Environmental specialists raise concerns over post-quake asbestos exposure risk
Darrell Maclean, President, and Charles Smith, Vice President of Southern Middlesex Industries (SMI), a Massachusetts Environmental Remediation Company, report on another Asbestos exposure scare following a major earthquake in suburban Christchurch, New Zealand.
We all still remember the Japanese earthquake, the subsequent tsunami, and the radioactive leak from the damaged nuclear reactor plant. This blog reported on a further catastrophe, that of asbestos contamination of the debris left by the tsunami and the danger to the workers involved in sifting through the mess and having to remove the rubble. And now, authorities from New Zealand recently reported potential health hazards in the Christchurch area from toxic asbestos-contaminated debris. In fact, the contaminated debris is estimated to amount to over 4 million tons of rubble that have to be moved in the next few months.
A District Health Board member, Andrew Dickerson, commented that many people who worked in the rubble of New York’s World Trade Center developed chronic health problems, and some had died. “I am thinking about exposure to things like asbestos, toxins from electronic waste, toxins in the dust and toxins from treated timber,” he said. He went on to question the safety of the local urban and suburban residents both near the rubble and near the landfill site that will be used to deposit the debris. The Board decided to seek expert advice.
Darrell Maclean, President of SMI, has over 25 years experience and expertise in dealing with environmental hazards such as asbestos, lead, mercury, and other noxious agents, commented, “This is a very serious matter. When an old building is demolished, like many were in Christchurch and the suburban areas by the earthquake, there are massive amounts of toxic materials released and exposed which are a definite danger to those working in the debris, those living close by and those who have to haul it away.”
