Four Contractors Charged With Mishandling Asbestos

Criminal charges were filed Thursday against four San Fernando Valley contractors alleging that they unsafely handled asbestos, including using a jackhammer to rip out floor tiles in a bank lobby that was used by hundreds of patrons shortly afterward.

A state air quality investigator said a witness saw “dust accumulating throughout the . . . lobby” at a First Interstate Bank branch at 8495 W. 3rd St. in the Fairfax district on Dec. 8.

“Several hundred customers” came to the bank before it closed at 1 p.m., by which time the investigator was wearing a protective face mask and rubber gloves to remain in the area, he wrote in his report.

John Glover, a First Interstate official, declined to comment. He was quoted in the report as saying that the contractor had been warned not to remove the tiles and that the bank management was surprised to learn he was doing so.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District monitors construction work that may release asbestos into the atmosphere because inhaling the substance has been linked to cancer and other lung diseases.

Charged with five counts of violating AQMD asbestos rules was Financial Construction Co., an Encino-based firm hired by First Interstate. The construction firm’s president, Wayne Christensen, could not be reached for comment.

In all four cases, the misdemeanor criminal charges were filed by City Atty. James K. Hahn’s office.

One of the other cases involved the demolition in February of Biffs Restaurant at Van Nuys Boulevard and Vanowen Street in Van Nuys.

AQMD investigators halted the Biffs demolition job after learning that asbestos was on the site and after two-thirds of the rubble had been disposed of at a landfill. Nine counts of improper handling of asbestos were filed against All Contractors Inc. of Van Nuys.

No criminal charges were filed by Hahn against First Interstate, although an AQMD investigator issued a notice of violation against the bank. “They may have had some responsibility, but it wasn’t enough to file a criminal complaint,” Deputy City Atty. Teresa Lujan said.

Deputy City Atty. Donald Kass said the AQMD did not test for asbestos in the dust that was spread through the bank lobby by removal of the floor tiles. The tiles, however, were tested and found to contain asbestos, he said.

“We can only hope that what was in the air was just dust, not asbestos fibers,” Kass said.

AQMD investigators were warned by another contractor that Financial Construction might be mishandling material containing asbestos. The other firm, P.W. Stephens Contractors, was hired to remove floor tiles containing asbestos from an adjacent office, separated by a partition from the bank lobby.

A construction supervisor for the Stephens firm told AQMD investigator Laurance Israel that he had “observed dust accumulating throughout the bank lobby resulting from the Financial Construction Co. work crew using jackhammer equipment, scrapers and chipping bars to remove floor tiles.”

Glover of First Interstate was quoted in Israel’s report as saying that he had warned the Financial Construction Co. crew not to remove the tiles until they were tested for asbestos. Glover said he was “surprised” to learn later that the contractor had proceeded with the work.

The AQMD report quotes the Financial Construction foreman as saying that he was unaware of the presence of asbestos. He was quoted as saying that his crews wore no protective clothing and did not wet the tiles to prevent asbestos particles from becoming airborne--both violations of AQMD rules.

Hahn’s office also filed charges against Adi and Zohar Egar, who do business as A to Z Construction Co. in West Hills, for work they did April 6 at an Encino house; and against Sancho Morada, who heads Morada Builders Co. of Panorama City, for renovation work done April 13 at a Hollywood residence.