Senate Bill No. 313
(By Senator Bailey)
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[Introduced February 9, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and six, article thirty-
two, chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
exempting persons who remove resilient floor covering from
being licensed as asbestos contractors.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and six, article thirty-two, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 32. ASBESTOS ABATEMENT.
§16-32-2. Definitions.
(a) "Asbestos" means the asbestiform varieties of chrysolite
(serpentine), crocidolite (riebeckite), amosite (cummintonite-
grunerite), anthophyllite, tremolite and actinolite.
(b) "Asbestos analytical laboratory" means a facility or
place which analyzes asbestos bulk samples or asbestos airsamples.
(c) "Asbestos abatement project designer" means a person who
specifies engineering controls, methods and work practices to be
used during asbestos abatement projects.
(d) "Asbestos abatement supervisor" means a person
responsible for direction of asbestos abatement projects.
(e) "Asbestos clearance air monitor" means a person who
performs air monitoring to confirm clearance levels to establish
that an area is safe for reoccupancy after an asbestos abatement
project.
(f) "Asbestos-containing material" means any material or
product which contains more than one percent asbestos by weight.
(g) "Asbestos contractor" means a person who enters into
contract for an asbestos abatement project.
(h) "Asbestos inspector" means a person employed to inspect
for the presence of asbestos containing materials, evaluate the
condition of such materials and collect samples for asbestos
content confirmation.
(i) "Asbestos management planner" means a person employed to
interpret survey results, make hazard assessment, evaluation and
selection of control options or develop an operation and
maintenance plan.
(j) "Asbestos abatement project" means an activity involving
the repair, removal, enclosure or encapsulation of asbestos-
containing material.
(k) "Asbestos worker" means a person who works on anasbestos abatement project.
(l) "Contained work area" means designated rooms, spaces or
other areas where asbestos abatement activities are being
performed, including decontamination structures. The contained
work area shall be separated from the uncontaminated environment
by polyethylene sheeting or other materials used in conjunction
with the existing floors, ceilings and walls of the structure.
(m) "Director" means the director of the division of health
or the director's duly authorized representative.
(n) "Division" means the division of health of the
department of health and human resources.
(o) "Encapsulate" means the application of any material onto
any asbestos containing material to bridge or penetrate the
material to prevent fiber release.
(p) "Enclosure" means the permanent confinement of friable
asbestos containing materials with an airtight barrier in an area
not used or designed as an air plenum.
(q) "Friable" means material which is capable of being
crumbled, pulverized or reduced to powder by hand pressure of
which under normal use or maintenance emits or can be expected
to emit asbestos fibers into the air.
(r) "Good faith report" means a report of conduct defined in
this article as wrongdoing or waste which is made without malice
or consideration of personal benefit and which the person making
the report has reasonable cause to believe is true.
(s) "License" means a document authorizing a person toperform certain specific asbestos related work activities.
(t) "Person" means a corporation, partnership, sole
proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association or any
individual or entity.
(u) "Resilient floor covering" means floor tile, sheet vinyl
and associated adhesives which contain more than one percent
asbestos by weight.
(v) "Resilient floor covering worker" means a person who is
employed to remove resilient floor covering. in single-family
dwellings.
(w) "Waste" means an employer's conduct or omissions which
result in substantial abuse, misuse, destruction or loss of funds
or resources belonging to or derived from federal, state or
political subdivision sources.
(x) "Wrongdoing" means a violation which is not of a merely
technical or minimal nature of a federal or state statute or
regulation, of a political subdivision ordinance or regulation or
of a code of conduct or ethics designed to protect the interest
of the public or the employer.
§16-32-6. Asbestos contractor's license required.
(a) It is unlawful for any person who does not possess a
valid asbestos contractor's license to contract with another
person for an asbestos abatement project.
(b) To qualify for an asbestos contractor's license, an
applicant shall:
(1) Satisfactorily complete a United States environmentalprotection agency approved training course for asbestos
supervisors;
(2) Demonstrate to the satisfaction of the director that the
applicant and the applicant's employees or agents are familiar
with and are capable of complying fully with all applicable
requirements, procedures and standards of the United States
environmental protection agency, the United States occupational
safety and health administration and the state departments of
health and human resources and commerce, labor and environmental
resources covering any part of an asbestos abatement project; and
(3) Meet the requirements otherwise set forth by the
director.
(c) Applicants for an asbestos contractor's license shall
submit an application and a certificate that shows satisfactory
completion of the United States environmental protection agency
asbestos training course for supervisors to the division on the
required form and shall pay the applicable fee to the division.
The director may deny a license if there has been a failure to
comply with the application procedure or if the applicant fails
to satisfy the application criteria. Written notice of denial
and an opportunity for reapplication shall be afforded to all
applicants.
(d) Licensed asbestos contractors shall carry out the
following duties:
(1) Ensure that each of the contractor's employees or agents
who will come into contact with asbestos or who will beresponsible for an asbestos abatement project is licensed as
required by this article;
(2) Ensure that each asbestos project is supervised by a
licensed asbestos abatement supervisor;
(3) Keep a record of each asbestos abatement project and
make the record available to the state departments of health and
human resources and commerce, labor and environmental resources
upon request. Records required by this section shall be kept for
at least thirty years. The records shall include:
(A) The name, address and license number of the individual
who supervised the asbestos abatement project and each employee
or agent who worked on the project;
(B) The location and design of the project and the amount of
asbestos-containing material that was removed;
(C) The starting and completion dates of each project and a
summary of the procedures that were used to comply with all
federal and state standards;
(D) The name and address of each asbestos disposal site
where waste containing asbestos was deposited and the disposal
site receipts; and
(E) Ensure that each contained work area of an asbestos
abatement project meets minimum clearance standards established
by the director before allowing reoccupancy.
(e) The following situations and relationships involving
asbestos abatement contractors are prohibited:
(1) A financial or proprietary interest of the contractor ina laboratory utilized by the contractor to perform asbestos
sample analysis related to asbestos abatement projects performed
or contracted for by the contractor;
(2) An employer-employee relationship between the contractor
and an asbestos clearance air monitor for an asbestos abatement
project performed or contracted for by the contractor; and
(3) A financial or proprietary interest of the contractor in
the firm which performs asbestos clearance air monitoring for an
asbestos abatement project performed or contracted for by the
contractor.
(f) Persons who contract to remove for, supervise, work on,
plan, design or inspect the removal of resilient floor covering
materials in single-family dwellings are not required to be
licensed as asbestos contractors, supervisors, workers,
management planners, project designers or inspectors: Provided,
That the individuals engaged in removal shall meet the
requirements of this article and any rules promulgated hereunder
relating to resilient floor covering removal.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt persons who
remove resilient floor covering from the licensing requirements
in relation to asbestos abatement, provided that they meet all
other requirements in their profession. The bill also broadens
the definition of "resilient floor covering worker" by deleting
the language that provided that such definition only applied to
persons who engage in such removal "in single-family dwellings."
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.