Worker on Hamilton Pool project released from hospital – Marin Independent Journal

Worker on Hamilton Pool project released from hospital

Brent Ainsworth

Posted: 05/19/2009 04:49:37 PM PDT

A construction worker who had been hospitalized since May 7 with a serious skin condition since working on a Hamilton Pool renovation project in Novato was released over the weekend, officials said Tuesday.

Rebecca Ng, Marin County’s interim deputy director of environmental health, and city of Novato public works chief Glenn Young have been told that Patrick Benedict was discharged from Stanford Medical Center at some point over the weekend after becoming sickened at the Hamilton Pool site.

“I’m sure that’s a relief for his family,” Young said. “We heard he had improved a lot.”

A message left with Benedict’s father, John Benedict of Valley Utility Services in Sacramento, was not returned. His other son, Kevin, had come down with the same skin condition at the work site and was hospitalized a few days. The Benedict brothers were digging a trench with heavy machinery when they were stricken.

Soil samples have yet to be taken at the former Hamilton Air Force Base pool that was built in the mid-1930s. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health shut down the site May 8 and officials from the city of Novato, county health, Cal/OSHA and state Department of Toxic Substances Control met last week and Monday to plan the next steps.

Young said the city, which owns the pool site, was awaiting approval from the toxic substances department so that an independent environmental engineer hired by the city could run tests on the soil. Cal/OSHA has provided a list of

via Worker on Hamilton Pool project released from hospital – Marin Independent Journal.

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