Asbestos-warning signs posted recently at Marine Drive Apartments without further explanation left many residents alarmed and wondering if their health was in danger.

Housing Authority officials said a state mandate from the Office of Public Employee Safety and Health dictated when and where the signs were to be placed, which did not allow time to inform residents before they went up.

Plans to hold a public informational meeting are in the works, they said.

“We’re not trying to inflame residents,” said Dawn E. Sanders, executive director of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, which owns and manages the Marine Drive complex. “We didn’t have time before signs were put up to have a meeting with residents. The PESH report said we had to put up signs immediately, and that was the soonest we could have put them up. We didn’t randomly pick where to put them.”

The notices read, “Danger. Asbestos Cancer and Lung Disease Hazard. Authorized Personnel Only.” They were posted late last Friday afternoon at the elevators and the front and back doors of each of the seven buildings of the waterfront complex.

Problems began in August, when seven workers at Marine Drive removed asbestos around eight water valves to address a leaking problem. A state agency investigation determined that the employees had not followed proper rules for dealing with asbestos, and the Housing Authority was handed 17 citations. One of the required corrections involved posting asbestos-warning signs in specific areas.

The warnings also noted that confirmed or presumed asbestos- containing materials are present throughout the building, including floor tile, linoleum, plaster ceilings, heating pipes and all interior and exterior caulking.

The information had some residents worried about whether the affected areas included their individual units.

“I received a dozen calls and people coming to my door asking are they safe: ‘What do I do now?’ ” said Joseph Mascia, a Marine Drive resident, who is one of two tenant-elected commissioners on the Housing Authority board.

Only common areas, the boiler room and the maintenance room are affected, said Assistant Executive Director Modesto Candelario.

But because the warnings went up late Friday afternoon and offices were closed for the weekend, panicked residents were not able to have their concerns addressed or questions answered, “which is horrible on behalf of BMHA and Marine Drive Apartments office,” said one tenant, who asked not to be identified for fear of backlash from the administration.

“BMHA was cruel and irresponsible in posting these warning signs on a Friday evening without any further explanation about our health risks, safety,” the tenant said.

Housing Authority executives maintained that they way they handled the situation was mandatory.

“We didn’t want to be in violation of PESH,” Candelario said.

Informing residents of various issues usually follows a different process, but this case was exceptional, Sanders said.

“Normally we would meet with residents before signs went up. In this instance, our first job was to comply with the report, which said immediately. Our second step was to tell the manager, and we’re planning a meeting with residents,” Sanders said.

The building manager was told that the signs were going up, but she was not briefed fully enough to be able to meet with residents at the time, she added. Before such a meeting can happen, officials must meet with the manager again and with other staff who work at the complex to inform them of the specifics.

“I can’t have a manager who’s not up to speed talking to residents because it only bothers them more,” Sanders aid.

Of the affected areas, much of the abatement was done immediately. “It had to be,” Candelario said. A contract was awarded about a week ago for the remaining removal work, which “probably will start soon.”

Residents will not have to be relocated, he added, because the abatement “won’t be done in their apartments.”

dswilliams@buffnews.comnull