For North Chicago veterans, asbestos exposure has continued past wartime and into convalescence: The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center has been issued 33 notices of unsafe and unhealthful working conditions by OSHA, and asbestos figured prominently among the violations listed.
Jonathan Friedman, Lovell Center public affairs officer, said Monday that “the majority of the citations were clerical in nature, we take all OSHA findings and recommendations very serious.” The citations included safety violations and health violations.
The asbestos-related OSHA violations included: Failure to provide asbestos signs and labels for mechanical rooms and insulated surfaces; failure to provide two hours of asbestos awareness training; not informing employees through training of the location of asbestos-insulated surfaces.
At the time inspections were done in August and September 2010, the center was under the sole direction of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Effective Oct. 1, 2010, the center was renamed and became the first fully integrated federal health-care facility under the partnership of the departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense.
Mr. Friedman said the OSHA safety site visit began August 2010 and the written report was sent April 20, 2011. He said OSHA stated eight of the violations had been corrected prior to the report even being provided.
Among the many risks listed in OSHA's report, asbestos was perhaps the most alarming. Veterans have a high rate of asbestos exposure, due to the heavy use of asbestos in the armed forces for much of the 20thcentury.
Weitz & Luxenberg applauds OSHA for upholding their standards, which only came into being some forty years ago, and hopes that the Lovell Center is able to make the much-needed changes to their facilities as soon as possible. Veterans have suffered far too much from asbestos exposure during their service, and a hospital, of all places, should be free from such risks.
Asbestos exposure scare in Philiadelphia has parents concerned OSHA cites VA hospital. Learn about asbestos and Veterans rights here. Weitz & Luxenberg brings you the latest news about asbestos.
