New legislation was recently passed in the city of New York which aims to improve health and safety conditions amidst a current rise in large scale demolition and reconstruction projects. The new regulations are aimed specifically at improving fire safety through increasing accessibility within construction sites, and reducing asbestos exposure with a variety of new required safe practices. The new legislation will create stricter regulations for asbestos abatement projects, demolitions, and large scale, commercial renovations.
An important component of the new measures is a law that will prevent demolition and asbestos abatement projects from being carried out at the same time in the same building. The combination of an ever improving understanding of asbestos exposure risks and recent tragedies encountered by the New York Fire Department are, in large part, responsible for the new law. The bill will help to keep fire escape routes clear by avoiding the clutter inherent in demolishing and performing asbestos abatement at the same time. In addition to simply reducing the amount of debris and equipment in a building, the law will also reduce asbestos exposure by ensuring that only individuals wearing protective gear are present while asbestos is being handled. Before the institution of these new practices, it was commonplace for demolition crews without dust masks or respirators to be present while the asbestos crews worked.
Another piece of the new bundle of laws will simultaneously require contractors to pass stricter, more thorough exams before being granted asbestos abatement licenses, while reducing the incidents of asbestos abatement without the proper license and ensuring that contractors have the information they need available to them to prepare for and take the exam. The exam will cover the new practices which are now required in asbestos abatement work such as new, safer handling procedures, proper disposal, and more.
An additional regulation will prohibit the use of matches, cigarette lighters, open flames, cigarette smoking or other tobacco use on the same floor as an asbestos abatement project. The law will help to ensure that the asbestos removal crews keep their protective equipment on while in an area contaminated with asbestos, and take their breaks in which they remove their equipment on different floors where the asbestos levels are not a health hazard.
The new regulations will help to keep both demolition and asbestos abatement crews more safe on the job, and will help lead to the decline and eventual disappearance of dangerous asbestos related diseases like mesothelioma.
