Possible Asbestos Danger Keeps State Employees Out of Building

Several hundred state employees have been told to stay away from their offices in a 19-story mid-Wilshire high-rise until tests for asbestos levels are completed, the California Department of General Services said Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Anne Garbeff said in Sacramento that Cal/OSHA collected air samples in the CNA Building, 600 S. Commonwealth Ave., this week and expects test results possibly as early as Friday.

Until then, Garbeff said, about 570 workers of seven state agencies have been advised to work at state offices in other buildings or to stay home.

The order applies only to state employees and not to others who work for private firms in the building, Garbeff said.

The initial check for asbestos, a suspected carcinogen, grew out of tests by a private consultant that were ordered by the state after a fire on March 2, Garbeff said. Flames damaged more than a dozen computer terminals in a 15th-floor work room.

“On the basis of the results of those preliminary tests, which showed that there might be some levels of asbestos that might be a concern for worker safety . . . (the Department of General Services) called in Cal/OSHA,” Garbeff said.

The order to await test results affected five departments, including banking, savings and loan, corporations, insurance and commerce, the Office of Emergency Services and the governor’s office, which has two full-time employees in Los Angeles.