Ex-Deutsche site worker: Boss said no to asbestos gear

According to an article on asbestos gear, an asbestos worker at the former Deutsche Bank building told the Daily News she quit her job at the unsafe, underprotected site after her boss berated her for wearing an asbestos mask to protect herself.


Helen Rocos was one of a handful of handpicked workers chosen for the lucrative job of searching for human bone fragments amid gravel on the roof of the toxic 130 Liberty St. in spring 2006.


She said she and other employees were assured the roof had been cleaned of asbestos, so they wore ordinary work clothes as they shoveled stones and pawed through the roof debris to find the remains of those killed on 9/11.


"They told us they got rid of the asbestos, but as I'm digging, I'm thinking, 'How did they magically get rid of the asbestos, but still leave all this healthy dirt behind?'" said Rocos, 57, a tough-talking certified asbestos handler with haz-mat training.


After lunch the first day, Rocos came back to work wearing an asbestos mask. She said her Bovis Lend Lease supervisor was furious.


"He yelled, 'Helen! Take that mask off your face! You are spooking everybody, spooking the people from the medical examiner's office!'" Rocos recalled.


Staff from the medical examiner's office was overseeing the bone search as TV helicopters circled overhead filming the dust plumes.


"I said, 'No!' I said I doubted they could clean the asbestos on the roof and leave all this other dirt untouched. You had people picking through the dirt for bones, then getting up and eating a Dunkin' Donut, licking their fingers," she said. "It was insane."


When she balked at taking off her mask, the Bovis supervisor called her a "loudmouth" and a "troublemaker" in front of the rest of the crew, though he later suggested she wear a cloth mask as a compromise, she said.


The fight over the mask was the last straw, she said, so she quit. Days later, by the end of April, the Environmental Protection Agency had suspended the search for bone fragments because the roof was "not properly cleaned" and asbestos particles were discovered in the dust, officials said.

San Diego Gas and Electric Convicted for Improper Asbestos Removal

According to a recent press release at the US Environmental Protection Agency’s website on improper asbestos removal, San Diego Gas and Electric was convicted for improper asbestos removal. A federal jury in San Diego found San Diego Gas and Electric Company guilty on three counts of violating asbestos work practice standards and one count of making false statements on July 13. The charges relate to the company's removal of asbestos from 9.23 miles of underground piping at the former Encanto Gas Holder facility in Lemon Grove, Calif., in 2000 and 2001.



In addition, Kyle Rhuebottom, the project manager for the prime contractor on the site, and David Williamson, a company employee, were each found guilty of one count of violating asbestos work practice standards.



According to court documents, the company knew the piping at the Encanto facility was coated with asbestos, based on analytical testing. Once the company decided to sell the property, they solicited bids for demolition and removal of the asbestos-coated piping. Despite knowing that the piping coating contained asbestos, the company began removing the pipe wrap without treating it as regulated asbestos containing material.



The jury found that the company, Rhuebottom and Williamson failed to contain the asbestos or place it in a leak proof container. The jury also found that the company failed to provide adequate notice in advance of the asbestos removal, failed to adequately wet the asbestos during removal, and falsely claimed that a company employee was a certified asbestos consultant.



The defendants are scheduled to appear before United States District Judge Dana M. Sabraw, Southern District of California, on Sept. 6, 2007 for further proceedings.

Asbestos Mesothelioma Lawsuit Moves to Trial

Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP filed an asbestos mesothelioma lawsuit on behalf of a New Jersey woman who was exposed to asbestos as a result of her husband and children performing brake work. The woman was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2002 and died from her illness shortly after mesothelioma treatments were attempted at Virtua West Jersey Hospital. The suit is set to go to trial this summer.

Brake dust, containing asbestos, can be released when a brake disk or drum is removed from a vehicle. The dust is frequently invisible to the naked eye, but if the brakes contain asbestos, then the dust released from the brakes will contain asbestos.

During the trial, it will be argued that the brand predominately used for the brake work was asbestos-containing Bendix brakes. The victim was unknowingly exposed to asbestos as a result of her laundering the dusty clothes and the used rags that were used by her husband and children after they performed the brake work in the garage and driveway of their New Jersey home from the 1960s through the 1980s. The victim would shake out the dirty clothes and dusty rags and then launder them without any realization that she was neither in any danger nor that she was being exposed to asbestos-laden dust.

This lawsuit is coming on the heels of a new set of recommendations from the Environmental Protection Agency in March 2007 entitled, “Current Best Practices for Preventing Asbestos Exposure Among Brake and Clutch Repair Workers” which is similar to guidance that EPA has been distributing since 1986. The EPA states in this publication that by using the recommended practices, home mechanics can minimize potential exposure to asbestos and reduce their potential risk of developing asbestos-related disease.

To read the entire article, please see Asbestos Mesothelioma Lawsuit filed by New Jersey Mesothelioma Attorneys Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LPP, Moves to Trial.

The Search For Better Asbestos Removal Technology

Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency released a Project Summary for the Alternative Asbestos Control Method. In this draft report, alternatives for the demolition process for buildings containing asbestos are evaluated. Two years ago, scientists and engineers from EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory and the Dallas regional office compared the current process of demolishing a dilapidated, asbestos-containing structure with a new method called the Alternative Asbestos Control Method (AACM).

The pilot cleanup project was successfully completed in May 2006 at a secure location at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. The location offered scientific side-by-side testing of the current asbestos removal procedures and the Alternative Asbestos Control Method (AACM).

Last month, EPA’s Office of Research and Development released for public and peer review a 205-page draft report titled “Comparison of the Alternative Asbestos Control Method and the National Emissions Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants Method for Asbestos-Containing Buildings”.

Preliminary findings show the AACM procedures to be protective for clean up of many asbestos-containing buildings.

Read the Project Summary for the Alternative Asbestos Control Method Demonstration Project #1 at Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

According to NYNjMesothelioma.com, in the United States, asbestos is the only confirmed cause of mesothelioma. Read more about asbestos exposure.