A federal court in Philadelphia has sentenced a school asbestos supervisor for the illegal removal of asbestos pipe insulation at a Pennsylvania elementary school. U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez sentenced the supervisor to three years’ probation, including six months home confinement, and imposed $6,097 in restitution, $100 in a special assessment, and 50 hours of community service.
The supervisor on an asbestos removal job performed in June 2002 at the Mattison Elementary School in Ambler. He and his company were responsible for the removal of more than 600 asbestos-insulated pipe elbows in ceilings throughout the school. The job required workers to remove the asbestos in accordance with the Clean Air Act.
Information filed in the case on June 6, 2007, alleged workers improperly removed asbestos. The supervisor failed to ensure the asbestos was properly removed when he permitted another person to supervise the asbestos removal on the first floor of the school, knowing there was a high probability the asbestos removal under this person’s supervision would be done without adequately wetting the asbestos.
An investigation by the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office discovered that instead of using the required removal equipment and techniques, workers removed asbestos-insulated elbows without proper containment and with no water to suppress airborne asbestos particles.
The Clean Air Act requires work-practice safeguards in asbestos-removal and renovation projects to prevent the release of asbestos fibers into the air. Using water and equipment, such as glove bags and other containment measures ,minimizes the chance of exposure.
Dry asbestos chunks and fibers were in the school found several months after the removal. As a precaution, the school district voluntarily shut down the school until follow-up inspections and air monitoring confirmed the building could be safely reoccupied.
The case is part of an environmental-crimes initiative by the Philadelphia Environmental Enforcement Task Force, a coalition of federal, state and local governmental agencies dedicated to addressing violations of environmental laws and regulations throughout the greater Philadelphia area.
