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    Unsafe asbestos handling leads to 60-day jail term

    CBC – Tue, 24 Jan, 2012
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    A Metro Vancouver employer who repeatedly exposed his demolition workers to asbestos has been sentenced to 60 days in jail.

    Arthur Moore was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday for contempt after ignoring court orders that he halt all demolition work after failing several times to provide protection for his workers while they handled asbestos.

    Lawyers from B.C.'s Workers Compensation Board had asked that Moore be sent to jail for six months to one year.

    "Thankfully, at least one time in all the time I've been in this province, an employer is going to jail for basically giving the death sentence to a whole lot of workers," B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair said after the sentence was handed down.

    But Sinclair said the 60-day jail term is too light a punishment, and called on the Crown to pursue criminal charges against Moore.

    "The system is still fundamentally broken," Sinclair said. "[Moore] should have been charged with criminal neglect as soon as he did it."

    Moore often hired recovering addicts — some as young as 14 — then knowingly exposed them to asbestos without adequate protective equipment, according to court documents.

    His business operated in Surrey and other cities under the name AM Environmental, Tri City Hazmat, Surrey Hazmat, Pro Scan Environmental and other names.

    A warrant was issued for Moore's arrest in October.

    "Over the last few years, he has exposed at least 50 different workers to asbestos products in the demolition," said Lee Loftus, spokesman for the B.C. and Yukon Building and Construction Trades Council.

    "This is going to be a pretty rare opportunity to see an employer that does this type of stuff actually go to jail for what he is doing."

    Loftus said he has worked in the asbestos industry and found it "atrocious" that someone would operate a demolition business in the way Moore did.

    On average, 50 B.C. workers a year die from cancer and other illnesses caused by workplace asbestos exposure, Loftus said.

    The installation of asbestos fibre as insulation was halted in most of North America in the 1970s due to extensive evidence of its toxicity.

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    25 comments

    • yahoonewshound
      yahoonewshound  •  28 days ago
      Looks like you can get a way with murder
    • Slim
      Slim  •  28 days ago
      SELFISH PRICK...SHOULD GET MASSIVE FINE AND LOTS OF TIME IN THE CAN !!!
    • Joe Canuck
      Joe Canuck  •  28 days ago
      Well, at the very least, it should be 60 days in an asbestos-lined cell.
    • GrandSlam
      GrandSlam  •  28 days ago
      I would never work for a selfish asss like this and his workers should all sue the creep.
    • CJ
      CJ  •  Ottawa, Ontario  •  28 days ago
      that's bull. Health issues from dipshitz like that have yet to be seen if exposed to long. It's not something that has immediate ailments. He should go to jail for a lot longer than that and pay to the ones he exposed a good sum of money whether they are affected or not. These people should have complained but then they probably had no idea for the most part the different forms asbestos comes in to begin with.
    • Photog
      Photog  •  28 days ago
      Put him away for good. This guy is a serial killer.
    • brjbbrjb
      brjbbrjb  •  28 days ago
      Six days, six weeks, six months, he will never see the inside of a cell.
    • putika
      putika  •  28 days ago
      This present Canadian gov- is exposing the whole world to asbestos, so, how can they get away with it
    • edgeden
      edgeden  •  28 days ago
      60 days ??????????????????????????????????????????
    • anonymous
      anonymous  •  Victoria, British Columbia  •  28 days ago
      He should have absbestos shoved down his throat. Piece of Garbage.
    • andrew
      andrew  •  London, Ontario  •  28 days ago
      lts hope the boys in jail can teach him a lesson
    • Carson
      Carson  •  Edmonton, Alberta  •  28 days ago
      What I can;t understand is this has been going on for years and 50 employees where the hell were those high paid goverment goons asleep ?????? To let it go on for that long he should have company!!!!!!!!!
    • hughtrafalgar
      hughtrafalgar  •  28 days ago
      Punishment certainly doesn't fit the crime in this country.
    • debracanice
      debracanice  •  Burlington, Ontario  •  28 days ago
      Actually most people are not aware how common that stuff is ,in flooring in ceiling tiles , in the seventies it was often used in drywall . its in attics , in insulation around old furnaces
      old roof tiles , most people when they hire handymen get someone who has no idea if the product they are working on has asbetos therefore just spreading the dust around
      if your house was built in the seventies and you hire a electrician he might crack a few holes in the walls and spread asbestos dust everywhere .
    • debracanice
      debracanice  •  Burlington, Ontario  •  28 days ago
      If your house was built before the eighties you got asbetos somewhere , In old floor tiles , and when you remove them the dust goes into the air
      and in attic insulation . even nail a nail into old drywall , there was a period of time when the drywal commonly had asbestos . 70 to 80 aprox
    • harold
      harold  •  Kingston, Ontario  •  28 days ago
      if your going to work in the demolition field these are the risks. if you dont like it dont work in the field, go flip burgers at mcdonalds
    • rodneylazenby
      rodneylazenby  •  Saskatoon, Saskatchewan  •  28 days ago
      hang him 50 times
    • bb
      bb  •  28 days ago
      Yet they still mine asbestos in Quebec. WTF?
    • Just a thought . Joemcf.
      Just a thought . Joemcf.  •  Mississauga, Ontario  •  28 days ago
      Wow this stuff is sold to 3rd world nations ...it kills people and it is still for sale ?
      The governemnt gave 25 million to Asbestos Quebec last year to keep this mine goin ????
      Who is making these decisions on our behalf and why are they not punishable by law ?
    • Nemesis
      Nemesis  •  Courtenay, British Columbia  •  28 days ago
      Let me assure all readers and the "learned judge" that this person is still highly contemptuous of the regulations, but now he is also contemptuous of the courts for such a light slap on the wrist for reckless endangerment and coercive practices as an employer.
     Post a comment
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