
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 2, 1994                   TAG: 9412020034
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PAINT FIRM FINED

A painting contractor working at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center site has been fined $2,400 for failing to properly test, train and equip workers scraping lead-based paint. The violations were found during an Oct. 24 inspection held after a worker complained to a union about the conditions.

Southern Paint & Waterproofing Co. of Greensboro, N.C., also failed to clean up lead-laden debris, and employees were "dry sweeping, scraping and sanding debris" when Department of Labor inspectors visited, the report said.

The company has filed an appeal and a hearing is scheduled for Dec. 6, said John Doutt, who runs field operations for the family-owned business. Southern Paint is asking for the fine to be reduced, Doutt said. It is not contesting the violations.

The lead-paint violations happened because the company "erroneously made an assumption" based on an environmental survey of the site done by Virginia Tech, Doutt said.

"The survey indicated lead levels were not high enough to be considered hazardous waste," Doutt said, "so we thought it shouldn't be hazardous to work around. That was our mistake."

At issue are the conditions in which his crew worked while scraping windows inside the old hotel. Plus, law requires that each contractor on the site perform blood testing of workers in jobs that could expose them to airborne lead, he said.

"We are required to have the tests done, and we've done the tests," Doutt said.

He said no employees were found to have been contaminated by lead.

It was the second time the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades Local 891 has helped alert authorities to violations by Southern Paint. Earlier this year, the union pointed out that Southern Paint was working without a state license. Since then, the company has gotten a license.

On Thursday, the union lost its bid to represent Southern Paint workers when all six crew members eligible to vote on the union turned down affiliation with it.

The workers had asked for the election, said Billy Bova, business manager for Local 891.

"I have no idea what changed their minds," he said late Thursday.

The union does not have any members working at the site, and that has been a sore spot throughout the $42 million project, which involves both private and public money. Virginia Tech's private foundation is renovating the historic hotel, and the city is building an adjacent conference center.

Southern Paint, a subcontractor for PMC Inc. of Roanoke, did hire local workers.

by CNB