An int eresting case study relates to the events surrounding Newmont Gold Com pany (now Newmont Mining Corp.) and a mercury spill in Peru in 2000. The case involves a contractor who picked up about a ton and a half of mercury and proceeded on a 180 kilometer drive through the countrysid e with some of the mercury spilling out along the way (about 150 kg as I re call). The end result was somewhat costly for Newmont even though the contractor was the one who spilled the materials, off-site no less.
Regards,
Tim Pasquarelli
Managing Partner
International Peril Mitigation Services (IPMServ)
Golden, CO
Ofc: + 1 (303) 271-1891
Mobile: +1 (303) 619-3041
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Zavon" <pzavon**At_Symbol_Here**ROCHE
STER.RR.COM>
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009
8:31:02 PM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury
cleanup by a contracted vendor
It is only legal advice when given b
y an attorney.
Or put another way, everyone has the right to express
their opinion, even on
a point of law. Doing so does not necessar
ily constitute practicing law
without having passed the bar, especially
when the opinions are in a
technical area with which the person expressi
ng the opinion has background
and experience.
I am not an attorn
ey, but as an Industrial Hygienist of some years'
experience, I am quali
fied to comment on OSHA regulations, practices that
may be contrary to r
egulations, etc.
Peter Zavon, MS, CIH
(The above are my personal
and professional opinions and do not necessarily
reflect the views of an
y group or organization with which I may be
associated.)
> ---
--Original Message-----
> From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS
-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu]
> On Behalf Of Dr. Jay A. Young
> Sent: Frida
y, March 13, 2009 11:24 AM
> To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject
: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a contracted vendor
>
> To
Carl and the others who are telling Kathleen what to do:
>
> I
recommend that you kind people be a bit more cautious.
> Some
of the advice that you are giving sure looks like legal
> advice to
me. It is not a good idea for a person who is not
> an attorn
ey to give legal advice to another person.
>
> Jay Young
&g
t; ************************
> ----- Original Message -----
> Fr
om: "Carl Zipfel" <czipfel**At_Symbol_Here**COMCAST.NET>
> To: <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.
UVM.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 6:08 PM
> Subject:
Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a contracted vendor
>
>
> >I do not believe that this statement is correct. This is
> totally dependent
> > on the amount of authority that you ex
ercise over the contractor's
> > employees. If hire a contra
ctor for a specific job spelled
> out in the
> > contract,
and you do not give individual orders, or assign
> individual
> > work,
> > you have limited, if any, OSHA responsibil
ity (caveat:
> state regulations
> > could differ). Y
ou are not hiring someone, you are
> contracting a service.
>
> The big IF here is: If the contractor exposes your
> empl
oyees to hazards
> > then you do have an OSHA obligation to your e
mployees.
> Here are some
> > things
> > to
consider for now and in the future:
> >
> > 1 - Get, and
keep, your people away from this job.
> > 2 - Shut the job down u
ntil the contractor agrees to
> operate in accordance
> > w
ith regulations
> > 3 - Make a determination that the contractor i
s capable of
> doing the job
> > 4 - In the future these tw
o requirements should be written into any
> > purchase
> &g
t; orders or contract.
> > 5 - Do not assume any direct responsibi
lity in overseen the
> > moment-to-moment
> > work assig
nments for the job, or direct employee job
> assignments. Set<
BR>> > standards of performance, and then write them into the
>
; contract, then step
> > back and let the contractor do his job.
Monitor the job to
> make sure that
> > the contracto
r is fulfilling his agreed to performances,
> but do not direct
&
gt; > his employees.
> > 6 - Contact your attorney to determine
what legal course of
> action, if
> > any,
> > t
hat you may want to take against the contractor. Do not
> cont
act OSHA
> > without your attorney's advice. You are under n
o
> obligations to contact
> > OSHA.
> > 7 - You a
re under an obligation to protect your people (see
> item #1).  
;You
> > are under no legal obligation to protect another employer
's
> people, unless
> > you assume those obligations (i.e.
temporary employees
> hired from a temp
> > agency)
>
> 8 - Always make sure that any contractors that you hire cover they > > employees
> > with workers compensation insurance.
> > 9 - Always make sure that any contractors that you hire
>
have performance
> > insurance, and environmental liability insura
nce (if required).
> > 10 - Have a written contractor's procedure
that spells out you
> > requirements,
> > and requires d
isclosure from them.
> > 11 - I'm sure there are some other things
, but these are
> the one that I
> > can
> > reme
mber at this moment.
> >
> > Carl
> >
> &g
t;
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: DCHAS-L Discu
ssion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu]
> On Behalf Of
> >
Nunn, Nate
> > Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 4:20 PM
> >
; To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury clea
nup by a contracted vendor
> >
> > Kathleen,
> >
> > Under the regulations any vendor working for you on this or o
ther
> > projects is considered to be your employee. You are
responsible for
> > making sure they are in compliance with all a
ppropriate
> regulations. If
> > you knowingly allow
work to continue in violation of safety
> or health
> > sta
ndards your employer, and in some cases you can be held liable in
> &
gt; civil and where appropriate criminal court. If you know they are<
BR>> > violating government regulations you are required to take
> appropriate
> > actions including if necessary shutting down
their work.
> >
> > NATHAN J. NUNN
> > EHS Direc
tor
> >
> > TestAmerica
> > THE LEADER IN ENVIRO
NMENTAL TESTING
> >
> > Cell: 832.746.4976
> > T
oll Free: 877.785.7233
> >
> >
> >
> >
-----Original Message-----
> > From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mail
to:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu]
> On Behalf Of
> > Dr. Jay A. Youn
g
> > Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 2:45 PM
> > To: DCHA
S-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a c
ontracted vendor
> >
> > Kathleen,
> >
> &
gt; Get a lawyer as quick as you can.
> >
> > Jay Young> >
> > PS: It may already be too late. Get that att
orney the day before
> > yesterday.
> > *****************
***********************
> > ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: "Schmidt-Nebril, Kathleen" <kschmidtnebril**At_Symbol_Here**DOM.EDU>
>
; > To: <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
> > Sent: Monday, March 09
, 2009 11:18 PM
> > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a co
ntracted vendor
> >
> >
> > Currently I am the D
ominican University CHO and am looking
> for comments,
> ><
BR>> > advice and/or resources to address the a situation I found mys
elf in
> > today.
> > Our Physical Plant had hired an aba
tement contractor to
> clear our an old
> >
> > sc
ience building lab that had a known asbestos and Hg
> problem.  
;When I
> > arrived on the scene to pick up another item this
> contractor had their
> > crew
> > of 5-7 non English
speaking workers tearing out cabinets,
> counters etc
> >
in
> > the contaminated room with absolutely no ventilation and > only 2 workers
> > wearing respirators for Hg toxic vapors?
The room itself
> was sealed in
> > plastic and abou
t 80F so I just knew the Hg vapor reading
> would be sky
> >
; high.
> > They had the room sealed because they had to keep the
> asbetos dust in?
> > The
> > company had an avai
lable Luminox instrument to detect air
> conc. of Hg
> > an
d I
> > insisted they stop work and check the room. Of cours
e the
> reading was
> > off
> > the chart with the
unit min allowed Hg conc being 1000( not
> sure of the
> >
unit) we read at 45000! I made quite a fuss to the vendor
> a
bout their
> > worker's safety and insisted the room be ventilated
and
> work stop until
> > levels were within allowable ran
ge. At the same time other
> contracted
> > vendors were sh
owing up to do work in the room and I
> recommended they
> >
; wait
> > for safe levels. These were not vendors I had contracte
d but I
> > definitely
> > could tell they had a total di
sregard for their own crews safety and
> > safety
> > in
general. How liable are we for contracted vendors
> safety? Can we be
> >
> > held responsible for their workers
becoming ill from
> exposure since they
> > are
> >
; not our employees? I was hoping someone out there can help
>
me establish
> > a
> > strong case for safety to my empl
oyer with any website references or
> > info
> > you may
have in these situations.
> >
> > Thank You
> >
Kathleen Schmidt-Nebril
> >
> >
> > -----Origina
l Message-----
> > From: DCHAS-L Discussion List on behalf of Chri
smarlowe
> > Sent: Sat 3/7/2009 7:58 AM
> > To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**L
IST.UVM.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Amorphous silicone dioxide
silica
> >
> > Paul:
> >
> > WRT: "what
do I say next time he wants to order in bulk!?"
> >
> >
Tell him, "Yes. The institution supports purchase in bulk
> as long
as:
> >
> > - The department will really use that much ch
emical long
> before it goes
> > bad
> > and
&g
t; >
> > - The department has the physical and procedural abili
ty to
> manage the
> > material and its hazards."
> &
gt;
> > Stay healthy,
> >
> > Chris Marlowe
&
gt; > 42 Highlander Dr
> > Scotch Plains, NJ 07076
>
; > 908 / 754 - 5160 (home)
> > 732 / 539 - 8128 (cell)
>
> Krismarlowe**At_Symbol_Here**Verizon.net
> >
> > CONFIDENTIALITY NOT
ICE: This e-mail communication, including any
> > attachment
s, may contain privileged or confidential information for
> > spe
cific
> > individuals and is protected by law. If you are no
t the intended
> > recipient(s), you are hereby notified that any
> dissemination, distribution
> > or copying of this commun
ication is strictly prohibited and
> you should
> > delete
this message and its attachments from your computer without
> > r
etaining
> > any copies. If you have received this communica
tion in
> error, please
> > reply
> > to the send
er immediately. We appreciate your cooperation.
> >
>
>
> >
> > Please consider the environment before print
ing this e-mail.
> >
>
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post