Quote:
Originally Posted by timun
The argument, from the legal decisions I've read (see the latest (2022 ABCA 293) and the sordid history of the last three years...), centres on the premise that the steel structure's spray-applied fireproofing contains asbestos and it posed a danger to the occupants. It is super-common in office buildings that the space above the ceilings is used as a 'plenum' for air to be returned back to the air-handling system (whereas in, say, a healthcare facility air will be ducted back to the air-handler for infection prevention and control reasons), and in the case of the Nexen Building—or rather, "801 Seventh" now—the fireproofing is directly exposed to the plenum and thereby asbestos fibres could be pick up, circulated back into the air-handling system and cause health problems for the occupants.
There's no doubt the fireproofing has asbestos in it, it's just a question of whether it poses a risk to the occupants or not. CNOOC argued it was and used it as the reason to break their lease and move into Brookfield Place. The landlord's counterargument is it's total BS because unless you damage the fireproofing in some way there's no way for the embedded asbestos to be released.
Granted I'm not an asbestos expert but I do know building HVAC systems, and in my experience what CNOOC is arguing is super-flimsy BS. There is no reason for asbestos fibres to be released from the fireproofing unless quite deliberately disturbed, and even on the flimsy assumption that asbestos was released and particles were light enough to be carried away and into the air-handling unit, the filters at the AHU should be MERV 7 or 8: more than sufficient to filter it out anyway.
It's a super-shaky excuse, and CNOOC's legal counsel is being as obstinate as possible about it. |
Thanks for the summary.
It still sounds like a tough one for the actual humans occupying the space...reminds me of oil execs drinking a glass of contaminated water at a press conference - but would they drink it every day?
With that many occupants in a building, several are going to end up with cancer...almost certainly unrelated to the stuff in the ceiling, but what happens to employee morale and willingness to spend 8 hrs a day there?
Absolute risk may be near zero, but perceived risk might be more important?