Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 149 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 6 the following six sections:-

Section 6A. The department shall monitor, inspect and investigate all work, including construction, demolition, alteration or repair, involving any building or structure, including those owned or leased by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions or authorities, where such work involves the use or handling of asbestos or material containing asbestos, including the disposal of materials containing asbestos and asbestos contaminated waste.

Section 6B. No person, firm, corporation or other entity shall enter into, engage in, or work at the business of removal, containment or encapsulation of asbestos or materials containing asbestos, involving any building or structure, including those owned or leased by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions or authorities, unless such person, firm, corporation or entity shall have received a license therefor, issued by the commissioner and in accordance with the provisions set forth in this chapter. The secretary of administration shall determine a fee for such license pursuant to section three B of chapter seven.

Section 6C. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations relative to the protection of the occupational health and safety of workers engaged in the use, handling, removal or disposal of asbestos or materials containing asbestos including, but not limited to, the construction, demolition, alteration or repair of any building or structure, including those owned or leased by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions or authorities. Such regulations shall require the adequate instruction and training of workers employed by such contractors. Such training shall include, but not be limited to, instructions in health risks, precautionary measures, protective equipment and other safeguards.

Section 6D. No employee shall be penalized by an employer in any way as a result of such employee's filing of a complaint or otherwise providing notice to the department in regard to the occupational health and safety of such employee or other workers engaged in the use, handling, removal or disposal of asbestos or materials containing asbestos.

Section 6E. The commissioner, upon determination that there is a violation of any workplace standard relative to the protection of the occupational health and safety of workers or of any standard or requirement of licensure, may order any work site to be closed by way of the issuance of a cease and desist order enforceable in the appropriate courts of the commonwealth. For purposes of such cease and desist order, the work site may include the area where asbestos related work is being performed and other areas of the building or structure which the commissioner determines may be hazardous to the health and safety of workers as a result of such asbestos work.

Section 6F. Any person, firm, corporation or other entity which violates any provision of sections six B to six E, inclusive, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than fifteen hundred dollars for each such offense. Such violation may be cause for denial, revocation or suspension of a license subject to the determination of the commissioner.

SECTION 2. Section 44D of said chapter 149, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

(10) All applications submitted by contractors for certification in the category of asbestos removal shall contain evidence of a current license issued under section six B. Failure to furnish such evidence shall require the division of capital planning and operations to find the applicant ineligible to bid. A general contractor who subcontracts the asbestos removal work must certify in writing to the awarding authority that if awarded the contract, the general contractor will subcontract the work involving the removal, containment, or encapsulation of asbestos or material containing asbestos to a subcontractor who is licensed under said section six B.

In no event shall any public contract involving the removal, containment or encapsulation of asbestos or material containing asbestos be performed by anyone other than a general contractor or subcontractor licensed to perform such work.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.