NEWFOUNDLAND – CAW employees who work on board the Marine Atlantic freighter had expected to return to a vessel completely cleaned of asbestos. Now those workers have learned that may not be the case.

The Marine Atlantic has been making headlines for the past several months after it was announced that the commercial ferry had been found to contain friable asbestos, and that hundreds of crew members and others may have been exposed to the deadly fibers. The company has taken responsibility for the asbestos exposure and is working to notify and test more than 1,000 present and former employees for signs that they were affected by asbestos on board. All of them will be contacted and offered the option of having the company conduct testing for signs of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

The original plan for dealing with the asbestos contamination had been to have the asbestos totally removed while the freighter was laid up in dry dock for her usual winter vacation. The ship typically winters over in dry dock, undergoing any needed repairs, and returns to service in the Spring.

After the company learned that complete asbestos removal could take up to a year, however, the decision was made to encapsulate any remaining asbestos so that it cannot escape into the air. The asbestos on the ship was originally encapsulated in the early 1990s, but neglect and wear exposed the asbestos to become a hazard again.

Sue Irvine, Union representative for CAW, stated that some of the employees are anxious and uncomfortable about the prospect of working on the ship with asbestos on board. She added that she is confident that the company’s encapsulation measures will make the freighter a safe work environment.

Health and safety inspectors will be watching the company closely to be sure that the crew gets both the training they need for proper maintenance of the encapsulation materials, and the personal safety equipment that should have been issued years ago.

Irvine said that once the Marine Atlantic is judged a safe work environment by inspectors, employees will not have the right to refuse to work on board.

CAW has been trying to locate and charter a freighter to replace the commercial ferry while it is laid up, but has had no luck in finding a ship owner with whom to strike a deal. The company is still in negotiation and has little comment on that line of inquiry.

According to Irvine, however, the union has been told that the company found four suitable vessel, all owned by the same European owner. The owner wants to either sell the ships or charter them for a full seven year term. CAW is not interested in doing either.

If no deal is struck before it’s time for the Marine Atlantic to resume her duties, workers will be returning to a ship that may still have asbestos on it. Irvine says that this time around, the employees will be trained in the proper methods of dealing with the encapsulated asbestos, and be provided with any personal safety equipment that may be deemed necessary.

NEWFOUNDLAND – At least three workers from the Marine Atlantic have been told to seek further tests from their family doctors for health issues that may be related to asbestos, said a Union representative.

The three workers were part of a group of workers how underwent health tests provided by the company in December after learning that they had been exposed to friable asbestos while working on or around the Marine Atlantic. Thirty-nine of fifty-eight employees completed all of the tests in December. Of those, seven were told to consult their family physicians for further testing. Three were told that their health issues may be asbestos-related. Fourteen others declined the testing.

Union representative Sue Irvine stated that the testing will continue for quite some time as there are over 1,000 past and present employees and others who may have been exposed to the hazardous substance on board the Marine Atlantic.

The first group of employees invited to be tested at Port aux Basques were those deemed by the company to be at high risk of asbestos exposure. Ms. Irvine said that those invited to the first clinic were present employees. She believes that those at highest risk have not been addressed yet – retired employees who spent years working on the Freighter in jobs where the chance of exposure was high.

CAW is also contacting dock workers, truck drivers and other contractors who may have been exposed to asbestos on the freighter. Those people have been sent a questionnaire to help determine how much risk there is of them having been exposed to asbestos, which causes serious health complications like asbestosis and mesothelioma.

The company has assured the Union that any workers compensation claims for those who develop asbestos-related health problems after exposure will be uncomplicated and straightforward because the company has acknowledged its responsibility. Benefits will depend on the illness and other factors.

Because the asbestos exposure is covered under the workers’ compensation plan, employees will not be able to file any civil court actions against the company. The company said that there will be more clinics to test workers, but have not yet set dates.

“This could be ongoing for years and years,” she said. “There are no rules about who will get sick. It’s totally random.”

The complete picture of damage from the untreated asbestos problems on the Marine Atlantic may take decades to unfold. Asbestos exposure is a major risk factor for lung cancer and a number of other cancers like mesothelioma, as well as non-malignant illnesses and conditions like asbestosis. It can be up to three decades before those problems develop, however, and not everyone who is exposed gets sick. So far, research into asbestos exposure and illness has shown a positive connection between asbestos and the conditions, but no one has identified a way to determine who will become ill. Some workers who had heavy exposure to asbestos do not become ill, while others with very limited exposure have been diagnosed with mesothelioma.

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut – The fire may be out in New Haven, but the controversies it engendered are still smoldering. A December 12 fire in downtown New Haven sparked concerns among city officials and firefighters about asbestos exposure. Now the owner of the burned structure implies that the city’s hasty actions to demolish the building may have released even more asbestos into the air.

The December 12th fire was the worst fire to affect downtown New Haven in decades. It broke out at the Brass Monkey, a new bar in the old Kresge building, and quickly spread to nearby businesses. At its height, dozens of firefighters were involved in containing the blaze.

The morning after the blaze, official air quality tests at the fire site showed elevated levels of airborne asbestos.  Many of the firefighters had fought the blazes from outside the building without wearing protective face masks that would have filtered out any harmful asbestos fires. That raised concerns that the firefighters who fought the fire may have been exposed to airborne asbestos, a serious health hazard that causes mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that has no other cause. Asbestos exposure can also cause a number of other disabling, painful and fatal conditions that include asbestosis, lung cancer, asbestos cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, mouth cancer and a number of other cancers.

The elevated asbestos levels at the site also raised concerns among city officials about the possibility of public asbestos exposure, especially since the fire site was a busy downtown street with a great deal of traffic. Because of the concern, the city asked that the building owner Paul Denz expedite demolition of the property. Denz, on vacation in Florida, balked at demolition, offering instead to cover the ruins with plywood to isolate the possible asbestos threat to the city. Mayor John DeStefano, citing safety concerns, stated that if Denz refused to take the building down in a timely manner, the city would take control of the property and demolish the building at Denz’ expense.

On December 31, over objections from Denz, the city began the demolition of the old Kresge building. Unfortunately, in their haste to demolish the building, the city failed to consider its structural issues. In the course of the demolition, a beam in the Kresge building collapsed, taking down a key support to the Spector building, next door. On January 10, the city demolished the Spector building over the objections of Shang Jin Hahn, the owner of that building.

A spokesman for the mayor said that the city had no choice. The Spector building was built from an outdated design and relied on part of its structural support from the Kresge building.

Denz says the city acted too hastily, and that it has taken an antagonistic stance toward property owners. He claims that the city has overstepped their bounds. In reference to the demolition and the collapse that eventually brought down the Spector building, Denz pointed out that if a private citizen had “been doing it that way”, he probably would have ended up in jail. He also pointed out that, ironically considering the city’s concerns about the property in the first place, the two buildings that were demolished contained lots of asbestos in the tiles and pipe fittings.

An environmental monitor was on-site throughout the demolitions, taking air quality samples. None of them showed significant levels of asbestos.

MADISON COUNTY, Wisconsin – Bruno Zagar has filed suit in Madison County District Court against ten defendant corporations for exposing his father to the asbestos that caused his mesothelioma cancer. Anthony Zagar died December 2, 2004 of mesothelioma.

Zagar says that his father was diagnosed with mesothelioma on January 1, 2004, and died eleven months later. Mesothelioma, a rare cancer, is caused by exposure to asbestos. The asbestos exposure may be from products that were used in the workplace or in the home.

Asbestos was widely used in many different industries until the 1970s when it became known that asbestos fibers cause serious illness when inhaled. It may take up to four decades for the symptoms of some asbestos-related illnesses to become known, though it is more common for mesothelioma and asbestosis to be diagnosed within twenty to thirty years after exposure.

Because the early symptoms of mesothelioma resemble many more benign illnesses, it is often not diagnosed until the latter stages when it is too late for many treatments that might offer hope. It is not unusual for patients diagnosed with mesothelioma to die, as Zagar did, within a year.

The suit filed by Zagar’s son states that during the course of his father’s employment and in the course of doing home and automotive repairs, he was exposed to asbestos fibers emanating from certain products he was working with and around. Those asbestos fibers were either inhaled, ingested or otherwise absorbed by him. Many common household products and automotive supplies and products contained asbestos as late as the 1980s, and some still do.

The complaint further states that the exposure to asbestos was “completely foreseeable” and could or should have been anticipated by the defendants. In language common to suits for mesothelioma deaths, the suit claims that the defendants “knew or should have known” that the asbestos fibers in their products had a “toxic, poisonous and highly deleterious effect” on the health of people exposed to them.

In addition, the suit says, the defendants used asbestos in their products even when adequate substitutes were available, and that they failed to provide adequate instructions for working safely with and around asbestos.

The defendants also did not require or advise employees of hygiene practices to reduce the chance that asbestos fibers would be carried home.

The elder Zagar was employed from 1942 to 1982 as a sales representative in various locations, including in Illinois.

The suit alleges that as a result of the negligence of the defendants, Zagar was exposed to asbestos fibers and developed a disease caused only by asbestos. That disease disabled and disfigured him before death, and resulted in his death.

The suit further claims that prior to his death, Zagar suffered great physical pain and anguish, and was unable to pursue his normal course of employment because of it, thereby losing large sums of money.

The suit, filed January 16, is seeking damages in excess of $200,000 plus punitive damages.

PENDLETON, Oregon – A property owner fined by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for asbestos management violations is accusing the agency of overstepping its bounds.

Jim Whitney, owner of Seven Lakes Development, a limited liability corporation owned by Whitney Land Company owns a lot at Southwest 21st Street and Southwest Dorion Avenue. Last year, Seven Lakes hired Hatley Construction of Pilor Rock to demolish buildings on the lot so that it could pursue another development there. Unfortunately, Hatley didn’t quite follow the rules. The DEQ fined Jim Hatley $17,400 for “conducting an asbestos abatement project without being licensed” and for “openly accumulating improperly labeled and packaged asbestos-containing waste material” on the site.

Hatley admitted that he didn’t follow proper state regulations when removing asbestos.

Now, the DEQ has issued a second fine – this one to Whitney’s Seven Lakes Development company for $23,704 – and for the same incident.

Whitney says that the agency is overstepping its authority and double-dipping in issuing fines against both companies for the same incident. Both Whitney and Hatley are appealing the fines. They are being represented by local attorney Henry Lorenzen who once chaired the Environmental Quality Commission.

While Lorenzen declined to comment on the suit, his client had plenty to say. According to Whitney, Seven Lakes hired the construction company to remove residential buildings on a commercial lot. He says that the regulations for asbestos abatement are different for residential and commercial buildings, and that DEQ is fining them unfairly.

“They’ve just really stretched this thing to think there was a problem when there wasn’t one,” Whitney said.

An DEQ law specialist says that Whitney is misinterpreting. Bryan Smith, from the Office of Compliance & Enforcement in Portland, said that DEQ allows an owner to remove asbestos inside a house as long as the owner lives in the building. If the owner brings the asbestos outside, or removes asbestos siding from the exterior of the home, though, DEQ regulations come into play.

Proper handling of asbestos is a major issue because asbestos is a hazardous substance. Exposure to asbestos fibers in the ambient air can cause mesothelioma, a rare cancer that affects the pleural lining of the lungs. It can also cause lung cancer, a number of other cancers, and a non-malignant but deadly condition called asbestosis, which scars the lungs and makes it impossible for the victim to breathe. The EPA has stated that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure and closely regulate activities that might disturb asbestos and release asbestos fibers into the air. Asbestos abatement activities like removing asbestos siding or demolishing a building without removing all asbestos first can release high levels of asbestos fibers into the air. DEQ requires that asbestos removal be carried out by specially trained professionals using approved methods and appropriate methods to reduce and contain asbestos release.

Smith explains that the DEQ classifies violations according to severity. Mishandling asbestos, which creates a public safety hazard, is a Class 1 violation, whereas mislabeling a package of asbestos or submitting paperwork late would be a less severe Class 2 violation.

In reference to Whitney’s questioning of DEQ’s timing in issuing a fine against Hatley and then waiting months to issue a separate fine to Seven Lakes, Smith said that normally, both fines would have been issued at the same time. However, he was out of the office for a time, so the fines came out separately. In addition, he said, because Hatley complied with the DEQ directive to hire a licensed asbestos handler to clean up the site, there was on urgency to push the case in his absence.

The fines arose after an asbestos surveyor working in Pendleton reported to DEQ that Hatley might be mishandling asbestos. The allegation was investigated by Tom Hack, a DEQ air quality specialist in Pendleton. Hack found that there were violations and made a report to DEQ.

Whitney claims that Hack told him the fines would be about $3,000 to $5,000. Hack states that he never speculates about the amount of fines, but does tell people that the DEQ will take their cooperation into account when issuing fines.

For Whitney, it all adds up to DEQ taking advantage of their responsibility and the powers they have to enforce it.

“I think if somebody is trying to violate law and rules that’s one thing, but they’re taking advantage of people,” he said.

PALM BEACH, Florida – Palm Beach County has agreed to accept a settlement of about 70 cents on the dollar in a case involving incomplete removal of asbestos from the Old Courthouse almost 15 years ago.
In March 1994, Palm Beach County hired a contractor to remove asbestos from the Old Courthouse prior to restoring the building in 1996. The County later discovered that not all of the asbestos had been identified and removed from the building. It cost nearly $250,000 for the county to remedy the situation and remove the remaining asbestos from the building.
The county commissioners brought suit against the asbestos removal firm and a consultant. The suit alleges that Entek and the contractor hired by them, Simpson and Associates, failed to identify and remove all of the asbestos from the courthouse. Specifically, the suit alleged that Entek failed to “identify and designate” all of the asbestos to be removed, and that the consultant did not “monitor the work efforts of the contractor”, Simpson and Associates.
The amount asked for in the suit was $245,167, the amount paid by the county to finish the removal work.
The county agreed to accept the offer of 70 percent because of the reasonableness of the amount and because of challenges to the suit based on the statute of limitations. County commissioners were concerned about the uncertainty of litigation.
Asbestos removal is a matter for litigations more and more frequently because of the damaging effects of asbestos exposure. Three quarters of a million public and commercial buildings in the United States were constructed with asbestos containing materials in the years following World War II. Many of these buildings are facing renovation, repair or demolition as they age.
As time and wear take their toll, the buildings become dilapidated, and the asbestos containing materials become worn or damaged, increasing the possibility of asbestos fibers being released into the air and exposing the public and those who work in the buildings to asbestos fibers. Asbestos exposure has been shown to cause many serious illnesses, particularly with regular and prolonged exposure. Those conditions include lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis.
Because of the dangers of asbestos exposure, any work that has the potential to disturb asbestos containing materials must be done by licensed and trained professionals, using approved methods to contain the asbestos and prevent the fibers from becoming airborne.
County commissions and city councils across the country are dealing with asbestos abatement issues in public buildings, government buildings, commercial buildings and public schools. Asbestos removal and abatement can be extremely costly, and only parts of the cost can generally be recovered from insurance.

LIBBY, Montana – A contractor on the EPA cleanup at Libby, the site of one of the worst cases of asbestos contamination in the country, claims that the EPA has fallen down on the job and is continuing to expose the townspeople to asbestos.

The Libby mine, owned for thirty years by W.R. Grace & Company, is highly contaminated with amphibole asbestos. Grace was aware of the contamination and hid it from officials and the public for decades. During those decades, vermiculite mined at the Libby mine was sold as a soil conditioner and do-it-yourself insulation. Grace vermiculite is estimated to have been used in 35 million or more American homes. During those thirty years, Grace tracked their workers’ illnesses with annual medical examinations and hid the records from inspectors.

It took nearly 200 mesothelioma deaths before anyone outside the town noticed anything amiss. Since then, over 1,200 residents – nearly one in five of those who volunteered for testing – have been diagnosed with asbestos related diseases. In 1999, the EPA arrived in town, promising to clean up the hazardous waste and make the town safe again.

Now an anonymous contractor working for the EPA says that the federal agency has stopped using filters on the pond water used to decontaminate the dump trucks that haul asbestos away from the old mine site. In fact, he says, they stopped using the filters in 2003, violating both EPA regulations and federal law in the process.

According to the scenario presented by the contractor, the EPA’s cleanup plan is fairly straightforward. Crews at the work site fill dump trucks with contaminated soil. The dump trucks bring the soil to a specially built landfill to be buried where the asbestos fibers cannot become airborne. The dump trucks are supposed to be rinsed off with specially filtered water before they return to the site, thus reducing the chance of spreading contamination.

The water is supposed to run through a two-part filter system to remove asbestos from it. The first filter removes asbestos fibers of more than 20 microns in length. The second filter removes fibers of more than 5 microns in length. The problem is that the filters clog up and need to be replaced about twice a week – at a cost of $25 per filter for the 20 micron filter and $150 per filter for the 5 micron filter. That rapidly adds up to big money in a short while.

Originally, the filters were provided by the EPA. To all estimations, as long as that was the case, the filters were changed when needed. But in 2003, the EPA restructured its contracts with Environmental Restoration, a St. Louis, MO company that won the contract to do the work of cleaning up Libby. At that point, ER bid a flat rate to do the job and took over the expense of supplying the filters. In 2005, ER switched managers. Either of those incidents could have marked the point when ER simply decided to stop using the filters and instead ran the water through the empty filter housings – which removes nothing from the water.

The oversight was only discovered last fall. And while the EPA can assess fines of up to $7,000 per infraction of “serious” violations of air quality standards, the repercussions in this case were confined to slapping a CURE notice on ER. The company was simply told to remedy their actions or risk losing the contract. ER quickly replaced the filters with 100 micron filters.

This is just the least of the issues that the anonymous source had with the way the cleanup is being conducted. He cited such things as cleanup workers in protective suits shoveling contaminated dirt while a mother pushes a toddler along the other side of the road, or suited EPA testers taking samples from homes while families go on about their daily business.

Paul Peronard, the team leader of the EPA cleanup crew has called in the Army Corps of Engineers to audit the operation and try to get things back on track.

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – Thirty seven current and former inmates at an Ohio correctional institution have filed suit against the State of Ohio and the Chillicothe Correctional Institution for forcing them to remove asbestos while they were incarcerated.

The suit names the state, the CCI, Warden Timothy Brunsman and eight other administrators as individually responsible parties. According to the suit, the inmates were required to work with and around asbestos during their incarceration under orders from prison administrators without being provided either training or protective equipment.

As a result of the forced activities, the suit says, the plaintiffs developed medical conditions directly related to asbestos exposure.

In addition, the suit alleges that Chillicothe Correctional Institution contains friable and potentially friable asbestos throughout its facilities, including in inmate living areas. According to one inmate who worked as a plumber at CCI, there was asbestos in the pipes and when the pipes would rupture, the steam would blow asbestos all over the prison. He claims that he is suffering from asbestos-related diseases, including chest pain and a persistent, racking cough.

The suit states that the prison contains both chrysotile and amosite asbestos. Amosite asbestos is generally considered to be the most toxic of all forms of asbestos. It is highly friable and has been banned in the United States for decades.

The suit further alleges that the facility and its administrators provided false information to the inmates, families of inmates and state inspectors regarding the presence of asbestos at the facility.

In regards to the Ohio Department of Corrections and the individual defendants, the suit alleges that they failed to set and implement policies or procedures that would have prevented or minimized the injuries to the defendants.

According to the suit, CCI originally developed a plan to deal with asbestos at the facility in 1986. Initially, asbestos was encapsulated. In 1992, the decision was made to remove the asbestos. In 1995, another group of inmates brought suit against CCI, alleging that there was asbestos present in the prison and that they were forced to work with it. At that point, CCI officials stated that they would complete the removal of asbestos from the facility within two years.

The suit goes on to name specific areas of the prison and incidents when inmates were exposed to asbestos. The former suit against CCI was dismissed by a judge.

In addition to Brunsman, Deputy Wardens Leah Bobb-Itt and Brian Wittrup were named individually, along with Drew Hildebrand, deputy of administration; Steve Clever, a major at CCI and Leta Pritchard, the warden’s administrative assistant.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs commissioned asbestos tests of the institution which showed that asbestos is indeed present at CCI. The institution has steadfastly maintained that there is no asbestos.

LYNCHBURG, Virginia – The site of a dangerous fire at a fertilizer plant last week has now been cordoned off and posted with asbestos warning signs. Officials say that there’s not danger to the public as long as people don’t cross the asbestos tape.

The Royster-Clark fertilizer plant in Lynchburg caught fire on January 13 after employees had left for the day. The cause of the blaze remains a mystery more than a week after the fire. What’s not a mystery is the number of environmental hazards the fire might have caused. The asbestos exposure risk is only the latest one.

Firefighters were called to the site around 7:30 pm Sunday night by neighbors who noticed the blaze. Before the first firefighters arrived at the scene, they had already called for backup. At the height of the fire, there were 40 firefighters involved in fighting the blaze.

The building contained five different types of natural fertilizer, but the plant manager stated that there was no explosion hazard because the plant did away with the agricultural chemicals stored on site a number of years ago. However, the fertilizer made fighting the fire more complicated, said fire officials.

However, because the air conditions pulled the smoke straight up into the air, fire officials felt there was no need for evacuation. The Virginia Department Environmental Quality began testing air quality Monday morning for ammonia content and other hazardous contaminants. The tests showed no elevated levels of ammonia, but the fire chief suggested that people limit their exposure to the smoke that was still rising from the smoldering building on Monday afternoon.

In addition, the Lynchburg hazardous materials team evaluated the effects of water runoff into a nearby stream because of concerns that the ash carried from the fire might affect the pH level of the water and harm the wildlife and the fish. The city has hired an environmental mitigation firm to build sand dams at the creek to filter the water and reduce the danger of environmental damage.

As of this Monday morning, the fertilizer plant is ringed by signs warning passers-by of asbestos danger after half the samples collected by the fire marshal’s office contained asbestos.

The samples were collected from materials and debris from the fire. More than half of the samples that contained asbestos were more than 75% asbestos. Officials say that the public is not in danger as long as they stay outside the fence around the plant. It does mean, however, that cleaning up the site will be more complicated.

Asbestos fibers are an air pollutant and a health hazard. Asbestos fibers often remain in the air for hours and days after being stirred up. When they are inhaled by people, they can lodge in lung tissues and remain there for years, eventually causing lung cancer, asbestos cancer, mesothelioma and other health problems. Many older buildings contain asbestos in everything from pipe insulation to floor tiles. Fires and other disasters can release the asbestos into the air and expose firefighters and others to the dangers associated with asbestos exposure.

WINDSOR, CA – Tenants of seven apartments are going on their second week out of their homes and five business owners are operating with no heat, thanks to the presence of asbestos in their basement.

The boiler in the building on the 500 block of Wyandotte Street East failed on the night of January 13, leaving the building without heat. Unfortunately, before the boiler can be repaired, an asbestos jacket has to be removed from around it. And the province has very strict rules about who can remove asbestos and how it must be done.

Many old boilers have asbestos wrapped around the fittings, explained the owner of the company hired to remove the asbestos. The asbestos must be removed by professionals with training in methods to reduce the release of asbestos fibers in the air. Inhaled asbestos fibers can cause mesothelioma, lung cancer and other fatal and disabling conditions.

Bob Bayley, 62, the building manager, says that he has hired a local company to remove the asbestos so that the boiler can be repaired. The company, Pro Trades Mechanical, Inc., said that they hope to have the boiler in working order by the end of the week. Specialists were expected to begin removing the asbestos Monday morning.

The City of Windsor ordered the boiler replaced and evacuated the building’s nine tenants on Wednesday. The tenants have been staying at the Days Inn hotel at the expense of the landlord. Temperatures have been well below freezing since the boiler failed, and are expected to remain that way well into the end of the week.

Meals are being provided to the tenants at the hotel by the Salvation Army. Bayley has been visiting the building daily to check on progress there.

This is not the first incident of this kind. Since December, there have been three other situations where tenants in other cities caught in similar situations when an older boiler failed and could not be repaired until the asbestos was removed. Hundreds of thousands of older buildings contain asbestos, and while it doesn’t present a health hazard unless it is disturbed, emergency situations like boiler failures, fires and floods often make the situation urgent.

In many cases, the owner of the home is fined or incurs unexpected expenses to remedy the situation. Asbestos removal, which must be performed by licensed and trained professionals, can be an expensive proposition, and a landlord who tries to avoid the expense by performing the work themselves may incur hefty fines for violating clean air acts and other city or county ordinances. In some cases, the expense of asbestos removal may be covered by insurance.