Feds: Olivet knowingly exposed workers to asbestos

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

The Department of Labor citation can be viewed in full at poughkeepsiejournal.com The new owner of a long-empty former state hospital in the Town of Dover must face charges lodged by the U.S. Department of Labor that it knowingly exposed workers to hazards of asbestos and lead. Olivet was cited for 45 willful violations of rules relating to worker safety and one serious violation, the notice said. The investigation and citing were done by the Labor Departments Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA determined that Olivet knowingly failed to take basic safety precautions, the statement said. The company neither informed their own employees nor the contractors about the presence of asbestos and lead, despite knowing that both hazards existed. It did not provide training or notice or required protections, the agency said. Anna Oh, a spokeswoman for Olivet, said, Olivet has been working together and cooperating with OSHA and other agencies to ensure that our employees work in a safe and healthful workplace. We are reviewing the notice and will address the citations in a timely manner, and will look closely at them in the hope of working with the agency to resolve them, she said. A formal response is due 15 days after the...

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Workers' Compensation: National Asbestos Week, April 1-7, 2014

Apr 03, 2014

National Asbestos Awareness Week, April 1 – 7, is an important opportunity to focus on the public health issues associated with asbestos exposure and related illnesses. "Asbestos" is a commercial name for a collection of six ...

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Feds: Olivet knowingly exposed workers to asbestos

16 hours ago

WINGDALE — The new owner of a long-empty former state hospital in the Town of Dover must face charges lodged by the U.S. Department of Labor that it knowingly exposed workers to hazards of asbestos and lead.

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

'Bakers contract cancer from asbestos in old ovens': tv programme

Jan 15, 2014

The figure, to be included on Tuesday evening in tv programme Zembla, follows Zembla's claims in last week's programme that the Bakkersland bakery group had problems with asbestos in three of its factories over the past ...

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Self-Promotion Watch: Lead and Crime in Postwar America

Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com

I'm usually a little reticent about tooting my own horn, but since I've always had a lot of respect for James Surowiecki, I was sort of chuffed to see this in his year-end roundup of his favorite business stories: Kevin Drum’s brilliant Mother Jones piece, “America’s Real Criminal Element: Lead,” explores the relationship between lead in the environment and crime (and a host of other social ills). It is not, I guess, a classic business story. But it’s a rigorous and enormously enlightening look at how businesses’ and regulators’ choices—in this case, the decision to keep lead in gasoline and paint—end up shaping society in ways that few expect. I’m not entirely sure that lead explains the entire drop in crime we’ve seen in cities across America. But Drum has certainly convinced me that getting lead out of the environment is one of the best, and most cost-effective, social interventions that regulators can make. Thanks, James! More here for those who want to dive into some of the other reaction to the lead-crime story, as well as a few items that got left on the cutting room floor.

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Increase in miscarriages coincided with high levels of lead in D.C. water, study finds

The study findings, which are scheduled to be published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, do not prove that the city’s lead crisis caused fetal deaths or miscarriages. But the results show a significant correlation between the two events. Lead is an extremely toxic metal, and ingestion of lead paint dust and high doses of lead in water have been traced to brain damage, behavioral problems and developmental delays in children. Exposure to lead has also been linked to miscarriages. In the early 1900s, lead-laced pills were used to induce abortions. The study, by Virginia Tech environmental engineer Marc Edwards, contrasts sharply with government-led health studies that were released amid an outcry after people learned of hazardous lead in the water in 2004. Those studies largely rejected the notion that the water had harmed public health. The data seem “to confirm the expectation, based on prior research, that about 20 to 30 extra fetal deaths occurred each year that the lead in water was high,” Edwards said. One rushed and disputed analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asserted in April 2004 that there was no indication of health trouble from the water problem, even among children in homes with the highest lead levels in the water. Under repeated criticism, the CDC published a corrected analysis in 2010, acknowledging that this overarching statement had been misleading and based on incomplete data. Today, the city’s...

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Lead Exposure: OSHA Cites USA Brass Company Inc. of Bozeman, Mont., for overexposing workers to lead

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited USA Brass Company Inc. in Bozeman for 10 serious violations, with $45,500 in proposed penalties, after a May inspection conducted under the agency's national emphasis program for lead found workers overexposed to the metal. The company buys and provides brass for individual reloaders and commercial ammunition manufacturers.

Staff from OSHA's Billings Area Office found serious violations, including failure to conduct initial determinations of worker overexposure to lead; implement engineering and work practice controls to reduce lead exposure; provide workers with adequate respiratory protection and personal protective clothing; prohibit food and beverages from areas with excessive accumulations of lead; and train workers on lead hazards.

"The toxic effects of occupational exposure to lead have been well-known for a long time, but this employer did not have basic safeguards to protect workers against this hazard," said Jeff Funke, the agency's area director in Billings. "Employees exposed to lead must be evaluated to assess exposure levels accurately and, if necessary, implement engineering controls to train and ensure the use of personal protective clothing and equipment, including respirators."

Other serious violations include failing to implement respiratory protection, hearing conservation and hazard communication programs; have adequate housekeeping procedures; perform required medical examinations; and post required signs in hazardous areas. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

USA Brass was also cited for one other-than-serious violation for not certifying forklift operators' training and evaluations. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

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Sides rest in Calif. lead paint trial

Now a waiting the decision on the "Lead Paint Tria," the judicial deliberations will commence after closing arguements scheduled  for Sept. 23, 2013. Today's post was shared by Legal Newsline and comes from legalnewsline.com

Kleinberg

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg on Thursday praised lawyers prosecuting and defending a 13-year-old lead paint public nuisance case after both sides rested at trial.

“Lawyers on both sides and their staff did an exceptional job in every way,” he said. “I must tell you that ‘impressed’ would be too mild of a word. All of your clients ought to be extremely, extremely proud.”
Kleinberg described the six-week trial experience as “difficult,” but “joyous.”

What awaits are a couple of deadlines for papers, but most importantly closing arguments which are set for Sept. 23.

At closing, plaintiffs will get 30 minutes for argument and 15 minutes for rebuttal. Each of the five defendants will get 30 minutes for argument and 15 minutes for rebuttal.

Ten California cities and counties are seeking declaration of public nuisance on pre-1978 built private residences with interior lead paint, as well as more than $1.2 billion in monetary damages to abate the lead in nearly 500,000 residences.

In The People of California v. Atlantic Richfield, et.al., other named defendants are The Sherwin Williams Co., Con Agra, DuPont, and NL Industries.

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Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

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EPA Fines Prudent Technologies $65,450 for Failure to Adhere to Repair and Painting Rule at Omaha Lead Site

Prudent Technologies, of Kansas City, Mo., has agreed to pay a $65,450 civil penalty to resolve violations of the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule at two properties within the Omaha Lead Superfund Site.

Prudent Technologies, working under a contract with EPA’s Superfund program, was performing renovation activities designed to stabilize paint at each location. Paint stabilization includes scraping and painting the exteriors of houses to protect EPA’s remedy at the site, which consists of removing lead-contaminated soil from contaminated properties.

At the first location, Prudent failed to follow lead-safe work practices as required by the RRP rule. The violations included failure to post signs clearly defining the work area and warning occupants and other persons not involved in renovation activities to remain outside of the work area; failure to close all doors and windows within 20 feet of the renovation before commencing work; failure to cover the ground with plastic sheeting or other disposable impermeable material extending 10 feet beyond the perimeter of surfaces undergoing renovation before the renovation; and failure to clean the work area upon completion of the work.

Violations at the second location included failure to follow lead-safe work practices as required by the RRP rule; failure to post signs clearly defining the work area and warning occupants and other persons not involved in renovation activities to remain outside of the work area; and failure to cover the ground with plastic sheeting or other disposable impermeable material extending 10 feet beyond the perimeter of surfaces undergoing renovation.

Since 1999, EPA has been working cooperatively with contractors, local officials, agencies, institutions, community organizations, residents and property owners to sample and remediate lead-contaminated soils from Omaha’s residential yards, schools, day care facilities, parks and playgrounds. Addressed under EPA’s Superfund program, the Omaha Lead Site, consisting of approximately 27 square miles of eastern Omaha, has been on the National Priorities List since 2003.

The RRP rule is a part of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The rule requires each person or firm hired to perform a renovation to be certified and to use specific work practices to minimize lead-based paint hazards for workers and occupants. Under the RRP rule, general contractors can be held liable for regulated renovation work that subcontractors perform for the company. This includes record-keeping requirements (e.g., handing out the Renovate Right pamphlet, keeping Lead-Safe Work Practices checklists, etc.) and work practices requirements (e.g., training workers, putting up appropriate signs, using disposable impermeable material to contain dust and debris, etc.).

EPA Adds the Riverside Industrial Park in Newark, New Jersey to the Superfund List

Seven Acre Site along the Passaic River Contaminated with PCBs and Volatile Organic Compounds

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the Riverside Industrial Park in Newark, New Jersey to the Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites. After a 2009 spill of oily material from the industrial park into the Passaic River, the EPA discovered that chemicals, including benzene, mercury, chromium and arsenic, were improperly stored at the site. The agency took emergency actions to prevent further release of these chemicals into the river. Further investigation showed that soil, ground water and tanks at the Riverside Industrial Park are contaminated with volatile organic compounds and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Benzene, mercury, chromium and arsenic are all highly toxic and can cause serious damage to people’s health and the environment. Many volatile organic compounds are known to cause cancer in animals and can cause cancer in people. Polychlorinated biphenyls are chemicals that persist in the environment and can affect the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems and are potentially cancer-causing.

EPA proposed the site to the Superfund list in September 2012 and encouraged the public to comment during a 60-day public comment period. After considering public comments and receiving the support of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for listing the site, the EPA is putting it on the Superfund list.

“The EPA has kept people out of immediate danger from this contaminated industrial park and can now develop long-term plans to protect the community,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “By adding the site to the Superfund list, the EPA can do the extensive investigation needed to determine the best ways to clean up the contamination and protect public health.”

Since the early 1900s, the Riverside Industrial Park, at 29 Riverside Avenue in Newark, has been used by many businesses, including a paint manufacturer, a packaging company and a chemical warehouse. The site covers approximately seven acres and contains a variety of industrial buildings, some of which are vacant. In 2009, at the request of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the EPA responded to an oil spill on the Passaic River that was eventually traced to the Riverside Avenue site. The state and the city of Newark requested the EPA’s help in assessing the contamination at the site and performing emergency actions to identify and stop the source of the spill. 

The EPA plugged discharge pipes from several buildings and two tanks that were identified as the source of the contamination. In its initial assessment of the site, the EPA also found ten abandoned 12,000 to 15,000 gallon underground storage tanks containing hazardous waste, approximately one hundred 3,000 to 10,000 gallon aboveground storage tanks, two tanks containing oily waste, as well as dozens of 55-gallon drums and smaller containers. These containers held a variety of hazardous industrial waste and solvents. Two underground tanks and most of the other containers were removed by the EPA in 2012. 

The EPA periodically proposes sites to the Superfund list and, after responding to public comments, designates them as final Superfund sites. The Superfund final designation makes them eligible for funds to conduct long-term cleanups. 

The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers. After sites are placed on the Superfund list of the most contaminated waste sites, the EPA searches for parties responsible for the contamination and holds them accountable for the costs of investigations and cleanups. The search for the parties responsible for the contamination at the Riverside Industrial Park site is ongoing.

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For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.  Click here now to submit a case inquiry.

Read more about the EPA:

Workers' Compensation: US EPA Reports: Better Planning ...

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Workers' Compensation: EPA Fines Arizona School Districts for ...

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Workers' Compensation: The Toxic Cloud Over the US EPA

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OSHA Needs To Be Strengthened

If workplaces were safer then there would be no reason to have a workers' compensation program at all. OSHA, The Occupational Safety and Head Health Administration (OSHA), does just that, but its enforcement powers are lacking.

OSHA was created legislatively by Congress in 1970. In the years following  The National

Commission on Workmen's Compensation Laws in 1972 reported that safety should be encouraged, and that, "....Economic incentives in the program should reduce the number of work-related· injuries

and diseases." 

Today, The New York Times reports that "Occupational illness and injuries ....cost the American economy $250 Billion per year due to medical expenses and lost productivity."

English: A picture of David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"OSHA devotes most of its budget and attention to responding to here-and-now dangers rather than preventing the silent, slow killers that, in the end, take far more lives. Over the past four decades, the agency has written new standards with exposure limits for 16 of the most deadly workplace hazards, including lead, asbestos and arsenic. But for the tens of thousands of other dangerous substances American workers handle each day, employers are largely left to decide what exposure level is safe.

***

“"I’m the first to admit this [OSHA] is broken,' said David Michaels, the OSHA director, referring to the agency’s record on dealing with workplace health threats. 'Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people end up on the gurney.'"

Click here to read the complete article,  As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester

Toxic Lead Exposure Results in OSHA Fines for NJ Company

Exposure to lead can cause serious medical problem in both children and adults. Strict safety precautions must be observed when working with lead.

Many initial occupational exposure claims in workers' compensation resulted from the

exposure to lead in factories. Lead pigment was used in paints for many years leading to a many serious blood disorders and neurological conditions.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Henry RAC Holding Corp. with four repeat and four serious safety and health violations, including workers exposed to lead hazards, at the company's Bayonne facility. The inspection was initiated in September 2012 after health hazards were discovered during an earlier OSHA safety inspection at the facility. Proposed penalties total $72,000.

Exposure to Cadmium and Lead Linked to Hearing Loss

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The results of a recent study published in Environmental Health Perspectives suggest that low-level exposure to cadmium and lead found in the general U.S. population may be important risk factors for hearing loss. Their findings support efforts to reduce environmental cadmium and lead exposures.

Click here to  the compete article.

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