North Reading Company Fined More Than $60K for Asbestos Removal Violations at Tozer Road Building

By Bobby Gates

Two contractors have been fined a total of $64,200 for alleged improper removal of asbestos-containing floor tile from a Tozer Road building.The fine was issued to Columbia Construction Company of North Reading and USA Demolition Inc. of Woburn by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Both companies were alleged to have improperly removed 3,000 square feet of asbestos-containing floor tile from 32 Tozer Road, which was being converted for use from New England Biolabs to Cell Signaling Technology.

The fine, $32,100 each for Columbia Construction Company and USA Demolition Inc., will be lowered if both companies stay out of trouble for the next year, according to the DEP.

Columbia will pay $9,700 of its penalty and MassDEP has agreed to suspend the remaining $22,400 and USA Demolition will pay $8,700 of its penalty and MassDEP has agreed to suspend the remaining $23,400.

The fines are the result of a DEP inspection on Aug. 5, 2011, where Columbia was working as a general contractor doing renovation work and USA Demolition was a subcontractor doing demolition work.

Neither company properly notified DEP about the demolition work or asbestos abatement work, as required, the DEP said in a news release about the fines.

“In addition, the companies engaged in the improper removal, collection, and disposal into a rolloff dumpster at the site of the asbestos-containing floor tile,” DEP said in announcing the fines. “The work was done without any controls to prevent the release of the loose, dry, friable, asbestos material into the air.”

That’s when MassDEP ordered the work halted and the work area cordoned off. The companies hired a licensed asbestos contractor to prepare a plan to remediate the site in compliance with asbestos removal and disposal regulations, DEP said.

“When asbestos is removed improperly, it creates emissions that are known to be a health hazard to those who breathe that material into their lungs,” said Eric Worrall, director of MassDEP’s Northeast Regional Office in Wilmington in the DEP’s written statement. “The lack of notification, the lack of controls and the careless disposal of this material are all violations and caused an unacceptable public health risk to workers and anyone else in the immediate area.”