WESTBOROUGH - Massachusetts contractors beware. When it comes to working with or disposing of asbestos-a known cancer causing agent-state and federal environmental agencies have little sympathy for those who knowingly and willfully violate the strict guidelines that govern the handling and disposal of the extremely hazardous material. This fact was borne out again when the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently assessed a fine of over $18,000 against the Environmental Source Corporation (ESC), a Lawrence-based contracting firm that had been performing asbestos involved renovations on a structure in Westborough in April of 2008.
According to documents obtained from the DEP, the Lawrence contractor's workers, as part of a larger renovation, had been removing cementitious, asbestos containing shingles from a Westborough structure located at 245 Main Street. When DEP inspectors visited the site last April, they discovered numerous violations of state regulations that apply to asbestos related construction or demolition projects.
While the state calls for strict asbestos handling protocols, ESC workers at the Main Street site had followed none of them. Massachusetts regulations require that any individual who removes asbestos shingles from a structure must ensure that the shingles are kept wet, that they be lowered to the ground with great care taken not to fracture the shingles, and that they then be sealed in an airtight container that is properly labeled to warn others of its highly toxic contents.
Asbestos is a material that has fascinated and served mankind for thousands of years. Asbestos comes in a variety of chemical compositions, types, and colors, and it can be found in abundance in countries around the world. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that can be mined from deposits below the earth or extracted from above ground rock formations. The material is characterized by a broad spectrum of unique properties: asbestos first fascinated ancient man when it was discovered that the material was virtually fireproof; asbestos has superior insulating qualities; the mineral is highly resistant to harsh corrosives and has a very high tensile strength.
For all the above reasons and many more, asbestos is a material that was prized by a wide variety of industries that used the material in countless products from building materials to automotive brake pads to baby powder. All that came to an abrupt halt in the early 1970s, however, after it had been confirmed that exposures to microscopic, airborne asbestos fibers posed a significant threat to human health. When asbestos fibers are inhaled into the lungs, they can remain there for up to 50 years before causing the onset of respiratory diseases such as asbestosis-a severe scarring of the lungs that results in significantly decreased respiratory function. Asbestos fiber inhalation is also the only known cause of pleural malignant mesothelioma, a highly aggressive, incurable, and always fatal form of cancer. For these reasons, the DEP took a very dim view of the fact that ESC workers were casually fracturing dry wall shingles as they removed them from the Main Street structure; workers then tossed the potentially lethal materials into open debris piles on the site. "You have to lower the shingles very carefully...you want to be sure they're not broken up in any way," said DEP spokesman Ed Colletta."
Lee Dillard Adams, Deputy Director of the Worchester DEP office said, "Licensed asbestos contractors are fully aware that the prescribed regulatory work procedures are critical to the protection of their workers, public health, and the environment. Failure to strictly adhere to all required work practices inevitably results in significant penalty exposure and escalated cleanup."
While ESC has been fined over $18,000, the contracting firm will be eligible to recoup up to $8,600 of that amount if they do not commit any further asbestos related safety violations in the state of Massachusetts for a period of one year.
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