With a renovation boom in Massachusetts comes an increased need for asbestos removal projects – and a heightened concern for worker safety.

The number of registered asbestos removal projects in that state reached an all-time high of over 23,000 in 2015, an increase of over 50 percent over the last five years.

But while the number of projects increased at potentially contaminated sites, the number of inspections by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection was on the downswing until last year.

An uptick in inspections has since resulted in 500 being performed in the fiscal year ending June 2015, but that’s still fewer than half the number of inspections performed in 2012, however.

Asbestos Removal Projects Held to Legal Requirements

Throughout the early and mid-20th century, asbestos saw widespread application in construction materials due in part to its effectiveness as an insulator and fire retardant. Ceiling and floor tiles can contain asbestos. So can insulation that was blown into the insides of walls or wrapped around pipes.

Many of those asbestos-based materials are still in place in buildings today, and construction workers come across them all the time in the course of renovation projects.

New uses of asbestos have been largely banned since the 1970s and 80s. But many older uses, such as for automotive parts, were grandfathered in when asbestos restrictions were written.

Today, industrial workers who handle asbestos in manufacturing are still at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases. But their risk is half that of construction workers who have to remove it from a job site, according to one research study.

Proper asbestos removal projects require trained personnel and specialized safety equipment. But some contractors who discover asbestos contamination in the middle of a job can’t be bothered to change their plans.

Investigators and journalists have discovered there’s a significant gap between what the law requires and what actually happens on the job site. Contractors who fail to provide proper asbestos removal projects put workers and others at risk for asbestos exposure.

These less scrupulous companies risk getting hit with fines from state enforcement agencies. Over the five years ending in June 2016, Massachusetts regulators found over 300 asbestos safety violations, most of which were found on job sites.

Despite curtailed use of asbestos, asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma are still a problem. At least 4,000 people died of asbestos-related diseases in the U.S. in 2014.

These diseases can take decades to develop. In some cases, there can be as much as 40 years between exposure and diagnosis. That long incubation period gives companies that sicken their workers through improper asbestos handling practices a chance to get away with it scot-free.

That’s exactly what inspections and enforcement of proper handling practices by government agencies are intended to prevent. In Massachusetts, state agency records show many companies still fail to use proper asbestos abatement techniques and safety equipment, putting workers lives at risk.

In 2016, several construction companies were caught and fined thousands of dollars for failing to use proper abatement techniques. Even some companies that specialize in asbestos removal fail to comply with the law. One such company was fined three times in as many years for workplace violations.