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The Asbestos Advisor 2.0
The Asbestos Advisor is an interactive compliance assistance tool. Once installed on your PC, it can interview you about buildings and worksites, and the kinds of tasks workers perform there. It will produce guidance on how the Asbestos standard may apply to those buildings and that work. Its guidance depends on your answers. It can provide general guidance and may, also, be focused on a particular project. It provides pop-up definitions through "hypertext".
Version 2.0 reflects updates for revisions, corrections and clarifications of the rule published by OSHA in Federal Register September 29, 1995 and August 23, 1996. The program is not intended to replace or amend the official text of the regulation, as published in 29 CFR 1910.1001 (general industry), 1915.1001 (shipbuilding), and 1926.1101 (construction). The Asbestos Advisor computer program is intended to provide an introduction to the scope and logic of the regulation and summary guidance to facilitate compliance. Effort has been made to insure the accuracy of information provided by the program, but the guidance provided by the program should not be relied upon as being comprehensive or binding on the government. The Asbestos Advisor's option listed as "Provide detailed text of regulations" allows the user to view and print the full regulation texts associated with selected topics. Users are encouraged to subsequently read the full text of the OSHA Asbestos Standards (29 CFR 1910, 1915, and 1926), and to seek appropriate legal counsel.
OSHA gratefully acknowledges the valuable assistance and comments provided by numerous private individuals and industry, labor and public interest organizations during the development of this program.
The program includes five main functions:
- General guidance
- Individual project guidance
- Glossary
- Answers to frequently asked questions about asbestos
- Detailed text of regulations
This program was developed and is distributed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, under the direction of Carol Jones, Wanda Bissell, and Edward Stern. Jack Powasnik and Edith Nash of the Office of the Solicitor of Labor, provided valuable assistance and comments. System analysis and programming services were provided by CONSAD Research Corporation and DynCorp I&ET Inc., under the direction of Ronald Bird, with the assistance of Alan Bernstein, Sigrid Cleland and Michael Shefler. The program was developed in conjunction with the EXSYS expert systems development tool and the distribution version of the program uses the EXSYS Runtime program core. EXSYS is a trademark of EXSYS Corporation, Albuquerque, N.M., and use of its products is governed by a license granted by EXSYS to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Send your questions, comments or suggestions to:
ASBESTOS ADVISOR
OSHA, Directorate of Health Standards Programs
U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue, NW.
Washington, D.C. 20210
Note: This interactive expert program provides guidance, much as you would get from a pamphlet. It is NOT a substitute for the standards.
The Asbestos Advisor 2.0
How to Install the Asbestos Advisor 2.0
The OSHA Asbestos Advisor Expert System for Windows (ASBW) is distributed as a single file, asbestos.zip (Asbestos Advisor). It will take about 10 minutes to download with a 56,000 baud modem.
- FIRST, open EXPLORE (or other file manager) and make a new folder named C:\TEMPASBW.
- Download the software file, asbestos.zip, (by clicking on the download link below) and SAVE it in the new folder.
- Go to C:\TEMPASBW and double click on asbestos.zip. The install wizard will guide you through the setup.
- Go to START, Programs, and then OSHA Advisors then Asbestos Expert Advisor then Run Asbestos Expert Advisor to run the program.
If you need to save hard disk space, you can delete asbestos.zip and C:\TEMPASBW.
HIGHLIGHTED WORDS:
The highlighted words are "key words" defined in a glossary. You can view them while you are using the program. To view a highlighted word, double click your mouse on the word.
Asbestos cleanup advances
Andrew Silva, Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO - After an environmentally safe trim job from a herd of goats, workers are ready to start cleaning up soil that is contaminated with asbestos.
The roughly 7 acres on G Street north of Mill Street are contaminated with asbestos, apparently from an asbestos-tile plant that operated in the 1950s.
Flintkote Co. operated at 271 South I St. until 1957, when Caltrans took the land by eminent domain to build today's Interstate 215.
When Caltrans widened I-215 to add auxiliary lanes through downtown, it found the soil was contaminated with asbestos.
"They ran into a big slug of it," said Ronnie Bromberg, an environmental-health specialist with the San Bernardino County Fire Department.
In a 2003 court settlement, the company agreed to pay about $1.3 million for the cleanup related to the freeway expansion.
The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004 because of the number of asbestos claims filed against it.
Also in 2003, another area of contamination was discovered about a half mile east on G Street.
In a written statement, attorneys for Flintkote said the company believes it is not solely responsible for the G Street contamination. But Flintkote hired an environmental-consulting firm to develop a cleanup plan, which has been submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
The cleanup, which began this month, is expected to continue into June.
In a low-tech solution to get the cleanup started, a herd of goats was brought in to eat the grass.
"The weeds got too high, and if you disk the property you stir up the asbestos," Bromberg said.
Asbestos is most dangerous when inhaled and can lead to a rare but deadly cancer called mesothelioma.
Bromberg said there is no risk to the public and that the cleanup will be carefully monitored.
The air district has inspectors checking the site, and air-monitoring equipment has been placed near the fence to ensure no contamination is drifting off the site.
The current landowners contacted regulatory officials and asked that Flintkote be required to pay for any cleanup.
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