Over two-thirds of the 42 fatalities that occurred in Great Britain’s construction industry between 2009 and 2010 took place within the refurbishment sector. Of those fatalities, 29 people were killed while conducting refurbishment, repair and maintenance jobs, accounting for 69% of industry deaths.

Head of operations at the London-based Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Mike Cross, says that the refurbishment is the only sector that hasn’t made significant improvements in recent years, although there haven’t bee significant increases in fatalities either.

“Different parts of the industry have improved at different rates but refurbishment is not demonstrating the improvements we are seeing elsewhere,” explained Cross. “There are a number of factors behind it but one is that there are a higher percentage of smaller businesses operating in this sector.”

To reduce the number of refurbishment deaths, the HSE will be sending over 150 inspectors to visit firms nationwide over the following three months. Unannounced visits began on February 14th and are focused on working at height, site order and asbestos exposure. Inspectors will pay particularly close attention to whether or not asbestos surveys have been carried out prior to refurbishment work.

Asbestos is a toxic mineral that can still be found in many old buildings. Although its use is now banned in most developed nations, asbestos exposure still kills thousands of construction workers each year. Although asbestos can cause many types of respiratory diseases, mesothelioma is one of the most aggressive. This cancer of the protective lining of organs and cavities is caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure. Malignant mesothelioma has no cure, and although it takes decades to develop, prognosis is typically less than 18 months.

Contractors working on the demolition of Griswold Elementary School in Griswold, Connecticut have found asbestos in the glue holding up the chalkboards, caulk and other previously unchecked areas. This hazardous discovery will add an additional $149,671 in removal costs. The town already paid an additional $95,000 last summer to remove tainted soil from beneath the first portion of the school to be demolished.

The town claims that it has sufficient funds to cover this new unexpected expenditure, but warns that it is likely they will find more “unfavorable soils” under the remaining portion of the 1960′s elementary school once it has been completely torn down this spring.

Asbestos is a toxic mineral that is often found in pre-1980′s buildings. Known to cause fatal respiratory diseases, such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, heart, chest and abdomen, asbestos was finally banned from use in the United States in the late 1970s.

Asbestos must be removed prior to demolition or renovation to prevent exposure to the carcinogen. When asbestos cracks or crumbles, it releases fibers that are easily inhaled and that fester in the lungs for decades, eventually giving rise to some type of asbestos cancer. These cancers are a-symptomatic until they reach the later stages of the disease and are difficult to diagnose.

Students are currently studying in the remaining wing of the old elementary school, but are expected to move into the nearly completed portion of the new elementary school this spring. The construction of the new, 127,000-square-foot school should be completed by the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.

Environmental grants will help fund the clean up of two abandoned properties in Tulsa, Oklahoma that are contaminated with an assortment of hazardous chemicals. Morton Health Center is one of the buildings that needs work. When the hospital opened in 1921, it was the place in the city that would treat and care for African Americans, making it a site of historical significance.

Now the historic Morton Health Center building sits empty, as the hospital has moved to a new building around the corner. Now a $200,000 grant from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality will breath new life into the building.

The George Kaiser Family Foundation was the second recipient of grant funding, which it will use to clean up a contaminated industrial lot in the Brady District. The site, which was initially a residential area, will be turned into a community park and pavilion that will be environmentally efficient, with geothermal wells underneath for heating and cooling.

“It’s a neighborhood that has kind of been a fledgling for a long time, and now there’s a lot of momentum to make this a real thriving part of downtown, which is important I think for all of Tulsa,” said George Kaiser Family Foundation representative Stanton Doyle.

The funding for both grants comes from federal stimulus money, which can be used to clean up hazardous materials such as asbestos. Asbestos is commonly found in both old buildings and in the soil at industrial sites. Asbestos is a carcinogen known to cause mesothelioma, a rare and lethal cancer of the protective lining of the body’s major organs and cavities. Therefore, cleaning up these sites will not only beautify and preserve important parts of Tulsa, but also protect its citizens from the threat of asbestos cancer and other health hazards.

The Washington, D.C.-based Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation has awarded $700,000 to seven new mesothelioma research projects from around the world. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer of the protective lining of the body’s major organs and cavities that is caused primarily by prolonged asbestos exposure. The foundation’s grant program aids in the mission of developing better treatments and a mesothelioma cure.

In order to receive a Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, competing projects must undergo a rigorous peer-review process. “We selected seven exceptional grants for funding, but certainly wish we could have funded more,” said Director of the Mesothelioma Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Dr. Lee Krug.

One of the studies that Krug and his peers selected for funding is that of the University of Minnesota, where Dr. Manish Patel is evaluating biomarkers in a Phase I trial to determine which types of patients might respond and benefit from a particular targeted immune therapy. The therapy involves administering the measles virus into the tumor cells in the chest cavity in the hopes that the disease will kill the tumor cells.

Another of the chosen studies is being conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital by Dr. Morgan Schulz. It is exploring the possibility of delivering localized drugs via nanoparticles, attempting to prevent disease recurrence by targeting microscopic cells left behind after surgery. If successful, this study could lead to the use of nanoparticles in the treatment of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma, which affect the lining of the lungs and abdomen respectively.

A complete list of the projects awarded grant funding is available at curemeso.org/grants2010.

The Southern Berkshire District Court in Great Barrington, Massachusetts was shut down for two weeks when an asbestos-containing exhaust pipe in the heating system was damaged on January 24th. Not only was the building left without heat, but a potential environmental and health hazard could have arisen.

Asbestos is a toxic mineral that was banned from use in the late 1980′s for causing such fatal diseases as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, heart, chest and abdomen. When asbestos is disturbed, it releases carcinogenic fibers that become airborne and are easily inhaled.

The boiler’s combustion chamber was replaced and testing was conducted, determining that there was no asbestos in or around it. Although asbestos did not pose a threat in this particular situation, it is generally best to err on the side of caution, as mesothelioma disease is possible with even minor exposure levels.

Court officials began moving materials back into the building on February 4th. The repairs are expected to cost around $20,000. The disruption and the elevated cost of repair may be due to the fact that the facility hasn’t undergone maintenance in a very long time.

During the closing, court matters were transferred to the Central Berkshire District Court in Pittsfield, and most of the court dates were rescheduled. The building’s lease is set to expire on June 30, and now the state has more reason than ever to negotiate a long-term lease that includes upgrades to the building.

The town of Asbestos, Quebec was named after the life’s blood of it’s 7,000 inhabitants. The strong, fire-resistant mineral that was so coveted during the 19th and 20th centuries was mined in Asbestos until the 1980′s when it became common knowledge that asbestos is a serious health hazard. Asbestos causes such fatal illnesses as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, heart, chest and abdomen. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Canada is currently spending millions of dollars to remove asbestos from its buildings.

G. Bernard Coulombe, 69, wants the province of Quebec to grant Asbestos a $58 million loan guarantee to attract investors and revitalize the local mine. Once the mine is back up and running, Coulombe hopes to sell the asbestos to Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan and Vietnam, where asbestos use is still legal. Unlike Canada, where asbestos handling is stringently regulated and monitored, most of the buying countries place little importance on workplace safety.

In many country’s where asbestos use is legal, the workers who handle it have a high incidence of mesothelioma. This devastating cancer, which takes decades to develop, is a silent killer. Even patients who undergo mesothelioma treatment, which is not commonly available to Asia’s working class, generally only survive 18 months past diagnosis.

Coulombe’s proposal has been condemned by Canada’s medical and public health community, and many Canadian’s view the mine’s survival as an international embarrassment. Quebec is is expected to announce its decision regarding the loan guarantee this month.

A state appeals court has ruled that Judge William H. Fahey of the Los Angeles County Superior Court wrongly granted summary judgment to two cement companies by refusing to allow an amended complaint with allegations of exposure to the defendants’ products. The 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the California Code of Civil Procedure does not require that plaintiffs request to file an amended complaint prior to hearings on summary judgment motions.

The suit in question was filed against Kaiser Gypsum Co. and Hanson Permanente Cement Co. by the children of Virginia Kay Cole. Cole died of mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the body’s major organs and cavities that is caused almost exclusively by prolonged asbestos exposure. Her children claim that she was exposed to asbestos while working in real estate in the 1960s and 1970s and showing homes that were in the process of being constructed with asbestos-containing materials.

Kaiser moved for summary judgment on the basis that there were no witnesses to Cole’s exposure, which was countered with the claim that Cole was also exposed to Kaiser’s asbestos products as a child when she visited her father at construction sites and when she laundered his work clothes. Many women who would otherwise have never been exposed to asbestos have contracted malignant mesothelioma by unwittingly handling contaminated work clothing.

Allegations that Cole was exposed to asbestos via her father became evident through depositions taken after the defendants moved for summary judgment. However, defense counsel attended the depositions and had opportunity to offer a position on the new exposure theory.

The naturally occurring mineral fiber, asbestos, was mined in the United States throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The mineral was regularly added to construction materials to increase strength, protect against corrosion and and fire and provide insulation.

Studies from the first half of the 20th century began to uncover that asbestos could be hazardous to human health, yet the mineral was mined and used in several industries in the U.S. until it was banned in 1989. By that time, it was widely known that asbestos caused such fatal diseases as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, heart, chest and abdomen.

Nowadays, asbestos is still present in millions of buildings across the country, including homes, offices and industrial facilities. Even the slightest disruption of asbestos-containing materials can cause inhabitants or workers in those buildings to be exposed to the microscopic asbestos fibers that cause asbestos cancer. For this reason, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends that suspected materials be regularly checked.

“If you suspect it may contain asbestos, don’t touch it, but look for signs of wear or damage such as tears, abrasions, or water damage. Damaged material may release asbestos fibers. This is particularly true if you often disturb it by hitting, rubbing, or handling it, or if it is exposed to extreme vibration or air flow,” explains the CPSC.

To determine whether a risk of asbestos exposure exists, an indoor air test should be conducted by a licensed environmental consulting firm. These same firms can also sample and test any suspect materials.

A suit has been filed against Columbia University by Ramon Diaz, owner of the popular New York City eatery Floridita, located at 125th Street and Broadway. Diaz claims that the university is responsible for the cleanup costs of asbestos discovered in the building where the institution relocated his restaurant. Asbestos is a highly toxic mineral used in pre-1980′s building materials that can cause asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, heart, chest and abdomen.

Cleanup of the Cuban restaurants new location, which is a result of Columbia’s uptown expansion, is expected to coast hundreds of thousands of dollars. Diaz had negotiated with Columbia for two years, but finally closed his old location last April and signed a lease for the restaurant’s current space. However, renovation of said space led to the discovery of asbestos throughout the building.

According to a study conducted by environmental engineering firm Whitestone Associates, “The entire floor space is considered to be contaminated with this ACM [asbestos-containing material].”

All asbestos must be removed before renovation can take place and the restaurant can be open. Even the slightest disruption of ACMs can lead to the release of the carcinogenic fibers that induce the onset of mesothelioma, a disease that develops silently and is difficult to detect. Despite constant research there is still no mesothelioma cure.

Columbia refuses to take responsibility for the cleanup. Diaz says of the situation, “This is nuts! To leave a space with ambient asbestos and then tell you it’s your job to clean it up! These people keep on throwing me under the bus. Then I get up, and they throw me under the bus again.”

Materials containing asbestos can be found in many child-care institutions constructed prior to bans in the late 1980′s. Asbestos is a toxic mineral that was highly regarded for its strength and fire resistant properties, but is also plagued thousands exposed to it with fatal respiratory illnesses, such as asbestosis and lung cancer, and a rare cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, heart chest and abdomen called mesothelioma.

Next year, the public school in Cambridge, New York, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in its current location, said that the recently completed EXCEL project obligated independent monitoring of potential health hazards. The project replaced the school’s windows, requiring testing for lead and asbestos, as window glazes, caulking, flooring tiles and adhesives are some of the materials that commonly contain asbestos.

Asbestos must be removed prior to any renovation or if this material are in some way disturbed, as cracking, flaking or crumbling asbestos releases carcinogenic fibers. These microscopic fibers become airborne and are easily inhaled. They lodge in the lungs and cause damage over decades that eventually leads to the development of mesothelioma. This cancer usually isn’t detected until it reaches stage three or four, as it is a-symptomatic until it begins to metastasize. Because it is detected so late, mesothelioma prognosis is often grim, generally predicting nothing better than an 18 month life expectancy.

Many school officials believe that the key to avoiding asbestos exposure and the risk of contracting asbestos related diseases is better regulation and education of the dangers.