Olivet Management LLC, a real estate development and management company, faces $2.3 million in proposed fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA says the company exposed its own employees, as well as employees for 13 contractors, to asbestos and lead hazards during cleanup operations at the former Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in Dover Plains, N.Y., prior to a tour of the site by potential investors.
“Olivet knew that asbestos and lead were present at this site, yet the company chose to ignore its responsibility to protect its own workers and contractors,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “The intolerable choice this company made put not only workers, but also their families, in danger.”
OSHA determined that Olivet knowingly failed to take basic safety precautions and did not inform their own employees or contractors about the presence of asbestos and lead, despite knowing that both hazards existed. OSHA says the workers were exposed during removal of asbestos- and lead-contaminated debris, asbestos floor tiles and insulation, and lead paint from walls, windows, door frames, and other painted surfaces.
Olivet, OSHA alleges, did not: monitor workers’ exposure levels; provide appropriate respiratory protection; nor post notices, warning signs and labels to alert workers and contractors to the presence of asbestos and lead. The company also did not provide clean changing and decontamination areas for workers, many of whom wore their contaminated clothing home to households with small children, OSHA says.
In January, the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration ordered Olivet to stop all work that could disturb asbestos at the facility; and it is continuing to investigate the case.
(https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=25812)
Related Stories
Codes and Standards | Oct 6, 2020
LEED, GBCI rating systems spur resilience-enhancing strategies
Expanded programs, resources address impact of climate change.
Codes and Standards | Oct 6, 2020
International Code Council to hold inaugural online education event
Week-long ICC Learn Live will include panel conversations, keynotes, and breakout sessions around key topics in building safety.
Codes and Standards | Oct 5, 2020
Guides addressing fenestration anchorage updated
First update to decade-old technical documents released.
Codes and Standards | Oct 1, 2020
Deadline extension for LEED 2009 project certifications
Delivery timeline delays due to COVID-19 pandemic prompt action.
Codes and Standards | Sep 29, 2020
New drinking water standard criteria further restricts lead leaching in plumbing products
Tightened standard applies to endpoint devices that dispense drinking water, and other plumbing components
Codes and Standards | Sep 29, 2020
Groups sue CDC over eviction moratorium
Natl. Apartment Assn. and New Civil Liberties Alliance want hearing by October.
Codes and Standards | Sep 24, 2020
Benefits of building enclosure commissioning include reduced costs
Savings achieved in less rework and fewer and shorter punch lists.
Codes and Standards | Sep 23, 2020
Intl. Code Council aims to stay ahead of new tech, efficiency trends, and resiliency
Passive survivability, social resiliency, and community health among the goals.
Codes and Standards | Sep 22, 2020
Air cleaners, chemical and UV treatments among tools to safeguard indoor air amid pandemic
Strategies augment social distancing, increased air flow to combat COVID-19 spread.
Codes and Standards | Sep 21, 2020
No ease of lumber price spikes in sight
Wildfires strike Northwest timber industry in wake of Covid-19 shutdowns.