Asbestos penalty makes mockery of recent worker death fine.
You might recall that we reported last week on the $750 fine imposed on a demolition company implicated in the death of one of its employees. At the time, we said that such a minimal penalty was tantamount to categorizing demolition workers as expendable.
Fast-forward a week and we have a story about a $1.2 million fine imposed by a Baltimore court on a demolition company found guilty of of contravening asbestos regulations in which precisely nobody (thankfully) died.
Now I realise that US states have their own individual legislature and that there’s also another layer of federal law to contend with.
But if someone can explain why a company can be fined $750 for killing a worker while another can be fined $1.2 million for not killing anyone, I’d love to hear the explanation.
With many US demolition contractors now forced to travel out-of-state to find work in these recessionary times, surely a little legal consistency is not too much to ask….is it?
