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General Information
Lawrence Environmental Group, LLC was founded on a simple objective: to provide Environmental Health and Safety services to a select group of clientele in a manner unparalleled in measure of experience, efficiency and customer service.
With respect to each and every project, Lawrence Environmental Group has three specific goals: to complete our projects with the highest level of professionalism, to minimize any disruption to our clients and their tenants and, most importantly, to ensure the safety of our work.
Lawrence Environmental Group will always conduct its business practices with strict adherence to ethical, moral and legal guidelines, with the realization that any variance from that code will jeopardize the future operations of the business. This code of operational ethics will extend from our relationships with clients, tenants, engineers and industry colleagues, to interactions with governmental and regulatory agencies.
New York Environmental Background
Starting in the late 1980's, when the first asbestos regulations were taking effect, the real estate industry became aware, on a grand scale, of the enormous financial implications surrounding hazardous building materials. New York City was one of the first municipalities to embrace the opportunity provided by the passage of federal laws and create its own set of asbestos regulations, complete with an enforcement division (NYC DEP) and the ability to levy fines of $10,000 for each violation of the newly promulgated Local Law 15. Thus, New York City created an entire new bureaucracy which could support itself through fines and provide coveted city jobs.
A decade later, New York lagged behind other states, such as Massachusetts, where comprehensive measures had been initiated to mitigate the scourge of childhood lead poisoning by regulating how lead-based paint is maintained or removed. At least part of the reluctance among local New York politicians to create laws dealing with the lead issue stemmed from their experience with the real estate industry (and the protests of its lobbyists) when the asbestos regulations were enacted and the impact on renovation costs and property values was realized.
For more than ten years, a debate over creating new lead laws for New York City ensued. The result was an avoidance of any real reform of the unworkable lead-based paint guidelines that were in place throughout this period. The City's new Lead Paint Hazard Reduction Law (Local Law 1) went into effect on August 2, 2004, drastically changing the landscape of liability and maintenance for owners of rental properties both large and small. Once again, the city designated an enforcement division (NYC DOH) that could levy fines on those who violate the new regulations. Again, a self sustaining bureaucracy was created.
While the issues surrounding lead poisoning moved inevitably toward stricter regulation, public awareness of other environmental issues began to grow. The building science and technological advances that produced energy efficient designs in the 1970's began to impact the indoor environment adversely, both in the workplace and at home. Issues of reduced ventilation, improper vapor barriers and the use of new composite furnishings and fixtures were linked to indoor air quality complaints, mold contamination and the off-gassing volatile organic compounds to name a few. Building managers and homeowners alike were faced with a myriad of possible deficiencies that could affect worker productivity and quality of life, devalue properties and even lead to costly litigation or fines.
Mold, in particular, has become a major concern for property owners and managers, both residential and commercial. Real estate owners, developers, lenders and borrowers need to be aware of toxic mold and its potential for property damage and personal injury, especially since it is becoming standard practice for insurance companies to exclude mold from their policies. Toxic mold naturally grows in environments where there is constant moisture. Mold typically arises when a leak, water damage, excess humidity, condensation and flooding give way to conditions that support its growth. If left unchecked, mold can eventually cause structural damages as well as serious health hazards.
Added to the mix of regulation, reform and growing public concern over environmental issues were the horrific events of September 11, 2001. While many things occurred that day which would forever change the world, one thing can be stated for certain with regard to the science of industrial hygiene, never had so many been exposed to so much in such a short period of time. Unfortunately, the full impact of the exposure of rescuers, residents, men, women and children to the burning toxins created by the collapse of the World Trade Center may never be known. The EPA, limited by the unparalleled nature of the event, responded by testing for the parameters for which it had established protocols. Since there was, and still is, so much unknown, claims and counterclaims as to what were safe, and when, are still debated by the agencies at large and the concerned public.
Exacerbating the fears of the public post-September 11 came the new and deadly threats emerging in the form of bio-terrorism. Death could now arrive with the morning mail as the nation was gripped in an anthrax scare. In addition, the media began to investigate reports that the deadliest of plagues were readily accessible in the former Soviet Union to anyone with the money or the will to claim them?the term "dirty bomb" was added to the growing lexicon of an already frightened public.
With the environment in which we live constantly changing, new health risks continue to appear and public fears become more widespread. As a result, regulatory compliance requirements and mandatory testing guidelines will ultimately become more stringent, and the potential for liability and litigation will only grow. To ensure the protection of our clients' assets, Lawrence Environmental Group is positioned to meet all of these environmental challenges today...and into the future.