Crumbled asbestos left on the roof of a St. John’s Hospital office building
in August and September posed an “imminent threat to human health and the environment,”
according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. In a certified letter
dated Sept. 15, the IEPA charged the hospital with eight violations and warned
of possible litigation and penalties.
An IEPA inspector found the asbestos Sept. 9 on the roof of the old Downtowner Motel at the corner of Ninth Street and Reynolds, just east of the hospital complex. St. John’s was preparing to demolish the building, and had hired several contractors for the project. A salvage contractor had apparently sawed through some asbestos insulation in order to gain access to copper pipes. The salvager then piled the insulation debris in a tin shed on the roof. When another contractor arrived to begin demolishing the building, he discovered asbestos strewn across the rooftop and eventually notified authorities.
IEPA inspector Alan Grimmett deemed the debris an “imminent threat” because the crumbled asbestos was near a busy street and “located under the flight path of helicopters approaching the hospital’s nearby trauma center helipad.” He ordered the hospital to retain a licensed abatement contractor to secure the building and its adjacent parking lot, and wet the asbestos and cover it with plastic “as emergency response measures.”
Brian Reardon, director of community relations for St. John’s Hospital, calls the asbestos release “an unfortunate situation where somebody got carried away with salvaging.”
“This wasn’t anything that we condoned or expected to happen, and when we found out it did, we took immediate action,” Reardon says. “We’ll continue to work with the IEPA and make sure the situation gets resolved.”
However, he disputes IEPA’s assertion that helicopters fly over the contaminated rooftop. “We take issue with that,” he says. “The helicopters are pretty high up, and they come from the north. The helipad is on a parking garage to the northwest of where this building is. Helicopters landing on the next block is not going to kick stuff up and pollute the city of Springfield.”
Grimmett, though, noticed a helicopter overhead while he was on the rooftop collecting asbestos samples on Sept. 9, and he says that wind generated by any source could cause the asbestos fibers to become airborne. “Where it would go, who knows, it’s anybody’s guess,” he says.
The office building faces the Carol Jo Vecchie Women and Children’s hospital wing, which includes an outdoor play area for hospitalized children. Located on the fifth floor, the play area is enclosed on three sides, with open fencing overlooking Ninth Street and the office building. When the play area is not in use, there are tricycles and scooters parked along the fence.
“I was not aware of that,” Grimmett says. “That would be a concern.”
IEPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson says Grimmett will “definitely be making more visits to St. John’s.”
St. John’s purchased the building in 1993 and used it as an office building until June of this year, Reardon says. The hospital hired an inspector to survey the building for asbestos in 1999. Photos taken by Grimmett show the result of that inspection — red and black “DANGER” stickers throughout the building.
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2004.
