Confusion Reigns on Asbestos Job Permits

The Deukmejian Administration began efforts Wednesday to get its faltering program to regulate asbestos contractors off the ground as confusion over the state regulations reigned among asbestos cleanup firms and even some government officials.

Officials running the worker safety program of the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health said they were training new workers and speeding up efforts to give state approval to qualified asbestos contractors. The officials were acting a day after the Department of General Services set the industry on its ear by ordering a halt to asbestos cleanup operations at state buildings by unregistered contractors.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee said Wednesday that problems in regulating asbestos contractors in California is causing a public health risk. Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne) called on Gov. George Deukmejian to put a temporary halt to all asbestos removal work by unregistered contractors, not just those working at state sites.

Highly Carcinogenic

Asbestos is one of nature’s most highly carcinogenic materials. For years it was widely used as a bonding agent in construction and insulation materials. It is at its most dangerous when it is allowed to circulate in the atmosphere. A small amount breathed into the lungs can lodge there and eventually cause cancer or other lung diseases.

Frank Ciofalo, deputy chief of Cal/OSHA, said five employees are processing applications from contractors full time, up from two full-time and one part-time worker in the registration unit last week.

Ciofalo conceded that there was widespread “confusion,” adding that “we anticipate we will be inundated” by contractors who had been working outside the law.

A Cal/OSHA clerk in the San Francisco office said Wednesday that he was overwhelmed with calls from contractors--100 to 200 a day. Some contractors were delivering their applications by hand.

Asked if he had enough people to handle the job, he said: “Are you kidding? I’m trying to find another job. They don’t pay me enough to take all this.”

Until the department’s order Tuesday, contractors had virtually ignored a tough new law that took effect last January but was not ready for implementation until May. Even then, state officials waited until August to officially notify contractors of the new regulations.

Much of the confusion stems from Deukmejian’s efforts to dismantle Cal/OSHA, whose fate rests before the state Supreme Court. Cal/OSHA officials have said they will not enforce the asbestos cleanup law until their agency’s future is resolved.

As of Wednesday, only six out of 546 asbestos removal firms certified to work in California were operating with the legal approval of Cal/OSHA. Only 63 had even bothered to apply for registration, and virtually all of them failed to meet the new requirements.

Until this week when the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee brought attention to the problem, public and private employers, including the state, were not aware of the new law and hired contractors who were operating without the proper Cal/OSHA permit.

Since the hearing, however, numerous jurisdictions have shut down asbestos work projects and demanded that contractors produce the proper Cal/OSHA registration.

Contractors both approved and disapproved by Cal/OSHA complained Wednesday about delays and confusion in the regulatory program.

Bruce Allison, an executive with Barsotti’s Inc. of Bell Gardens, one of the six firms legally allowed to work in the state, said three of his company’s four asbestos cleanup jobs were shut down Wednesday because those employing him feared that he did not have proper certification.

Another contractor, Subhas Khara, vice president for West Coast operations of Northern Asbestos Abatement Co., angrily denounced action last week that halted a cleanup job his company was doing in the garage of the state Capitol.

Bogged Down

Acknowledging that his firm did not have Cal/OSHA approval to work, Khara said the failure to register was through no fault of his firm. He said he submitted the application for the first time in August but complained that the state agency lost it. After another was submitted in September, Khara said he did not hear back from Cal/OSHA until November, and then it was a letter asking for more information. He said the firm’s application is still bogged down in the approval process.

He also criticized Democratic lawmakers for filing a complaint that the firm was ignoring some safety regulations, saying that from the beginning, state and private monitors were at the job site, watching the operation.

“There were no safety complaints from the official inspectors,” he said.

That was confirmed by Ciofalo.

Some of the confusion involved the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Ned Bassin, a DWP engineer, said the utility company was told it could continue using its contractor until Jan. 1, 1988, even if the firm did not meet the new registration requirements.

But the Cal/OSHA clerk identified by Bassin denied giving the DWP the go-ahead when The Times sought to confirm it.

“They misunderstood me. They misquoted me. No one can work legally if they are not registered,” said the clerk, who pleaded that his name not be used, saying he could be fired for giving an unauthorized quote.

Determine Status

DWP’s Bassin, in response to the clerk’s statement said, “There appears to be some confusion, so we’re attempting to determine the contractor’s status.”

State officials said that in addition to Barsotti’s Inc., the five other contractors permitted to operate are Bechtel Corp. of San Francisco; Bolar Ceilings, Belmont; Asbestos Services Inc., Bakersfield; APC Contractors Inc., Fresno, and All-Temp Insulation, no location given.

Douglas Shuit reported from Sacramento and Maura Dolan from Los Angeles.