August 16th, 2007

The US Postal Service has been fined after asbestos dust from a crumbling floor was found at an Oak Ridge Postal Service building. The fine has been imposed despite the fact that both the Postal Service and inspectors from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration state that the asbestos posed no hazard to employees.

A citation was issued in May by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, and the Postal Service was fined fifteen hundred dollars as a result. However, due to the lack of hazardous exposure to staff the Postal Service appealed against the fine, and it was then reduced to seven hundred and fifty dollars.

One official from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration confirmed that there was no hazard to employees. He stated: “It was basically a housekeeping issue, but we didn’t feel like we could overlook the situation. We do not feel there is any hazard there.”

However, the May citation stated that there was a chance that employees could be exposed to the potentially deadly substance. It stated that employees could be “exposed to the asbestos through contact with the mail cases, mail totes and mail trays through getting asbestos on their hands and clothing.”