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HOUSTON EMPLOYER FAILS TO PROTECT WORKERS FROM ASBESTOS
Release Date: 02/22/2001
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2001
HOUSTON EMPLOYER FAILS TO PROTECT WORKERS FROM ASBESTOS
In the first federal asbestos case prosecuted in Texas, Eric Kung-Shou Ho of Houston, Texas, was convicted by a jury on Feb. 6 on two counts of violating the Clean Air Act. From December 1997 to March 1998, Ho hired undocumented workers from Mexico to scrape asbestos-containing fireproofing from metal beams in Houston’s abandoned Alief General Hospital, which he owned. The defendant directed the workers to work at night in order to avoid detection, but an explosion at the work site alerted investigators. Ho was convicted of failing to notify the Texas Department of Health that he intended to remove asbestos from the site and he was also convicted of failing to implement required federal asbestos work practices. Failing to follow asbestos work practices can expose workers to the inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers which can cause lung cancer, a lung disease known as “asbestosis” and mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the chest and abdominal cavities. When sentenced, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of up to seven years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. Prosecution assistance was provided by the FBI and the Houston Police Department’s Environmental Investigations Unit, and the case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas.
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