October 16th, 2007

Workers at a hotel in Columbia, South Carolina are concerned that they are being lied to. When asked about the presence of asbestos, officials told the workers there was no asbestos. But employees are able to point out pieces of the deadly material.

A hotel in South Carolina that is undergoing renovations has been issued a cease and desists after one worker came forward regarding asbestos. The worker was told that the asbestos in the building was removed, and was shown permits allowing the asbestos to be removed in solid form. The only problem was that the permit was for the first and second floor only. And the worker was pulling out fragmented pieces of asbestos on the third floor. What’s worse, disposing of the asbestos consisted of throwing the pieces out the windows to a waiting dumpster in the ground floor parking lot.

The asbestos could have put guest in danger as well, since the asbestos being pulled out is thrown in the parking lot. When asbestos breaks apart it can become airborne, which allows the particles to be inhaled. Asbestos exposure can result in emphysema and mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer. The worker that brought the conditions to light is now experiencing labored breathing and coughing up blood, which could be an early indication of mesothelioma. Unfortunately, mesothelioma can take years to manifest, and is often times deadly when detected.