KANSAN
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Thursday, June 18, 1981 Vol. 91, No. 149 USPS 650-640
Contractor contests OSHA's asbestos citation
By TIM ELMER Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Allegations that the R.D. Andersen Construction Co. mishandled asbestos at Marvin Hall have been contested by the contractor. The representative for the company, Stewart Entz, Topedia lawyer, said yesterday, "We don't know where there were any violations of the federal law."
The citation is being contested on three issues, Ente said. The issues are whether Marvin Hall is within OSHA's jurisdiction to issue the citation, whether OSHA's procedures in filing the citation were proper and whether there actually was a legal violation.
In early June, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Wichita issued a citation against the Andersen Construction Co. alleging that the company violated a federal law regulating the handling and disposal of asbestos at the Martin Hall renovation project.
Entz said the most significant of the three issues being contested, was whether a health safety violation had occurred. He declined to elaborate.
"I don't believe I should go into detail about the issues," he said, "because we won't want the other side to read about it in the paper."
Lee Enberg, industrial hygiene supervisor at the Wichita OSHA office, said asbestos had been identified as a carcinogenic substance.
"If the old asbestos material is not disposed of
The contractor failed to take proper precautionary steps in handling and disposing of the asbestos, he said.
OSHA's citation alleged that the contractor "willingly" violated OSHA regulations.
THE CITATION ALLEGES that the Andersen company did not place caution signs in areas where asbestos may have been in excess of safe limits, that caution signs were not placed on articles or containers of asbestos at the site and that asbestos levels were not monitored.
Enberg explained that "willful" means that OSHA thought the company was aware of the potential health hazard created by the violations.
"A citation is a list of allegations against the company and proposed penalties," he said.
Because asbestos levels were not monitored,
the citation explained, excessive levels of the material were found at the site and waste materials contaminated by asbestos were not properly disposed of.
In addition to the specification of violations, Enberg said, the citation ordered an end to the violations and imposed a $2,000 fine on the company.
company. The Andersen company had 15 days to resound
Entz said the asbestos that had fallen from, openings in the floors had been removed from the site and that the asbestos remaining in the floors had been sealed and encased.
to the citation. Entz said a letter of content was filed this week with the OSA office in Wichita.
"The elevator shaft and the air ducts are there
and they have all been sealed," he said. "The
door."
See ASBESTOS page 10
May, 1981
Ampersand
Playmate of the Year
of white supremacy is wrong." See story on page eight
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heatre works
Averill said there was also a possibility he would have a paid fund raiser next year.
would have a pair of hands on the neck.
He did not know the status of the touring
subsides given by the KAC at this time Averill said.
Under this program, any school or art center in Kansas has to pay only half the cost of having the Seem-to-Be Players perform or conduct the show and matches any funds paid by the school or art center.
"WE'VE GOT THE gracious support of a lot of different people, broad-based community support," he said. "And in a couple of years to come, I hope we can get some good, strong pledges from local businesses because the company is going to have to take up some of the slack."
The Averils also work together at the Apple Valley Farm Theatre. The Ric Avair Players perform adult melodramas at the dinner theater on Friday and Saturday evenings.
"The productions are so stylized with a really broad style, a lot of getting out of character and playing around with the audience, hissing and cheering and people getting beer and pop and peanuts," he said. "It's a real relaxed, fun outdoor sphere, just an incredible resource for all of us."
See AVERILL page 10
MARTI FRUMHOFF/Kansas Staff
theatre director, jokes with some youngsters while
Weather
It will be mostly fair today with a high of 80.
Winds will be out of the north at a 10 or 20 mph.
It will be mostly fair tonight with a low of 55.
Tornadoes will be fair to partly cloudy with a high in the low 80.