Owner of former creamery building fined for asbestos violations
Northern Lights Center LLC owner Matt Bobich has been order to pay $70,000 in penalties for failure to follow safety precautions and ignoring a stop work order from Alaska Occupation Safety and Health Department. After a complaint was received in April 2009 from a worker on the site, an investigator was sent to the warehouse in Midtown that once housed the Matanuska Maid creamery. The investigator found the company unable to produce an asbestos hazard assessment, and an environmental company brought in to evaluate the site found asbestos contamination.
The owner was apprised of the situation and told that safety measures must be implemented, but a stop work order was not levied at that time and work continued. A subsequent visit in June found work going on without safety precautions, and the investigator issued a stop-work order.
The investigator made a follow-up visit in July, finding work still going on despite the stop-work order, and no safety precautions or asbestos assessment in place. Bobich refuses to admit fault in the matter but has agreed to pay the fine as ordered. His official position is that it is simply a missing paperwork snafu.
For the full story, go to Anchorage Daily News.
