OSHA, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has proposed $1.4 million in fines against Superior, Wisconsin’s Fraser Shipyards for 14 “willful, egregious” health violations involving employee exposure to lead levels up to 20 times the legal limit.
News
Philadelphia Asbestos Sites Still a Concern
The suburban town of Ambler, Pennsylvania – just 20 miles from Center City Philadelphia – might seem fairly bucolic to those who drive through in their cars, out for a Sunday journey exploring the city’s neighboring towns.
But, in this case, looks can be deceiving. Ambler, once one of the asbestos manufacturing capitals of the world, is home to two EPA Superfund sites, and those sites still worry those who live nearby, despite decades of attention from the U.S. Government.
Asbestos-laden Neighborhood Added To EPA Superfund
Clean Up Starts at Asbestos-laden Neighborhood in Oregon
A neighborhood in South Central Oregon, contaminated by the asbestos remains of an old World War II military barracks, is finally being cleaned up in its entirety, reports a story aired on KOBI Channel 5 News.
Toxic Substances Control Act Reform
Tennessee Woman Continues Fight Against “Monster” Asbestos
A Tennessee woman has become quite the activist, thanks to her husband’s battle with something the couple referred to as “The Monster”. In this case, the demon was asbestos, a once widely-used toxic material that took the life of Randy Roberts, who developed deadly mesothelioma after working with asbestos-containing materials for more than 15 years.
EPA Placing Permanent Firefighters at Libby Asbestos Site
The United States Environmental Protection Service (EPA) and the U.S. Forest Service have decided to hire 10 permanent firefighters to be stationed near the site of the worst occupational environmental contamination site in the country, fearing that summer fires might stir up asbestos fibers at the former W. R. Grace and Company vermiculite mine in the town of Libby, Montana.
Corporate Manslaughter Sentences in Italian Asbestos Case
More than a dozen ex-managers from the Italian office machines company, Olivetti, have been sentenced to jail time in a high-profile corporate manslaughter case in that country, the defendants deemed responsible for 14 employee deaths due to asbestos exposure.
Hidden Asbestos Found In TN Morgue
You Never Know Where Asbestos Might Be Hiding
In a recent Memphis, Tennessee news story, a television reporter described the city’s old morgue as a veritable “death trap”, but not for the reasons you might think. The reporter’s declaration had absolutely nothing to do with the tens of thousands of bodies that had been stored there through the decades but with the fact that, during recent construction on the building, asbestos literally “oozed out of the walls, floors, and ceiling.”
Study Identifies New Biomarker for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma
A recent article published in the European Journal of Cancer indicates that a group of scientists and researchers has identified a novel biomarker for malignant pleural mesothelioma, a finding that could very possibly help doctors diagnose the disease at an earlier stage and, hence, save more victims from succumbing to the aggressive, hard-to-treat cancer.
School Asbestos Whistleblower Finally Gets Compensation
OSHA has demanded that a school janitor in Dearborn Heights, Michigan be paid nearly $200,000 in compensation after she was punished for reporting potential asbestos exposure at her assigned school in that district, which is located just outside of Detroit.
Asbestos Cancer Costs Canadians Billions per Year
A sobering look at Canada’s legacy of asbestos use comes with a recent report which estimates that new cases of asbestos cancer costs the country, which has a national healthcare system, about $1.7 billion dollars per year, a number that many say is actually a gross underestimate.