Fire Site Cleanup at Kensett Halted Because of Asbestos
Little Rock, AR – Almost two months are over after a fire gutted several buildings in downtown Kensett. An apartment, beauty salon, future pantry, and a municipal building were destroyed by the blaze.
The cleanup works are on hold at the moment because of financial problem for the cautious cleanup that is essential due to the presence of asbestos. As the work involves asbestos removal, only a licensed contractor can proceed with the cleanup process.
Max McDonald, the mayor of Kensett, said the removal job is expensive.
He says the city doesn’t have money to cleanup the sites and rebuild the destroyed structures.
Though the city had insured their building, the other spoiled buildings were uninsured.
The estimated cost for the cleanup project is around $100,000.
6 Companies Sued over Mesothelioma Death
A woman is suing 6 companies, alleging that her father developed malignant mesothelioma and died from it because of his exposure to asbestos fibers all through his employment.
Chromally American, Sabine Towing and Transportation Co, Sequa Corp., Kirby Inland Marine, Kirby Corp., and ExxonMobil are the companies named as defendants in the lawsuit filed by Claudia Harper in Jefferson County District Court.
Harper says her father James Clark was a seaman for Sabine from 1942 to 1973. Clark was regularly exposed to dangerous asbestos fibers during his job, the suit states.
She alleges the defendants neglectfully designed vessels with harmful asbestos-containing substances. The companies also failed to warn Clark regarding the risks of asbestos exposure, the suit says.
Judge Gary Sanderson will preside over the case.
Library Opening Delayed after Asbestos Discovery
Cedar Rapids, IOWA – The opening of new downtown library could be delayed up to four weeks as asbestos was discovered during the tearing down of a building on the library site.
Library director Bob Pasicznyuk said digging at the site unveiled massive amount of asbestos-contaminated waste from the Washington Schools those were on the site once.
The original contract of the library to get rid of asbestos from the site was approximately $42,916. But, cleaning up the substance resulted in the requirement of eliminating it to a greater extent as more asbestos was found. Ultimately, in excess of 6,000 tons of the dangerous mineral required to be removed.
According to Pasicznyuk, the total expense for the extra project to clean up and dispose of the asbestos waste is around $1.3 million.
Mesothelioma Kills Mountaineer
Australian mountaineer Lincoln Hall, who had conquered Mount Everest in 2006, died Tuesday after developing mesothelioma, according to a report in the website of Australian Himalayan Foundation. Hall was 56 years old.
It is believed that Hall developed mesothelioma because of his exposure to asbestos in his childhood. When he was 9 years old, Hall had been exposed to the dangerous substance while helping his father construct two cubby houses. They used asbestos cement sheets to build them.
Hall had won compensation recently over his deadly disease. His attorney’s proved that Hall had been exposed to asbestos, a known carcinogen, at his property.
Asbestos was a common construction material before the 1980s because people were then unaware of the dangers associated with the substance. The only known reason for mesothelioma, an incurable cancer, is exposure to asbestos.
Demolition Company Fined for Asbestos Violations
A demolition company in Preston was fined for exposing employees to hazardous asbestos during the demolition of a former photography unit.
IBT Contracting admitted guilty to three violations of safety rules for removing asbestos without having a license and for exposing workers as well as the public to toxic asbestos fibers during the project in Staveley last summer.
Allen Shute, an inspector with the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) said the company had put lives of the people at risk.
Fortunately, the levels of exposure were not so high, Shute said.
He said asbestos was a common material in ceiling tiles before the 1980s.
IBT spokesman didn’t comment on the issue.
