Sodexho fined $81K for violations at W. Va. college
Federal officials said Thursday they intend to fine Sodexho Inc. $81,000 for health and safety violations that occurred when workers were removing asbestos earlier this year at Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the violations were found during a March inspection, and 12 were labeled serious. That means the employer knew or should have known the violation created the “substantial probability” of death or serious physical harm.
Bloomberg Businessweek. August 16, 2012. Full Article
Philippi, West Virginia
Asbestos recall could hurt Chinese automakers’ expansion efforts
Great Wall Motor and Chery Automobile, China’s two biggest car exporters, have recalled most of their vehicles sold in Australia after authorities found potential cancer-causing asbestos in some models.
The recall affects 23,000 vehicles.
Great Wall led shares of Chinese automakers lower in Hong Kong, as the discovery of asbestos — banned in 55 nations because of the fiber’s links to cancer and respiratory illnesses — undermined the nation’s carmakers in their push to build their brands in overseas markets.
Ying (Tian) and Fickling (David). Detroit Free Press. August 16, 2012. Full Article
Hackettstown, New Jersey
Blacks Road reopening delayed because of asbestos
Safety improvements at the Blacks Road-Watkins Road intersection, on the edge of Pataskala, have been delayed because of asbestos remediation at the house on the southwest corner.
Licking County Engineer Bill Lozier said the contractor was forced to stop work because of an Environmental Protection Agency investigation required for asbestos remediation prior to removal of the house.
Mallett, Kent. Newark Advocate. August 16, 2012. Full Article
Newark, Ohio
OSHA cites Johnson Controls for asbestos violations in Illinois
Federal workplace safety regulators have cited Johnson Controls Inc. for five health violations involving asbestos removal at an Illinois job site.
OSHA is proposing fines totaling $59,400 that resulted from work the company was doing at an AT&T Inc. building in Kankakee, Ill. According to OSHA, Johnson Controls did not provide training for employees conducting asbestos removal, and failed to perform air monitoring to measure for asbestos levels. The company also was cited after determining that employees weren’t using impermeable drop cloths or wearing protective clothing.
Content, Thomas. The Journal Sentinel. August 16, 2012. Full Article
Kankakee, Illinois
Housing authority fined for asbestos job
The state fined the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority for failing to perform an asbestos survey on a property that it had demolished and contained the potentially hazardous material….
The building was demolished in late-summer 2009 for new housing units, according to the documents. The state received a complaint about the project on Feb. 26, 2010, and inspected the site days later. Results from lab tests on materials from the site indicated the home’s linoleum flooring “was at least 35 percent asbestos,” according to the state Labor Department.
Yusko, Dennis. Saratoga Seen. August 17, 2012. Full Article
Saratoga Springs, New York
Pueblo landlord gets 4 years for hiring homeless to remove asbestos
A Pueblo landlord was sentenced to four years in state prison for hiring homeless people to remove asbestos from the condemned multi-family home he was demolishing….
The work between May 1, 2007, and July 11, 2007, led to the airborne distribution of asbestos, a toxic fiber that can cause lung illnesses that lead to death.
The Denver Post. August 17, 2012. Full Article
Pueblo, Colorado
Asbestos survey of Mount View finished; results to impact sale
An asbestos survey of Mount View Health Facility was completed Friday, with the results to determine in large part whether the sale of the vacant former county-owned nursing home will be completed….
According to the resolution passed by the Legislature, if the asbestos cost is more than $50,000, either side can cancel the sale within 10 days.
Prohaska, Thomas. The Buffalo News. August 18, 2012. Full Article
Lockport, New York
Trade unions appalled by Canada’s decision to reopen asbestos mines in Québec
Terming it ‘immoral’, Fiona Murie, Health and Safety Director of the BWI said “At a time when countries in the west are counting bodies and grappling with the increased number of asbestos-caused cancers, it is indeed immoral that the Government of India is importing over four hundred thousand metric tonnes of asbestos every year and putting it into the built environment. Canada should be ashamed of their role in supplying not only the asbestos, but moreso the misimformation that denies the risks to health and encourages its use.”
Building and Wood Worker’s International. August 6, 2012. Full Article
Quebec, Canada
The definite link between asbestos and lung cancer: Rates of cancer in the lung membrane among Israelis have multiplied by 6.7 percent between 1980 and 2007.
Data collected in 2008 by the Health Ministry determined that lung cancer and mesothelioma rates were often 10 times higher than the national average among residents of Nahariya and its surroundings who were employed in the local asbestos plant active from the 1950s until 1997.
Rates of cancer in the lung membrane among Israelis have multiplied by 6.7 percent between 1980 and 2007, from 1.3 cases per million people in 1980, to 8.8 per million in 2007. In November 2000, Health Ministry researchers reported that the rise in mesothelioma cases was related to the use of asbestos in the country, which reached its peak between 1976-1978.
Even, Dan. Haaretz. August 16, 2012. Full Article
Nahariya, Israel
Peru power plant demolisher quits
The contractor paid the city $100 to take ownership of the property. This arrangement shielded the city from liability and unknown costs including asbestos removal, which cost contractors $400,000, Schweickert said. The contractor agreed to this because of the large amount of marketable steel in the building.
Dankert, Jeff. News Tribune. August 17, 2012. Full Article
Peru, Illinois
Asbestos found: About 30 acres on island in Gulf Islands National Seashore closing for cleanup
Authorities have indefinitely closed about 30 acres on Horn island in the Gulf Islands National Seashore for a cleanup, saying broken tiles containing asbestos had been found at the former biological testing site for the U.S. Army.
The Washington Post. August 20, 2012. Full Article
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Asbestos, possible mustard gas discoveries lead to closure of part of Horn Island (updated)
“There are a lot of things about this situation we still don’t know since we just received confirmation on one substance,” [Gulf Islands National Seashore superintendent Dan] Brown said of the asbestos finding. “We are assembling a team of experts from a variety of disciplines to help us with this situation and as we continue this process we will do our best to keep the public informed about what we find out and our plans for cleanup.”
The Mississippi Press. August 21, 2012. Full Article
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Framingham suing contractor over contaminated fill sent to Milford
he town is under investigation for environmental violations and is suing a Walpole contractor after contaminated fill the firm dug up in Framingham ended up in a Milford resident’s backyard.
In turn, Purchase Street property owner Lillian Rowe of Milford and her son William Rowe, facing an estimated $900,000 bill to get rid of the mound of soil containing asbestos, are threatening to take Framingham to court.
Ameden, Danielle. The MetroWest Daily News. August 21, 2012. Full Article
Framingham, Massachusetts
Libby Legacy Project will educate public about city’s history slated for Friday afternoon, Sept. 7
Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 12, the Libby Legacy Project will be offering a free series of lectures about the history and ramifications of vermiculite mining and asbestos contamination in Lincoln County….
Topics of the lectures, which will be delivered by a variety of expert speakers, will range from the geology of the ore body to the history of vermiculite mining in Libby to the effects of asbestos on human health.
The Western News. August 21, 2012. Full Article
Libby, Montana
A Groton Elementary School Comes Together: Mary Morrisson Elementary was emptied this summer, the floor tile removed and replaced, and the classrooms put back together.
Groton’s Mary Morrisson Elementary School, where workers emptied all of the furniture to remove and replaces asbestos floor tile from 19 classrooms, seven storage areas, three offices and the gymnasium, is nearly completed….
The project had a budget of $250,000 and came in about $30,000 over budget, because concrete floors had to be leveled after tile and glue was removed, Greenleaf said.
Straszheim, Deborah. Groton Patch. August 21, 2012. Full Article
Groton, Connecticut
IDEM stops all activity at East and Robinson
According to Deputy Fire Chief Mark Baumgardner, Sr., when Zepeda talked to him she told him that until they know that there is no asbestos the building should be secured….
“Based on the results of the Pre-Demolition Asbestos Survey, abatement is required for the exterior window glazing, transite siding, transite paneling, pipe wrap, and duct wrap insulation per local, state and federal rules and regulations. Additionally, by advised Category 1 Non-Friable asbestos containing materials were identified.”
Conley, Kitty. Post-Trubune. August 21, 2012. Full Article
Crown Point, Illinois
Students back at Chiddix Jr. High after asbestos removal
With everything totally gutted after asbestos abatement process, some classrooms were able to be moved and reclaimed for another use. A former health room was retrofitted to be the district’s first specifically designed wireless computer science class room, Green said. “It’s the direction the district wants to go,” he said.
The project was on time on budget, with the asbestos abatement done by June 4 followed by the renovations. “The scope and size of this project would have been hard to do without the extra time,” said Superintendent Gary Niehaus.
Coulter, Phyllis. The Pantagraph. August 22, 2012. Full Article
Normal, Illinois
Oswego County social services building to have asbestos tiles removed
Oswego County officials are trying to solve a logistical nightmare.
The county Department of Social Services building at 100 Spring St. in the village of Mexico — where about 300 people work and about 135 residents visit daily — may need to closed this fall so asbestos-filled ceiling tiles can be replaced.
Groom, Deborah. The Post-Standard. August 22, 2012. Full Article
Mexico, New York
The Abandoned Asbestos Mining Town That Was Turned Into A Haven For Orphans: The African town of Bulembu found a way to revitalize after the collapse of its local industry: by giving back. There just remains the slight problem of all the asbestos still lying around
Despite its successes, not everyone is thrilled with the Bulembu project. Earlier this year, the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC), released a story questioning whether the former mining town is safe. It produced asbestos for decades, after all, and we now know that the substance can cause serious illness. The ABC piece explains that most of the children’s homes still have asbestos roofs, while the mine’s dump sits in the center of the town.
Schwartz, Ariel. Co. Exist. August 22, 2012. Full Article
Bulembu, Swaziland, Africa
Burglar put health at risk by breaking into asbestos-filled building in Syracuse
A burglar who took tools from a building undergoing renovations on James Street also put his health at risk, workers at the site told Syracuse police.
Police were called Tuesday to 615 James St. by workers removing asbestos at the building. Overnight Monday, someone broke into the building by breaking a three-by-three-foot hole through a brick wall, police said.
Baker, Robert. The Post-Standard. August 22, 2012. Full Article
Syracuse, New York