ASBESTOS-THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

I found this story in last Friday's Waterloo Region Record titled "Asbestos-related charges laid in Budd's reno" to be quite surprising. After all this time I would think that all parties involved in renovations of older buildings would be cautious, informed and prepared for the eventuality of stumbling onto asbestos insulation. Apparently not, as the Ontario Ministry of Labour have laid 36 charges in regards to renovation work a year ago at the former downtown Budd's clothing store.

These charges were laid against the current owners as well as against the employer and constructor known as Canadian apparel Inc.. Apparently workers on the scene were not advised of the health dangers and reasonable precautions were not taken to protect them. Asbestos is a horrible carcinogen as well as a longterm threat of causing asbestosis which permanently scars and damages lung tissue.

The owner of the property was initially identified in the newspaper article as a numbered company namely 1888181 but then later in the article appeared to be identified as a father-son team by the names of Jay and Kamal Shah. I'm not sure as to the possible ambiguity on this matter in the Record article.