Chicago Company to Pay $1.5 million for asbestos violations after it built more than 40 mobile and modular home parks in California for alleged violations of California asbestos-related laws at its many properties.
According to the Marin Independent Journal, the settlement resolves litigation filed by ten different California counties against Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc. and two related entities, MHC Operating Limited Partnership and Realty Systems Inc.
Prosecutors in Marin County recently joined the case because one of the properties in question is in San Rafael in that county.
In addition to the monetary settlement where the Chicago Company to Pay $1.5 million for asbestos violations, the company will also be required to spend $250,000 on an environmental project involving solar power installations capable of generating at least 100,000 kilowatt hours of energy a year. It can fulfill this obligation at one or more properties in the state, the settlement details note.
The alleged violations took place over a period of nine years – from 2005 to 2014 – and involved a variety of infractions that occurred during renovation and demolition projects.
These included failure to protect workers from asbestos exposure, improper asbestos disposal, failure to complete the necessary asbestos inspections before commencing work, and failure to regulate or monitor air quality during projects that involved the removal of asbestos.
Though the owners of Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. did not respond to requests by the Marin Independent Journal for an interview, Marin authorities noted that they found the company to be very responsive and that they were eager to right the wrongs they had done.
Still, one wonders why – in this day – companies would fail to follow rules about asbestos removal, considering what is known about the dangers of the toxic mineral and the diseases it can cause when tiny asbestos fibers are inhaled.
It’s likely that those who worked for Equity Lifestyle Properties during renovations and demolitions that involved asbestos will consider suing the company for failure to keep them safe.
And why not? It’s these individuals that could eventually be diagnosed with diseases such as mesothelioma cancer, caused when asbestos fibers become lodged in the lungs and form tumors.
It’s an aggressive disease that kills quickly but is totally avoidable, especially in instances such as this one.
Yet behavior like this will no doubt continue, especially by individuals who are looking to cut corners by skirting laws that will cost them a little more money like Chicago Company to Pay $1.5 million for asbestos violations.
They avoid paying dollars while their workers pay with their health and – potentially – their lives.
