According to a report recently released by the New York State Department of Labor, the Alexandria Highway Department was slapped with several workplace-related asbestos violations.

The report indicates that employees of the Alexandria Highway Department may have suffered significant asbestos exposure while working in a structure that was known to contain asbestos.

Even more alarming is the fact that the department allowed the employees to continue working in the building without adequate protective equipment.

In total, the state reports listed a total of no less than 27 violations and of these a total of 24 were listed as being serious violations of state workplace safety codes. (The full report can be read here).

Response to Asbestos Violations

According to the business manager of Teamsters Local 687, Potsdam, Robert J. Gordon,“They have mandates, they have to come into compliance as far as work conditions. Our main concern is any problems that are there are rectified, and that there’s a safer work environment.”

However, City of Alexandria Supervisor Dale D. Hunneyman, while acknowledging the possibility of workplace related asbestos exposure, did not seem overly concerned about the asbestos violations report and went on record as saying that these were the Highway Department’s first workplace related asbestos violations in over 23 years.

He did note that the city was taking the asbestos violations and mandates issued by the state very seriously.

Initial concerns about the possibility of asbestos contamination in the building surfaced around mid-December when construction workers raised a large cloud of dust during the clearing of the Chamber of Commerce building.

This concern was later confirmed after samples of the dust were analyzed by an independent analysis company. In fact, this same analysis found more than just asbestos in the samples, the report shows that the samples also contained high levels of lead, which has also been linked to a number of diseases and illnesses.

Workplace Asbestos Exposure

Workplace related asbestos exposure has been found to be a major contributing factor in thousands of mesothelioma diagnoses, with more Americans being diagnosed with this rare but deadly form of cancer each year.

Not only was the department cited for code violations with regard to asbestos contamination and workplace asbestos exposure, they were also cited for their failure to maintain logs regarding illnesses, like mesothelioma, within the workplace that might have led to an earlier discovery of the asbestos contamination.

Other citations issued include failure to provide the required respirators to employees and for having 20-year old respirators in the building that were of no use whatsoever.

In a final statement about this situation, Hunneyman stated he had no idea how much the required renovations were going to cost, only that implementing all of the required safety improvements were going to cost the city a lot of money.

He also stated that “You get in a safe mode, and you overlook them,” speaking about the over two dozen health and safety violations found in the Highway Department building.