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Avoiding the Sand Trap: Silica Liability and the Premises Owner

By William E. Meyer, Jr., Andrew Young, and Beth Blackwood
Part One of a Two-Part Series

Many landlords have commissioned refurbishing or cleaning that involved sand blasting, concrete cutting, or masonry drilling on or at a building that remained in use. Some have leased premises to tenants that engage in these activities or that engage in production steps that include sanding, blasting, or scouring. There are special concerns about these activities that landlords should address, and this article explains why.

There was once a time when landlords and tenants had no concern about whether asbestos had been used on their premises. Even when asbestosis litigation started cropping up, it did not initially appear to be a matter of concern for commercial real estate businesses. Instead, it seemed to be a remote problem as that wave of litigation preliminarily struck shipyards and other industrial operators that employed workers having the highest levels of exposure. In hindsight, however, we know all too well how widely the scope of potential liability expanded to have an enormous impact in the commercial real estate business world. Lessons learned from that history should be applied now by landlords and tenants to minimize potential future exposure to silicosis claims.

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