Oregon – This week the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced it had issued eleven penalties, for a total of $73, 560, in the month of April. The largest penalty? A fine issued to an asbestos abatement company for improper and illegal asbestos removal.

April’s largest penalty was issued to Performance Abatement Services, Inc., a DEQ-licensed asbestos abatement contractor. The penalty was issued in connection with a series of asbestos violations that occurred while the company was carrying out an abatement project in September 2007 at the Candalaria Mall in Salem.

The Oregon DEQ first became aware of the asbestos violations when agency representatives carried out a compliance inspection on September 12, 2007. The inspector noticed that ceiling tiles containing asbestos had been removed and packaged for disposal by the abatement company, but had not been properly wetted down as Oregon law requires.

In addition, the DEQ representative noticed that asbestos sheet vinyl flooring, which was contained in waste bags on the site, had also not been wetted down properly.

As well as these problems, the DEQ also noticed that other materials that were potentially contaminated with asbestos, including carpet, wood, metal, and fiberglass insulation, that should have been considered asbestos-containing materials, had not been properly packaged in leak-proof containers. The contaminated waste was being hauled off the site and treated as normal uncontaminated demolition debris.

The DEQ says that around 12,000 square feet of asbestos-containing materials were removed from the project site.

According to the DEQ, “Because asbestos-containing waste material was allowed to accumulate at the mall site after the abatement and then hauled off site as demolition debris, workers and the public were potentially exposed to asbestos fibers released into the air.”

Wetting down asbestos-containing materials is an important part of abatement work because it reduces the possibility of asbestos fibers being released into the air (where they can be inhaled). Materials that were removed from the site contained between 2% and 20% Chrysotile asbestos.

According to the DEQ report, “Asbestos fibers are a respiratory hazard proven to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis, and asbestos is a danger to public health and a hazardous air contaminant for which there is no known safe level of exposure.”

The fine issued to Performance Abatement Services, Inc. totals $24,900. The asbestos contractor appealed the penalty but a hearing has not yet been scheduled.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Asbestos Abatement, Oregon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.