Archive for June, 2007

A University of Pittsburgh English professor whose office contained asbestos is worried that she’s been exposed to airborne fibers from the hazardous material.

Asbestos was discovered in the office of Professor Jennifer Florian after custodians entered the room to fix a leaky window. According to an article in the Pitt News, maintenance workers opened the enclosure around a radiator that sat beneath the leaky window in Florian’s office and found insulation material that contained asbestos. Florian immediately called the university’s environmental health and safety office to report the problem.

Frank Pokrywka, a health and safety industrial hygienist and an asbestos expert, examined the situation along with the maintenance staff and said the problem was contained within days.
“It was never a [health] concern,” he said. “The material was such a minor amount; it wouldn’t have been an issue.”

But Florian, who wasn’t convinced that working in her office was safe, spent two days working from home. “It was disturbed or airborne,” she said. “They told me I could still work in the office, but I felt uncomfortable with it.”

The asbestos is now encapsulated in the office and Florian has returned to work. The health and safety office has vowed to address any additional asbestos problems immediately as they arise.

“We have a practice of abating it when we find it,” Pokrywka said, noting that hundreds of buildings on campus probably have unexposed asbestos in them that does not present a health hazard unless disturbed.

According to a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) press release, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint against the city of Winslow, Ariz., a former city administrator, and a former apartment complex owner for improper asbestos removal and demolition of nine apartment buildings. The complaint involves serious violations of the Clean Air Act.

The complaint focuses on the demolition of the Apache Apartments and the removal of asbestos from the buildings. According to the press release, extensive violations involve the “breaking up of, collection, transport, and burning of asbestos-containing materials.”

“This is one of the worst asbestos-related violations we have seen,” said Deborah Jordan, the EPA’s Air Division Director for the Pacific Southwest region. “The regulations that were violated in this case are designed to protect workers and the public from exposure to friable asbestos, a known carcinogen. Not only was asbestos released to the outside air during the demolition, but released again at the landfill, and again when the debris was burned and uncontained for weeks.”

Complex owner William Christie agreed in May 2002 to remove asbestos-containing siding from the building after it was declared uninhabitable. He was also to pay the city of Winslow $3,000 for city-employed crews to demolish and haul away all structures on the property, explains the press release.

Christie and other parties involved in the fiasco, including the city of Winslow, failed to notify the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality of their intent to demolish the apartments. Four of the nine buildings were demolished before neighbors began complaining and, after inspections were made, Christie was ordered to cease demolition. However, he failed to comply and the remaining buildings were demolished without proper permits and with asbestos in place.

Additionally, the article points out, some asbestos-contaminated debris was improperly disposed of at the Painted Desert Landfill, and more asbestos debris was transported to city-owned property and burned - resulting in additional asbestos release and exposure to workers and the public.

The defendants are subject to civil penalties of up to $27,500 per day for each of five violations.