Dust cloud from the botched demolition in Hamilton will not harm long-term health
- Michael Kras
- 20 Nov 2019
If you live in Hamilton, particularly the North end of the city, you likely have vivid memories of the recent (and incomprehensibly idiotic) uncontained demolition of the old Hamilton Specialty Bar steel mill that sent a mammoth cloud of rolling dust and debris over large stretches of the city.
Not only was the September 30th incident one of astonishingly poor foresight on the part of construction company Delsan-AIM, but it was also one that raised immediate concerns for Hamilton residents about the potential ramifications of the dust cloud on public health. Could the decades-worth of dust and debris directly damage public health and safety, particularly for those residing in the demolition’s immediate wake?
Luckily, the safety concerns related to the dust are quite minimal, according to a provincial investigation with a toxicologist who assessed the health risks of the dust after collecting a sample.
The assessment revealed that the sample of dust was made up near-exclusively of mineral dust, metals, organic carbon, and trace amounts of toxic chemicals. While chronic exposure to those toxic chemicals, which include dioxins and furans, is linked to various cancers, the decidedly brief human exposure to the dust as a result of the incident will not likely be the cause of long-term health issues in Hamiltonians.
“We’re quite comfortable… these low exposures are not associated with increased health risk,” said associate Hamilton medial officer Dr. Bart Harvey.
While the results of the assessment will certainly be a relief, it doesn’t change the fact that the demolition was poorly managed. Thankfully, the city is taking the event seriously and will be working towards eliminating the chance of a similar incident occurring again.
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