VENTURA : City Hires Firm for Asbestos Search
The Ventura City Council on Monday decided to spend about $85,000 for a consultant to examine 168 city buildings for asbestos and train city employees on how to handle the cancer-causing substance.
“We are doing this to get into compliance according to state and federal laws” on monitoring asbestos, said Michael Solomon, the city’s budget and risk manager.
Asbestos, which is frequently used for insulation, can cause cancer if it is not handled properly and employees inhale asbestos fibers, Solomon said.
“There’s not very much,” said Humphrey Laurent, vice president of technical operations for ECOS, the Orange County-based firm that was awarded the city contract. “They don’t have an asbestos problem they’re covering up.”
Laurent estimated that it would take several weeks to inspect all the city buildings, and that about 50 city employees would be trained by September.
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