Asbestos danger not addressed at Niagara Falls Public Safety Building, putting city workers and the public at risk
The Niagara Falls Public Safety Building on Hyde Park Boulevard contains asbestos. The New York Labor Dept.’s Public Employee Employee Safety and Health Division issued citations against the city after it found airborne asbestos fibers in an inspection of the building, which houses Niagara Falls’ police headquarters, courthouse and city jail. Journalist David Staba is concerned that officials haven’t done anything to remove it yet, and while there is a warning on the front door that says “DANGER: CONTAINS ASBESTOS FIBERS, AVOID CREATING DUST, CANCER AND LUNG DISEASE HAZARD,” people working in the building say they are afraid and don’t know what to do to protect themselves and “avoid creating dust.”The building’s ventilation system still circulates air, likely stirring up and resuspending asbestos in the building’s environment. Mr. Staba accuses Niagara Falls mayor Vincenzo Anello of showing “a wanton disregard for the health of the scores of police officers and other city employees who report to work there every day, as well as the hundreds of residents who pass through the doors every week” by failing to address the asbestos danger in the building. If Anello had not stalled on the building of a new state-ordered courthouse, Staba says, that building would already have been completed and offered a safe workplace for these city employees.
For the full story, go to http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/citycide10.23.07.html
![[Information package]](http://www.mesotheliomanews.com/wp-content/themes/biromeso/images/infopack.jpg)
