Student investigation finds asbestos-abatement companies fail to protect workers

An undercover investigation conducted by a Virginia College student found that area asbestos-abatement companies have allegedly violated safety regulations.

Ernest Ojito, a Montgomery College student, began working for a construction company to cover tuitions costs and support his family but later he quit with the determination to expose dangerous conditions.

Oijito, who began working with the Mid-Atlantic Organizing Coalition, has named a number of companies in Virginia and Maryland that are improperly disposing lead and asbestos. He also alleges that these companies that conduct asbestos abatement do no provide their workers with safety gear, such as goggles and face masks. The companies are also accused of not providing decontamination showers for workers to wash away asbestos fibers which can coat their hair and clothing.

There have been a large number of cases filed by mesothelioma lawyers where people have contracted lung cancer through second hand exposure to asbestos.

Working around asbestos without proper protection can lead to a variety of respiratory illnesses, the most detrimental being a fatal lung cancer called mesothelioma. Victims of this disease can retain a mesothelioma attorney to obtain damages from companies who are guilty of failing to protect them from the carcinogen.

It has taken years for mesothelioma lawyers, workers, health officials and environmental activists to make the public and the government aware of the dangers that asbestos poses to human health. They have been successful in having regulations imposed on the use and safe-handling of the material, but this work is futile if companies don’t follow these practices.