The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has fined a South Carolina company almost $55,000 for multiple violations of state asbestos regulation for work it did at a former Southborough ice cream plant.
The MassDEP assessed a penalty of $54,937 to ALCS Inc., a scrap metal salvage company, for work it did at the former Hendries Ice Cream plant. Under the terms of a negotiated settlement, MassDEP suspended $39,937 of the assessed penalty provided that the company has no further violations for one year.
The action comes after MassDEP received a complaint from the Southborough Fire Department about an improper asbestos removal project being conducted at the former Hendries site, which is located at One Harvest Lane.
MassDEP officials conducted an inspection and found that the building was undergoing extensive interior demolition, and that asbestos-containing insulation was being removed dry, without any work area containment or air filtration.
Additionally, MassDEP officials observed dry, friable asbestos waste materials uncontained on floors inside the building, on the facility’s loading dock, and in bags inside an open-top dumpster at the site – all violations of asbestos regulations.
Upon discovery of the violations, MassDEP halted the demolition operation, and required the owners to hire a Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety-licensed asbestos contractor to properly remove, package and dispose of all the asbestos-containing waste at the site, and to decontaminate all affected areas of the facility and the dumpster.
ALCS was cited for failing to provide advance notification to MassDEP of the demolition and of a demolition/renovation operation involving asbestos-containing materials.
They were also cited for improperly removing and handling asbestos-containing materials, improper handling, packaging, storing and disposing of asbestos-containing waste materials, and allowing asbestos-containing materials to be handled in a manner that caused or contributed to a condition of air pollution at the site.
