Order Issued to Protect Workers in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Projects
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality has issued a consent administrative order against the city of Pine Bluff and its parolee- and prison-labor demolition program that was shut down last year.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the city will have to pay a fine of $12,000 if it doesn’t follow the order’s rules in future demolition projects.
Parolees and prisoners worked on a city project that sought to demolish dozens of buildings believed to have asbestos. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency later released findings that the city wasn’t sufficiently protecting workers from possible asbestos. The agency’s discovery led to the project shutting down.
Community Correction spokeswoman Dina Tyler says while the city may have plans to resume the project, Arkansas Community Correction doesn’t plan to continue participating.
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