The Ventura County District Attorney’s office has settled a lawsuit with the Oxnard School District over the unsafe removal in 2004 of ceiling tiles containing friable asbestos. When asbestos is friable, it releases fibers into the air that can be easily inhaled, causing a variety of diseases including malignant mesothelioma. The school district has agreed to pay $25,000 in penalties and additional costs because it and its project manager provided information that did not show the ceiling tiles contained asbestos. Even when a new report was issued that showed the asbestos content of the ceiling tiles, the school district and its project manager did not share the report with workers actually removing the tiles until after the work was done. In addition to the fines levied against the school district, the project manager, Martinez Architects, has been ordered to pay $30,000 and the contractor doing the work, G-2000, was ordered to pay $25,000.
For the full story, go to the Ventura County Star.
