Chili's Gordon-Smith Contracting Could Be Fined $100,000

Last week, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued citations to a Chili, New York general contractor for ten violations of asbestos safety regulations. The combined fines for the citations total $99,925. OSHA charges that the company willfully exposed employees to asbestos during preparations for demolition at the former Genesee Hospital.

OSHA issued citations to the company last week for three “willful” and seven “serious” violations. The administration discovered the conditions while responding to employee complaints that they had been required to remove ceiling tiles and materials that had been embedded in asbestos containing materials without following proper procedures. OSHA and the EPA define guidelines for demolition that are designed to reduce the chance of exposure to airborne asbestos. The guidelines include wetting down materials with approved wetting agents before attempting removal, and wearing approved respirators. OSHA alleges that these procedures were not followed at the Genesee Hospital site, and that workers were not trained in asbestos removal methods.

Arthur Dube, director of OSHA’s Buffalo area office said that Gordon-Smith company officers are aware of the safeguards and know that they are required to protect employees from asbestos exposure, but chose not to provide them. Lawyers for Gordon-Smith informed OSHA that they will contest the charges which were turned up in an investigation that started September 4th.

The president of Gordon-Smith, Keith Gordon-Smith, denies the allegations, and says that OSHA based its ruling on 99 percent hearsay. Gordon-Smith said that the company will fight the charges in court. The company was given 15 days to respond to the citations. If the company and OSHA do not reach a settlement, an administrative law judge will consider the citation. No date has been set yet for either a settlement discussion or a hearing date.

Three of the ten citations are for “willful violations”, and account for $87,000 of the proposed fines. According to OSHA, willful violations are those which are committed with a plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee health. The remaining seven violations total $12,925. Those are considered “serious violations”, violations in which conditions could result in serious harm or death about which the employer should have known. The serious citations included: ncluding not ensuring that each employee wore the appropriate respiratory, hand and head protection; not immediately mending or replacing ripped or torn protective worksuits; no written respirator program; no qualified administrator for a respirator program; and not informing employees of the results of asbestos monitoring.

Genesee Hospital closed in 2001. It is part of a redevelopment project by Buckingham Properties which will repurpose the property as a mixed-use urban center.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 9th, 2007 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.