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Video
of The Month:
July
2009:
(click to view)
Published in 1959 by
the U.S. Department of Interior - Bureau of
Mines
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Join QuanTEM in celebrating 20 years as
the
LAB OF CHOICE for
Environemental Professionals!
Visit our site for more
information!
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 Message from John Barnett,
President
Hello Summer, I don't know
how the weather is where you are but it's hot
here. Of course Oklahoma is usually hot in
the summertime so I guess we can't expect anything
different. Speaking of different, QuanTEM
Laboratories is celebrating our 20th year serving
the environmental industry. QuanTEM
originally started as a TEM lab, hence the
spelling of our name. Remember those days,
TEM samples were going for $300 to $400 a piece,
maybe we should role back prices.☺ Anyway,
since then we've experienced a continued
and steady growthat QuanTEM; we have been
continually adding services as they fit into our
plan and when they don't, we cut them loose.
To be the best we can be, it's important that we
concentrate on providing the services that we
excel at. (The Best Service in the Industry)
What's great is that we still have
some customers from the very first year we were in
business. Now that's what I call loyalty. We
have met and had the opportunity to work with some
amazingly interesting people who have been a real
joy to work with, and we've worked with
environmental professionals from all over the
world, I think the last major overseas project we
completed came from Japan.
Today QuanTEM looks nothing like it
did 15 years ago when I came on the scene.
At one point we had typists setting everywhere,
now almost everything is electronic. Reports
are automatically generated by the analysts as
they complete the project, and the customer's
reports are posted within minutes of the samples
being analyzed. No more warehouses full of
old job files, now it's all stored
electronically. The short of it all is that
the level of service we can provide today is head
and shoulders above what was available just ten
years ago. We now track our turnaround times
each week and for the 1st six months of 2009 we
successfully reported our results on time 99.8% of
the time. In times gone by this would have
been almost impossible to do much less track it on
a daily basis.
As many of you are
aware we have been asking you to join us in our
birthday celebration. We have decided to
reward our customers by giving away a G.P.S. and
an iPhone at the end of the 2nd and 3rd quarters,
plus at the end of the year one lucky winner will
receive a big screen HDTV then later in 2010 some
lucky customer will get to take nine of their
friends to dinner with a few of the QuanTEM
staff. This is the Big Kahuna here and it
should be a fun evening for all. For details
of how this works go to www.quantem.com.
So
it's July, who are the lucky winners for the 2nd
quarter? I have this information;
The G.P.S. goes
to:
Robert
Shufelt of Clintonville, WI
The winner is the
iPhone is:
Keith Jay
of Las Vegas, NV.
Congratulations
Gentlemen I hope you get a lot of good use
from
these.
Thank you for you business, your loyalty and
your continued support of QuanTEM. Your
ideas and suggestions all are always appreciated
as are your referrals.
Thank
you and we look forward to the next 20 years
working with each of you.
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Asbestos Cleanup 'Emergency'
Declared in Montana
Town
WASHINGTON (CNN) --
A northwest Montana town where asbestos
contamination has killed more than 200 people will
get more than $130 million in cleanup and medical
assistance from the Obama administration, the
Environmental Protection Agency announced
Wednesday.
The declaration is
the first issued by the agency, which has grappled
with the "toxic legacy" of a mine outside Libby,
Montana, since 1999, Administrator Lisa Jackson
said.
The town was heavily contaminated with
asbestos-laced dust that federal prosecutors said
resulted in more than 200 deaths and 1,000
illnesses.
"For decades,
the disease and death rate from asbestosis in the
Libby area was staggeringly high -- much higher
than the national average," Jackson told
reporters.
Not only did dust from the mine
spread all over Libby and the neighboring town of
Troy for decades, but tailings from the facility
also were used as fill for driveways, gardens and
playgrounds, she said.
"Literally no
matter where these residents turned, they were
being exposed yet again," Jackson said. She said
the declaration "should be a reminder of the
serious consequences of mismanaging hazardous
material."
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Oklahoma City Schools Dealing
With Asbestos
State Worries District Needs Wider
Response
Workers cleaned and removed asbestos
from Adams Elementary School and the school passed
an air quality test and a visual test as required
by the Oklahoma Department of Labor.
A piece of piping insulation fell
from a ceiling in the school earlier in the week.
Work teams repaired the ceiling and used special
vacuums to remove any asbestos fibers from the
air. Students have been attending classes at
nearby Roosevelt Elementary School since Adams was
shut down on Monday.
The district said classes will
resume at 8:15 a.m. on Thursday, as scheduled. The
state said it worried that the Oklahoma City
School District isn't doing enough to prevent the
problem from happening again in the district.
Department of Labor asbestos director Talmadge
Rogers sent a letter to the district stating that
the rest of the asbestos insulation in district
hallways needs to be addressed because exposure
could happen again.
"It is our children's health that
we're talking about," said parent Patricia
Sabatino.
Read More. |
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Families Claims
Three Kids Died From Hospital
Mold
TAMPA, Florida - The families
of three pediatric cancer patients sued a
Florida hospital this week, claiming their
children died after contracting fungal infections
from renovations being performed at the
facility.
The lawsuit filed by parents against
St. Joseph's Hospital Inc. in Tampa on Tuesday
claims the children were exposed to pathogenic
fungi because the hospital failed to properly seal
off an area under renovation.
Each of the children -
ages 2, 5, and 9 - had been previously diagnosed
with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of
white blood cells. Two had recently gone into
remission, and a third was still battling the
disease.
Attorney Steven Yerrid, who is representing
the families, said they believe dust containing
the fungus became airborne and invaded the
patients' rooms, "where all these children then
were forced to engage in yet another battle."
"And this one was
unnecessary, and could and should have been
prevented," he said.
Read More.
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Oregon Man Faces Asbestos
Felony
A
Eugene, Oregon developer will have to appear in
court in August on charges of unlawful air
pollution and supplying false information to the
Oregon Department of Air Quality. The charges stem
from a demolition of old mills on a property that
allegedly caused asbestos to be handled in a way
that did not meet asbestos regulations.
Dan
Desler, the man charged, appeared in court and was
granted an August continuance date.
EPA
Superfund money will be used in this summer's
effort to clean up the site.
We recently posted that
mortality rates for mesothelioma are expected to
peak in the year 2010 and have high hopes that
rates will drop rapidly from that point on. How
fast they drop, and how long the downward trend
continues depends, in part, on the actions of
individuals and companies. We can only hope that
asbestos contamination, such as what has occurred
on the site mentioned above, will also experience
rapid decline.
As long as asbestos is in our
environment, mesothelioma will continue to be a
risk
Read More. |
Chickasaw Nation Benefits
from Recovery Act Water Funds to Improve Water
Services
The Chickasaw Nation will have improved
access to vital water services through funds from
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Service's Indian Health Service (IHS) today
announced $90 million nationwide in 'shovel ready'
infrastructure projects designed to better protect
human and environmental health in Indian Country.
"EPA and Oklahoma tribes share a common
interest when it comes to caring for people and
the environment," said EPA Acting Regional
Administrator Lawrence E. Starfield. "The Recovery
Act is helping us fund more projects by the
Chickasaw and other tribes that will deliver
long-term benefits for their communities and
respective lands."
Read More about the EPA's Drinking
Water Improvements Here.
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WE WANT YOUR
TEM'S 
- 20 Years of Experience
- Over 200,000 TEM Samples
- NVLAP - 18 years
39.00 Per
Test*
24-Hour Turn
Around
* air sample, AHERA method
* Expires August 31,
2009 | |
Barbara's Corner 
Each month, I will post my
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) with answers
and tips that will help you save time and
money.
Barbara, I have a
sample I want analyzed on Saturday. Do I
need to do anything special when sending it
in?
YES!
In the event that you must have an
analysis completed outside of our normal working
hours please follow the instructions
below.
4220 N.
Santa Fe Avenue Oklahoma City, OK
73105
And, as always...
Please make sure all samples are in
sealed plastic bags and have the completed
Chain-Of-Custody with all contact
information.
Please do not
place the COC inside the plastic bag with the
sample.
Would you like to ask me a
question?
Email me here.
Barbara Holder has
been with QuanTEM since October 2004 as our
Customer Relations Manager. Barbara plays an
active supervisory role with all customer
interactions with
QuanTEM. |
QuanTEM
Chronicles Newsletter
Produced &
Edited by:
Scott Leavell &
Barbara Holder
Suggestions or
comments? Email us here.
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QuanTEM Labortories,
LLC
2033 Heritage Park
Drive
Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma
(800)
822-1650 voice
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