Tuesday, June 24th, 2008.

The New York State Department of Labor has issued a “Suspension of Asbestos Project” notice to Gordon Smith Contracting, due to numerous egregious violations of Code Rule 56, which governs asbestos removal. The company is in the second year of an ongoing project at the former Genesee Hospital. That site is in the city of Rochester and there are residences nearby. The contractor has been found in violation of multiple procedures, especially failure to keep asbestos material adequately wet during the removal process.

Gordon Smith Contracting originally submitted an asbestos abatement project notification for the project spanning two years. They were advised that the maximum period is one year. Their asbestos project notification lapsed and they did not re-file, as required by the code rule. This lapse was brought to their attention during a June 16 inspection. The company submitted a new asbestos project notification and now is bound by the code rule requirement for a 10-day waiting period after notification to begin the project.

During this time, the company must also address violations of many code rule procedures, including requirements for employee certification, air quality control, asbestos-control barriers and proper maintenance of cleanup inspection logs. Each of these violations poses a threat to the safety and health of both the workers on the site and the general public.

The Labor Department will revisit the site to check for compliance of all violations. If the conditions have been corrected and the contractor is in compliance with Code Rule 56, the department will remove the suspension order and the asbestos abatement work will resume.

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Posted: Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 10:02 am; filed under Asbestos Abatement, Full Archive.

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