Work grinds to a halt again at paper mill over asbestos fears.
For the second time in less than a month, a state agency has ordered a Texas man to stop demolition work at a former paper mill in Lockport.
This time, state Labor Department officials say the owner of the property knew there was asbestos contamination but continued to allow unprotected workers to perform the demolition.
Property owner Scott Krzyzanowski was initially told after a 3 September site visit to stop demolition work until the results of asbestos tests came back, state officials said. On 14 September, a few days after receiving the test results, the Labor Department cited Krzyzanowski with several violations, including using a non-licensed contractor and non-certified workers, starting demolition work without an asbestos survey and refusing to allow inspectors to perform their review.
On Friday, inspectors found workers again performing demolition work at the site. The Labor Department then issued a stop-work order.
Before the asbestos test results were in, Krzyzanowski told The Buffalo News he doubted there was much asbestos in the 1,500 square metre (16,000-square-foot), largely roofless building.
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