Topeka, KSThe Kansas Department of Corrections may soon be facing several asbestos lawsuits from the inmates of a local women's correctional facility due to allegations of undue exposure to the harmful material.
Inmates at the Topeka Correctional facility claim that penal workers forced them to remove asbestos flooring in 2005 using simple tools like grinders, brooms and shovels without the proper protective gear.
This could be considered a human rights violation, as exposure to asbestos fibers has been linked to a number of dangerous and potentially life-threatening respiratory conditions like mesothelioma and asbestosis.
State officials have henceforth been unable to produce documentation to prove that a licensed professional abatement contractor was hired during the 2005 dormitory cleanup project to remove the volatile material. The news caught the eye of the US Environmental Protection Agency, which has launched a federal investigation into these accusations.
Inmates and former prison employees have alleged that the rented grinding machines produced so much dust from the asbestos flooring that the nearby furnace filters clogged multiple times, a danger further compounded by the fact that only a few workers were given flimsy paper dust masks which studies have shown are ineffective against asbestos exposure, according to the Mesothelioma News.
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