An int eresting case study relates to the events surrounding Newmont Gold Com pany (now Newmont Mining Corp.) and a mercury spill in Peru in 2000.  The case involves a contractor who picked up about a ton and a half of mercury and proceeded on a 180 kilometer drive through the countrysid e with some of the mercury spilling out along the way (about 150 kg as I re call).  The end result was somewhat costly for Newmont even though the contractor was the one who spilled the materials, off-site no less.

Regards,

Tim Pasquarelli

Managing Partner

International Peril Mitigation Services (IPMServ)

Golden, CO

Ofc: + 1 (303) 271-1891

Mobile: +1 (303) 619-3041

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Zavon" <pzavon**At_Symbol_Here**ROCHE STER.RR.COM>
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 8:31:02 PM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a contracted vendor

It is only legal advice when given b y an attorney.

Or put another way, everyone has the right to express their opinion, even on
a point of law.  Doing so does not necessar ily constitute practicing law
without having passed the bar, especially when the opinions are in a
technical area with which the person expressi ng the opinion has background
and experience.

I am not an attorn ey, but as an Industrial Hygienist of some years'
experience, I am quali fied to comment on OSHA regulations, practices that
may be contrary to r egulations, etc.

Peter Zavon, MS, CIH
(The above are my personal and professional opinions and do not necessarily
reflect the views of an y group or organization with which I may be
associated.)

> --- --Original Message-----
> From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS -L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu]
> On Behalf Of Dr. Jay A. Young
> Sent: Frida y, March 13, 2009 11:24 AM
> To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject : Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a contracted vendor
>
> To Carl and the others who are telling Kathleen what to do:
>
> I recommend that you kind people be a bit more cautious.  
> Some of the advice that you are giving sure looks like legal
> advice to me.  It is not a good idea for a person who is not
> an attorn ey to give legal advice to another person.
>
> Jay Young
&g t; ************************
> ----- Original Message -----
> Fr om: "Carl Zipfel" <czipfel**At_Symbol_Here**COMCAST.NET>
> To: <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST. UVM.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 6:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a contracted vendor
>
>
> >I do not believe that this statement is correct.  This is
> totally dependent
> > on the amount of authority that you ex ercise over the contractor's
> > employees.  If hire a contra ctor for a specific job spelled
> out in the
> > contract, and  you do not give individual orders, or assign
> individual
> > work,
> > you have limited, if any, OSHA responsibil ity (caveat:
> state regulations
> > could differ).  Y ou are not hiring someone, you are
> contracting a service.
> > The big IF here is:  If the contractor exposes your
> empl oyees to hazards
> > then you do have an OSHA obligation to your e mployees.  
> Here are some
> > things
> > to consider for now and in the future:
> >
> > 1 - Get, and keep, your people away from this job.
> > 2 - Shut the job down u ntil the contractor agrees to
> operate in accordance
> > w ith regulations
> > 3 - Make a determination that the contractor i s capable of
> doing the job
> > 4 - In the future these tw o requirements should be written into any
> > purchase
> &g t; orders or contract.
> > 5 - Do not assume any direct responsibi lity in overseen the
> > moment-to-moment
> > work assig nments for the job, or direct employee job
> assignments.  Set< BR>> > standards of performance, and then write them into the
> ; contract, then step
> > back and let the contractor do his job.  Monitor the job to
> make sure that
> > the contracto r is fulfilling his agreed to performances,
> but do not direct
& gt; > his employees.
> > 6 - Contact your attorney to determine what legal course of
> action, if
> > any,
> > t hat you may want to take against the contractor.  Do not
> cont act OSHA
> > without your attorney's advice.  You are under n o
> obligations to contact
> > OSHA.
> > 7 - You a re under an obligation to protect your people (see
> item #1).   ;You
> > are under no legal obligation to protect another employer 's
> people, unless
> > you assume those obligations (i.e. temporary employees
> hired from a temp
> > agency)
> > 8 - Always make sure that any contractors that you hire cover they > > employees
> > with workers compensation insurance.
> > 9 - Always make sure that any contractors that you hire
> have performance
> > insurance, and environmental liability insura nce (if required).
> > 10 - Have a written contractor's procedure that spells out you
> > requirements,
> > and requires d isclosure from them.
> > 11 - I'm sure there are some other things , but these are
> the one that I
> > can
> > reme mber at this moment.
> >
> > Carl
> >
> &g t;
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: DCHAS-L Discu ssion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu]
> On Behalf Of
> > Nunn, Nate
> > Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 4:20 PM
> > ; To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury clea nup by a contracted vendor
> >
> > Kathleen,
> >
> > Under the regulations any vendor working for you on this or o ther
> > projects is considered to be your employee.  You are responsible for
> > making sure they are in compliance with all a ppropriate
> regulations.  If
> > you knowingly allow work to continue in violation of safety
> or health
> > sta ndards your employer, and in some cases you can be held liable in
> & gt; civil and where appropriate criminal court.  If you know they are< BR>> > violating government regulations you are required to take
> appropriate
> > actions including if necessary shutting down their work.
> >
> > NATHAN J. NUNN
> > EHS Direc tor
> >
> > TestAmerica
> > THE LEADER IN ENVIRO NMENTAL TESTING
> >
> > Cell: 832.746.4976
> > T oll Free: 877.785.7233
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mail to:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**list.uvm.edu]
> On Behalf Of
> > Dr. Jay A. Youn g
> > Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 2:45 PM
> > To: DCHA S-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a c ontracted vendor
> >
> > Kathleen,
> >
> & gt; Get a lawyer as quick as you can.
> >
> > Jay Young> >
> > PS: It may already be too late.  Get that att orney the day before
> > yesterday.
> > ***************** ***********************
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Schmidt-Nebril, Kathleen" <kschmidtnebril**At_Symbol_Here**DOM.EDU>
> ; > To: <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
> > Sent: Monday, March 09 , 2009 11:18 PM
> > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Mercury cleanup by a co ntracted vendor
> >
> >
> > Currently I am the D ominican University CHO and am looking
> for comments,
> >< BR>> > advice and/or resources to address the a situation I found mys elf in
> > today.
> > Our Physical Plant had hired an aba tement contractor to
> clear our an old
> >
> > sc ience building lab that had a known asbestos and Hg
> problem.   ;When I
> > arrived on the scene to pick up another item this
> contractor had their
> > crew
> > of 5-7 non English speaking workers tearing out cabinets,
> counters etc
> > in
> > the contaminated room with absolutely no ventilation and > only 2 workers
> > wearing respirators for Hg toxic vapors?  The room itself
> was sealed in
> > plastic and abou t 80F so I just knew the Hg vapor reading
> would be sky
> > ; high.
> > They had the room sealed because they had to keep the
> asbetos dust in?
> > The
> > company had an avai lable Luminox instrument to detect air
> conc. of Hg
> > an d I
> > insisted they stop work and check the room.  Of cours e the
> reading was
> > off
> > the chart with the unit min allowed Hg conc being 1000( not
> sure of the
> > unit) we read at 45000!  I made quite a fuss to the vendor
> a bout their
> > worker's safety and insisted the room be ventilated and
> work stop until
> > levels were within allowable ran ge. At the same time other
> contracted
> > vendors were sh owing up to do work in the room and I
> recommended they
> > ; wait
> > for safe levels. These were not vendors I had contracte d but I
> > definitely
> > could tell they had a total di sregard for their own crews safety and
> > safety
> > in general.  How liable are we for contracted vendors
> safety?  Can we be
> >
> > held responsible for their workers becoming ill from
> exposure since they
> > are
> > ; not our employees?  I was hoping someone out there can help
> me establish
> > a
> > strong case for safety to my empl oyer with any website references or
> > info
> > you may have in these situations.
> >
> > Thank You
> > Kathleen Schmidt-Nebril
> >
> >
> > -----Origina l Message-----
> > From: DCHAS-L Discussion List on behalf of Chri smarlowe
> > Sent: Sat 3/7/2009 7:58 AM
> > To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**L IST.UVM.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Amorphous silicone dioxide silica
> >
> > Paul:
> >
> > WRT: "what do I say next time he wants to order in bulk!?"
> >
> > Tell him, "Yes. The institution supports purchase in bulk
> as long as:
> >
> > - The department will really use that much ch emical long
> before it goes
> > bad
> > and
&g t; >
> > - The department has the physical and procedural abili ty to
> manage the
> > material and its hazards."
> & gt;
> > Stay healthy,
> >
> > Chris Marlowe
& gt; > 42 Highlander Dr
> > Scotch Plains, NJ  07076
> ; > 908 / 754 - 5160 (home)
> > 732 / 539 - 8128 (cell)
> > Krismarlowe**At_Symbol_Here**Verizon.net
> >
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