BANK-RAZE BIZ'S HISTORY OF HORROR

[Guest guest]

BANK-RAZE BIZ'S HISTORY OF HORROR

SUED IN HOSP'S CANCER DEATHS

New York Post - New York,NY*

By SUSAN EDELMAN, BRAD HAMILTON and GINGER ADAMS OTIS

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08262007/news/regionalnews/bank_raze_bizs

_history_of_horr.htm

August 26, 2007 -- When heard that two firefighters

were killed in a burning building that was undergoing demolition by

general contractor Bovis Lend Lease, she thought, " My God, it's

happened again. "

" Somebody else has gotten hurt or died because of their lack of

following protocol and directions and doing things the proper way, "

she said.

's daughter, McKenzie, 3, died Christmas Eve 2001 at New York

Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia from an infection linked to

aspergillus, a mold often found in dirt kicked up by construction.

Bovis was building the new Stanley Children's Hospital next

door - and dust coated McKenzie's room, her mom said.

The deaths of four other children were blamed on the mold - and the

failure to keep it out of adjacent hospital rooms where kids were

ill or undergoing cancer treatment.

Bovis, along with the upper Manhattan hospital, settled a suit with

the parents of Grace , 5, a cancer patient who died in

November 2002 of a lung infection caused by aspergillus, said their

lawyer, Dearie.

At about the same time children were falling ill from aspergillus,

Bovis was leading the cleanup of Ground Zero. And it stayed for the

redevelopment phase of the area - as the company in charge of razing

the toxin-filled Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty St.

In November 2005, Bovis was handed that $45 million contract - which

eventually ballooned to $86 million - by the Lower Manhattan

Development Corp., plus a $6 million incentive if it finished work

before 2008. Bovis was selected despite objections from the city

Department of Investigation over two of its subcontractors, and

earlier criticism from agencies of its safety record at Ground Zero.

An LMDC spokesman said he couldn't comment on Bovis or the

contractor's role in the Aug. 18 fire at the Deutsche Bank building,

in which two firefighters, Beddia and ph Graffagnino, ran

out of air and died after getting lost amid the maze of blocked-off

stairwells and thick smoke.

But Bovis is already in hot water over worker-safety failures at

Ground Zero.

It was one of four main contractors hired to do post-9/11 cleanup,

getting $10 million from the city and another $277.2 million in

federal aid. In January 2002, it became the sole construction

manager at Ground Zero, in charge of worker safety.

Now it's named in lawsuits by thousands of 9/11 recovery workers

suffering respiratory disease, cancer and other illnesses. They say

the city and its contractors neglected to protect them from toxic

exposure at the heavily tainted site.

A Jan. 3, 2002, memo by the city's Department of Design and

Construction cited a " lack of commitment " by Bovis to environmental,

safety and health programs.

That month, the department said safety meetings were canceled

because " no safety officers were present " for Bovis and other

contractors.

Meanwhile, " as few as 20 percent " of workers in the rubble wore

respirators required by the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration.

In Feb. 13, 2002, a department memo again faulted Bovis: " The

overwhelming consensus of many parties (e.g. OSHA, FDNY, Liberty

Mutual, etc.) is that the safety job is not getting done. Project

management appears to only address safety issues when convenient for

the schedule of the project. "

But the city is fighting the Ground Zero worker lawsuits and, last

week, the Construction Department changed its tune on Bovis, calling

the company's safety record during the World Trade Center

cleanup " exemplary. "

A Bovis spokeswoman said the company's safety record " is one which

we can be proud of. "

susan.edelman@...