Connecticut Construction Workers Protest Unsafe Asbestos Abatement Procedures

HARTFORD - On Tuesday morning, March 3, 2009, an assembly of construction workers from the Connecticut Laborers' District Council (CLDC) staged a protest at Constitution Plaza in front of the old Broadcast House. The protesters marched between the hours of 8-10 AM in order to bring media attention to the fact that improper and unsafe asbestos abatement procedures were being carried out within the old WFSB-TV studios. Asbestos is a known cancer-causing agent and must be handled with extreme care in accordance with state and federally mandated abatement procedures.

Several workers told members of the media that, when passing by the site, they noticed broken or open windows at various locations at the former TV studio location; additionally, after entering the studios, they witnessed improper asbestos abatement techniques that included asbestos contaminated debris hanging from ceilings, which allowed asbestos fibers to be present in the air and escape through improperly sealed window and door openings.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that can be found in abundance in countries around the world. The toxic material exists in numerous chemical compositions, types, and colors, though, microscopic, airborne asbestos fibers from any geologic type are considered by physicians and researchers to pose a serious threat to human and animal health. Asbestos is a material that has been widely prized since ancient times, primarily because of the material's resistance to heat (asbestos is virtually fireproof), electricity, and harsh corrosive chemicals.

Now largely banned in many countries around the world, asbestos was once used extensively by numerous industries from the late 1800s until the early 1970s when health officials declared asbestos to be the sole cause of respiratory diseases such as asbestosis-a serious scarring of the pleural lining of the lungs that results in reduced lung function-asbestos is also the underlying cause for all cases of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Individuals who contract MPM can usually expect to die within two years after diagnosis of this incurable form of lung cancer. Asbestosis and MPM are both the result of asbestos fibers that are inhaled into the lungs where, up to 50 years later, they can lead to the onset of serious disease.

Due to the extreme toxicity of asbestos, construction workers were rightly concerned about the asbestos work being done at Constitution Plaza, work being performed by DJ Contracting (DJC), a firm based out of Pinewood, NJ. State records indicate that DJ Contracting had been banned from performing asbestos abatement work in Connecticut back in 2005, this due to complaints about the company's unsafe handling of asbestos on a project in Bridgeport. The company eventually had its Connecticut licensed reinstated, though, that renewal expired on December 31, 2008.

The CLDC filed an official complaint against DJC with the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CDPH) Asbestos Division on Feb. 26, 2009. An inspection of CDPH records revealed that inspectors from the agency found unsafe asbestos handling practices at the Hartford project in November and December of 2008, findings that CLDC business manager Charles LeConche uses to buttress his arguments against the current situation at Constitution Plaza.

"Our complaint to Connecticut officials was made and officially confirmed this past week," said LeConche. "This situation needs to be changed quickly. We cannot wait one day or even one more hour as debris flies around the building and through the windows onto motorists and passing pedestrians." said LeConche before pointing out that Al Engineering, the company that owns the building and intends to build its headquarters on the site, is hoping for an award for its environmentally green building practices during the upcoming construction of its offices. LeConche accuses Al Engineering President Abul Islam of trying to save money by hiring incompetent, out of state labor for the asbestos abatement work, a fact that may deny the Middletown-based engineering firm its hoped for environmentally conscious construction award.

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