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Illnesses relating to asbestos exposure kill an estimated 10,000 people a year. Asbestos related diseases claim the life of one out of every 125 American men who die over the age of 50 in the United States. Mesothelioma, asbestosis, and pleueral disease are all life threatening ailments associated with asbestos exposure.

According to a recent NY Post news report, an unwell 9/11 first responder who now works as a custodian at a busy Long Island post office has been forbidden to wear a protective face mask when he scrubs the mailroom floors, even though the stressed tiles contain potentially cancer-causing asbestos.

Retired Brooklyn Homicide Detective Michael Doherty, 53, took the job at the Lindenhurst Post Office three years ago to keep himself busy. But he says the dust from the cracked floor tiles are not only making him sick but also could be affecting other workers and contaminating the thousands of pieces of mail at the sorting plant.

He said he was told by bosses not to wear the mask because he hadn’t shown he was certified to use it. Doherty contends the post office doesn’t want him to wear it because it alerts other employees to the presence of asbestos, which he had tested to show its levels exceed federal regulation.

On May 8, 2010, a ferry slammed into a dock in New York’s borough of Staten Island, injuring dozens of passengers in an accident authorities blamed on a mechanical problem, according to a recent Reuters news report.

The Staten Island Ferry boat seemed to speed up as it approached the dock in a light rain, according to passengers and witnesses in the ferry terminal. “It looks like it was a mechanical problem,” Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, said at a news conference. She said it appeared that the captain was unable to slow the boat as it approached the dock.

Sadik-Khan said 37 people were hurt in the accident, including 17 who were sent to the hospital. But she said the injuries were not considered serious. The ferry involved in today’s accident is the same vessel that was involved in a 2003 accident.

Passengers were put on stretchers or in wheelchairs after being taken off the ferry about 15 minutes after the accident.

The boat involved in the accident was the Andrew J. Barberi, which also crashed at the same terminal in St. George, Staten Island in October 2003, killing 11 people. The boat struck the pier at full speed in that incident. The captain, who was taking painkillers at the time, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

In the latest accident, Sadik-Khan said roughly 250 passengers and 18 crew members were on board when the crash occurred around 9:25 a.m. eastern time. The ferry can carry thousands of passengers.

“It just slammed right into the dock,” said one passenger, who was on the ferry. “There was a young lady with her child that flew, literally” on impact, he told NY 1 cable news station.

Another passenger told local radio he heard “break, break” on the loudspeaker just before impact.

Another eyewitness who was waiting in the terminal to board said people panicked and ran as the boat hit.

The Staten Island Ferry transports an estimated 20 million people a year between Staten Island and lower Manhattan. The free ferry service is popular with tourists and commuters.

Toyota Motor Corp. continues to face safety issues. On April 16, 2010, Toyota Motor Corp. announced a recall of 600,000 Sienna minivans sold in the United States, to address potential corrosion in the spare tire carrier cable, according to an Associated Press news report.

Toyota says the recall affects the 1998-2010 model year Siennas that have been operated in cold-climate areas. The automaker says rust from road salt could cause the carrier cable to break. The spare tire could become separated from the vehicle and cause a road hazard for other vehicles.

The government says it has received six complaints involving spare tires falling off Siennas.

The recall involves two-wheel-drive Sienna minivans in the District of Columbia and 20 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia.