oceanic has about 250 customers at KPT.

He wrote a letter to the housing authority in June alerting them of the concerns about workers' safety. In it, he catalogued a long list of harassment and assaults against employees.

In one instance, he said, an Oceanic employee had to come to a colleague's aid after a resident allegedly threatened to throw him over the balcony for disconnecting service. Santos said workers have had such items as bottles and canned goods lobbed at them from high floors.

Santos added, in the letter, that several Oceanic workers have "reported being urinated or spit on by residents on upper floors." He said his employees have been forced to work in teams at KPT "with one or more employees watching for thrown objects and potential other threats."

Taniguchi said employees from other firms have not raised similar concerns, but he pointed out that they would not have to come to the housing project with as much regularity. Water and electricity at the projects are monitored on a central system and the wiring that provides telephone service is in control boxes in a basement at the project.