Air-Quality Inspectors Searching Auto Club Office for Asbestos : Health: The effort stems from a report that pieces of exposed fireproofing had fallen from the ceiling. Company says regulations have been met.
Air-quality inspectors are investigating building repairs at the Northridge district office of the Automobile Club of Southern California, following a report that pieces of exposed asbestos fireproofing above a quake-ravaged ceiling have been falling to the floor.
South Coast Air Quality Management District officials said they took samples on Tuesday of particles found on a typewriter and other surfaces, and will analyze them for asbestos content.
The investigation was spurred by a complaint from an irate Auto Club insurance customer, who said he called the air district after a private lab he hired found asbestos in debris picked up inside and on the parking lot behind the brown-brick building in the 9400 block of Reseda Boulevard.
While acknowledging the fireproofing contains asbestos, Auto Club officials said they have complied with asbestos regulations and have verified through air tests, as recently as Wednesday morning, that levels of airborne asbestos are well below legal limits.
“We wouldn’t have that building open if we thought it wasn’t safe for our employees and our members,” said Jeffrey Spring, corporate communications supervisor for the Auto Club. “We welcome the fact that they’re (the air district) here to take a look at it. . . . We don’t believe they’ll find any problems.”
Staffed by about 50 employees, the Northridge office provides insurance and travel planning services to Auto Club members.
Asbestos fibers scar the lungs and have been linked to lung cancer.
The member who called in the air district was Michael E. Stevens, a Northridge resident with asbestos problems of his own.
Stevens, 47, said he has lived for several months in a motel while awaiting asbestos cleanup of his house. He blames contamination of his house on Auto Club insurance adjusters, who he said failed to take proper precautions with asbestos when directing repairs to the home. Spring said he was not familiar with Stevens’ case.
While transacting business at the club’s Northridge office this month and last, Stevens said he noticed the fireproofing and saw what he thought was asbestos debris in the parking lot out back.
“I looked at the stuff and said, ‘Man, that’s asbestos. . . . That ain’t supposed to be out here,’ ” Stevens recalled.
Stevens said his suspicions were confirmed when he took a sample of the material to Asbestos Analysis Laboratories, the Studio City lab he had retained to help him with his house.
Later at Stevens’ behest, the head of the laboratory, Patrick M. Michaels, took samples from the carpet and parking lot of the Auto Club.
Michaels said he presented written findings Wednesday, telling Auto Club officials that particles he took from the carpet contained 18% asbestos, while a “fibrous white mass” from the parking lot was 25% asbestos.
“People shouldn’t be going into that building if it’s contaminated,” Stevens said.
Like many other commercial buildings wracked by the Northridge quake, the Auto Club office suffered extensive damage to its drop ceiling that exposed asbestos fireproofing normally hidden from view.
To allow for replacement of the ceiling, Spring said the Auto Club hired a licensed asbestos contractor to carefully remove small areas of fireproofing so wires could be attached to hold a new drop ceiling.
Should the air district tests confirm that asbestos had fallen into work areas, that in itself might not constitute a violation of the agency’s asbestos regulations. The rules mainly require that those removing or repairing asbestos materials take specific precautions to keep harmful fibers from becoming airborne.
