Senate Bill S6492

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6492

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the labor law, in relation to asbestos demolition
surveys

 PURPOSE OF THE BILL :

The bill would amend Labor Law § 241 to remove the exception to
asbestos survey requirements for buildings constructed on or after
January 1, 1974.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of this bill would amend Labor Law § 241(10) by removing the
exemption that allows buildings constructed on or after January 1,
1974 to be demolished without first obtaining a survey to determine
whether the building contains asbestos or asbestos material.

Section 2 of this bill would make it effective date ninety days after
it becomes law.

 JUSTIFICATION :

As currently set forth in Labor Law § 241(10), an owner or his agent
              

must obtain a survey to determine whether his building contains
asbestos or asbestos materials before the building may be demolished
except when the building was constructed on or after January 1, 1974.

The exemption for buildings constructed on or after 1974 was based on
the assumption that by 1974, building materials would no longer
contain asbestos due to regulations issued by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency ("EPA"). However, the ban was ultimately overturned
by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Corrosion Proof
Fittings v. EPA, 947 F.2d 1202 (1991).

Labor Law § 241(10) has not been updated to reflect the fact that
asbestos continued to be used in post-1974 construction materials and,
as a result, the exception for construction after 1974 contradicts EPA
and Occupational Safety and Health Act ("OSHA") regulations, which
were amended post-1991 to require asbestos surveys of buildings before
they may be demolished - regardless of their date of construction.

In addition to this discrepancy between state law and federal
regulations, workers and the public are exposed to dangerous asbestos
fibers when buildings that contain asbestos are not surveyed or abated
before they are demolished. Lastly, a survey followed by strategic and
localized abatement of any asbestos before demolition will always cost
significantly less than abating debris as asbestos-containing material
after demolition. By operation of New York law, if asbestos is found
in demolition debris, all of the debris must be disposed of as if it
contains asbestos because the debris is now non-uniform and cannot be
properly surveyed. Disposal of asbestos debris for a two story
building could cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending
on the amount of debris; whereas an asbestos survey typically costs a
few hundred dollars.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
90 days after enactment.