Tag Archives: occupational safety and health administration

Inspectors Approve Cleanup of Site Once Called ‘Worst Asbestos Hazard’ in Maine

In June, we wrote about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reporting that construction workers and emergency responders could have been exposed to dangerously high levels of asbestos at a demolition site in Wilton, Maine. On September 14, 2012, the Morning Sentinel reported that former Forster Mill that had been called “the worst asbestos hazard in the state” just last month has been cleaned up. The Franklin Sun Journal reported that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved the cleanup after a walk around the mill. “Two months ago, none of us would have put money on the table that this was going to happen,” DEP spokeswoman Samantha Depoy-Warren told the Sentinel. She said “enforcement team members were jubilant” when reviewing before and after photos of the site. “We’re all just beaming,” Depoy-Warren told the Sentinel. “This is why we do the work we do. This is the…
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OSHA Fines Seven Companies Nearly $150K for Exposing Employees to Asbestos

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued press release on September 10, 2012, announcing that the federal agency had cited seven construction companies with 45 serious violations for exposing workers to asbestos hazards at a San Antonio work site. OSHA levied $148,000 in proposed penalties against three Miami-based contractors and four San Antonio-based subcontractors. According to the release, OSHA’s San Antonio Area Office initiated a safety and health inspection in March at the Reserves at Pecan Valley apartment complex in response to a referral by the Texas Department of State Health Services. OSHA inspectors found the workers remodeling apartments did not have proper clothing or respiratory equipment to protect them from asbestos exposure. The press release noted that a serious violation is when there is “a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.” “Asbestos…
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Another Project Delayed by Asbestos Removal Issues

Proper removal of asbestos has been a concern for a number of years now, and the video above features a clip from a film made more than three decades ago to educate workers about asbestos removal. While much more is now known about the dangers of asbestos than was understood in 1978, when this film was originally made, removing asbestos safely still seems to cause more problems than it should around the country. A couple of weeks ago, we noted the problems that a dispute over asbestos handling was causing in New Orleans. The Morning Sentinel reported on June 10, 2012, that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is moving forward with fines and additional steps “it hopes will pressure two private companies to finish removing asbestos from a demolition site on Depot Street.” According to the Sentinel, the two companies face fines after the DEP accused them of…
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Is Asbestos the Clubhouse Cancer in New York?

Last August, voters in New York’s Nassau County rejected a proposal for a taxpayer-funded new arena to replace the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the 40-year-old arena that is home to the National Hockey League’s (NHL) New York Islanders. The second-oldest and second-smallest capacity building in the NHL has been considered obsolete for a number of years, and now it may be considered dangerous too. NBC New York reported on March 26, 2012, that about a dozen workers claim that several areas of the arena are covered with what they believe is asbestos, prompting an investigation by the New York State Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). According to NBC, two workers have contracted mesothelioma and the workers suspect that the building played a role. Electricians, plumbers, stagehands, carpenters and other coliseum workers are now preparing to file a federal class action lawsuit against the building’s…
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