A settlement of more than $295,000 has been reached between Monterey County prosecutors and entities involved with a renovation project at Windsor Gardens, a nursing home in Salinas that was found to have violated asbestos regulations in 2012. The sum of the settlement included $225,000 in civil penalties to be paid by Windsor Gardens and S&F Management Company, as well as an additional $70,435, which is the responsibility of Stahl Contractors – the company hired to do the renovations. The contracting company’s workers neglected to handle the asbestos-containing materials in a way that minimized the patients’ and nursing home staff’s exposure to the hazardous substance.
The violations were the result of the nursing home and S&F’s failure to conduct an asbestos survey prior to the commencement of the renovation project. An asbestos-containing coating was left on the wallboards of patients’ rooms, and there was enough of the harmful toxin present for the facility to be in violation of acceptable levels. The asbestos would have been discovered had the required survey been done, rather than the insufficient, incomplete “operations and maintenance” report the defendants executed instead. Furthermore, the Monterey Bay Area Unified Air Pollution Control District and Cal-OSHA were not notified of the presence of asbestos, which is a state requirement for any project that involves the handling or removal of the substance.
S&F Management Company has come under fire for asbestos violations in the past. A 2009 renovation project at the Windsor Monterey Care Center resulted in a $110,000 settlement by that nursing and S&F.
There are specific regulations regarding the handling of asbestos because of the toxin’s harmful properties. Exposure to airborne asbestos fibers can result in a number of respiratory health problems, including mesothelioma.