KEVIN HUTTON

The asbestos abatement is complete and clearance has been achieved—but is the next contractor really in the clear? A recent OSHA interpretation highlights an easily overlooked issue when asbestos remains after abatement. Normal reconstruction activities such as cutting, drilling, fastening, or sanding can turn seemingly routine work into regulated asbestos work. Before reconstruction begins, contractors need to know not just where asbestos remains, but what their work will do to it.

EAST Centers of NY assists contractors facing NYS DOL asbestos Notices of Violation—even those who never expected asbestos regulations to apply to their work. Learn how technical and regulatory review can help contractors understand what happened, evaluate the citations, develop an informed response, and prevent similar problems on future projects.

Effective immediately, the New York State Department of Labor Engineering Services Unit has changed its policy regarding concrete debris generated during controlled demolitions involving friable asbestos-containing material. NYS DOL will no longer grant variances allowing an asbestos-contaminated concrete debris pile to be disposed of as conventional construction and demolition waste unless prior written approval has been obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Under the new...