A clause in new regulations for removing certain drywall compound could cost demolition and renovation contractors big money.
Demolition Legislation
Type 2 abatement not always needed: contractors
A clause in new regulations for removing certain drywall compound could cost demolition and renovation contractors big money.
The clause stipulates contractors renovating buildings with drywall compound made sometime in the 1970s and ’80s must comply with Type 2 abatement standards, up from Type 1 removal under the old regulation.
Type 2 abatement procedures require an air-tight enclosure. Workers must wear tyvek suits and half-face respirators with P-100 filters. Type 1 simply requires the contractor to lay a drop sheet during removal operations.
The rules were part of Ontario’s new asbestos regulation, announced Monday in Toronto by Labour Minister Steve Peters.
While many trades support the changes updating safe work measures and procedures and enhancing respiratory protection for workers in asbestos abatement, drywallers insist some parts go too far.
Most experts agree it won’t take contractors long to learn the new removal procedures, but the extra work and equipment will hurt their bottom line.
“It will have a remarkable impact on the drywall industry,” says Don Pinchin, president of the Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario (EACO). “In general the regulation is a good step forward for our industry but this clause is unnecessary.”
The new asbestos regulation goes into affect Nov. 1, but the controversial clause would likely be phased in over two years allowing stake the industry to develop a training program for workers and supervisors. Industry pundits say two years isn’t enough time to set up a proper training program.
Calling the clause “ridiculous,” Tom Kelly, president of Oakville-based Inscan Contractors (Ontario) Inc., says there is a section in the new regulation that might allow for a temporary exclusion of the clause until the ministry of labour can amend the regulation. Inscan is an insulation/asbestos contractor in the province’s ICI sector.
The move to Type 2 classification for drywall compound is based on air sampling tests conducted during the consultation process with EACO and various stakeholders. Although the results of the data were inconclusive, it did show “a potential for an increased level of (asbestos) fibre exposure,” Jim Gardner, provincial specialist, construction health and safety at the ministry of labour, told Daily Commercial News.
However, recently EACO performed additional air sampling tests which Pinchin believes will prove that the clause is overkill. Gardner says the ministry hasn’t seen the test results yet.
“They (EACO) will be making a presentation to us and anything that needs to be done we’ll do at that time.”
Hugh Laird, executive director of the Interior Systems Contractors Association of Ontario, says if the clause sticks, his members would face “horrendous” costs for training workers, equipment and additional time required to do the work.
Industry experts say the clause would be difficult to enforce because of the vast number of small renovation projects going on in the province.
As part of its mandate to improve workplace safety, the MOL is hiring 200 new health and safety inspectors.
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