Building Owner Fined for Hiring Unlicensed Asbestos Contractor
A group of Hayward, California building owners who renovated an old hospital complex seven years ago have been ordered to pay $149,000 in fines as per a civil suit brought against them by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Bay Area Daily Review notes that building owners Cheng, Chow, and Chu were charged with violations of the Federal Clean Air Act when they ordered more than 31,000 square feet of asbestos-containing material removed from the old Levine Hospital located in downtown Hayward. The work was done in 2000 by an unlicensed contractor that negligently exposed workers to clouds of the airborne fibers, said EPA spokesman Mark Merchant.
“The building owner hired some folks to rip out the interior and they didn’t do it the right way,” Merchant said.
The company in question, Sincere Contractors, removed large amounts of asbestos-containing materials from the five buildings that make up the complex, including acoustic ceiling, tiles, linoleum, insulation, fire-proofing and stucco.
Merchant said the violation was more “egregious” than most because of the size of the building, the number of employees involved and the scope of the job. Though no one has yet to report any health-related problems caused by the improper abatement procedures, illnesses caused by asbestos exposure usually do not surface for several decades.
“That’s why (asbestos) is so insidious,” Merchant said. “You go in there; you work, you breathe in the dust and figure, no problem. Years later, you get sick.”
The Bay Area Quality Management District began investing the demolition about 2 months after the project began. According to court records, inspectors found workers with inadequate protection, open-topped trash bins and “clouds of dust throughout the inside and immediately outside” the building.
Cheng has already been charged in federal court with violations to the Clean Air Act and was previously sentenced to four months home detention and a $5,000 fine. Sincere Contractors will also pay a fine in this latest civil suit.
