Report Criticizes Asbestos Removal Costing $1 Billion

A new legislative report on asbestos released Thursday says that $1 billion will be spent removing the dangerous material from buildings in California but warned that the work will be completed with few safeguards to protect workers and the public.

“Over 70% of the removal work in California is not inspected by a public agency, consequently, there is a high likelihood that much of this unchecked work is not done safely,” said the report, prepared by the Assembly Office of Research.

While critical of the way asbestos cleanup work has been done at both public and private workplaces, the report singled out state government as a prime offender.

It said the state, which is cleaning up asbestos in dozens of buildings, provides only “limited training for maintenance workers, no labeling of asbestos materials and no consistent policies for informing state employees about asbestos hazards and removal work.”

‘Inability to Understand’

It noted that the state had hired contractors to remove asbestos from state buildings even though the firms were not legally registered to do the work, a development that was widely reported in December, and it said state government “has demonstrated an inability to understand its own asbestos laws and regulations.”

The report recommended that the state strengthen its regulatory enforcement program, provide financial and technical assistance to public schools for asbestos removal work and reorganize the state’s program to control asbestos in its buildings.

Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-South San Francisco), who ordered the report, said she will carry a three-bill package in response to the recommendations.

One of the bills would create a mini-worker safety program, tailored after the state’s Cal/OSHA program, that would be in charge of regulating asbestos cleanup projects.

Other bills would give $40 million to public schools for asbestos cleanup work and place a bond issue on the November ballot that would raise another $100 million for asbestos abatement work.

Diseases Linked

The report said asbestos could lead to asbestosis, a chronic lung disease; mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that attacks the lining of the lung or abdomen, and lung cancer. Asbestos is in its most dangerous form when it dries and turns to dust in particles that often are too small to be seen by the naked eye,

“Without question, asbestos can kill,” the report said, but added that lethal exposures to asbestos generally have resulted from sustained exposures to the material by textile workers and others who worked directly with the material. The report said that “there are no medical reports of people dying strictly from low-level exposure to asbestos in buildings.”

The report said “the greatest threat to health comes from the improper removal of asbestos materials.” That is because if improperly removed dry asbestos can crumble, turn to powdery particles and be inhaled.

It noted that public and private schools are in “the greatest jeopardy” because they must meet federal requirements to remove asbestos by July 9, 1989, and do not appear to have the technical expertise to do the job.

$1-Billion Figure

As for the the cost of removal work, the author of the report, Assembly staff consultant Richard Steffan, said the $1-billion figure was arrived at after talking with industry experts and considering such secondary costs as employee relocation and lost rental income because of building closure.

The report said about 5,500 asbestos removal jobs will be undertaken in California this year, at an average cost of $200,000.

“Twenty years ago it cost 25 cents per square foot to spray asbestos on beams and ceilings; today building owners are paying $25 per square foot to have this same material removed,” the report said.