Almost every day there is an article about asbestos found at a school in the United States or abroad, causing a health hazard to students, staff and contractors. Just in the last week alone, the following schools were dealing with the issue of safety and asbestos removal:

• Bedford Schools and asbestos in floor tiles
• Indian Hills Junior High in Des Moines
• Chesapeake’s Crestwood Middle School in Virginia
• Austin T. Levy School in Rhode Island
• Adams Elementary School in Oklahoma
• M.R. Reiter Elementary School in Philadelphia
• Bailley Street School in Georgia
• Moncton High School in Canada
• Crawforddyke Primary School in Lanark, UK
• Edlington School in Doncaster, UK

View news video:
OKC Schools Dealing with Asbestos

Asbestos has been found in schools during times of renovation, maintenance, or when a fire or flooding has occurred. Asbestos is a mineral that was often used in school construction in the United States from the 1940’s to the 1980’s. Therefore, many older buildings still contain asbestos in their ceiling tile, pipe and boiler insulation, fireproofing, roofing, flooring, and other materials.

As long as the asbestos lies undisturbed, it is considered relatively harmless. If asbestos materials are disturbed or damaged, they can release fibers into the air. Asbestos is known to be a deadly carcinogen and inhalation of asbestos dust and fibers have been linked to these three deadly diseases:

• mesothelioma
• asbestosis
• lung cancer

Schools going through renovations or damaged due to fire, floods or other natural disasters, are required to call in a specialized company to perform air-quality tests to determine if asbestos exists, has become airborne, and presents a health hazard.

The EPA has strict guidelines for schools to follow in managing and handling asbestos in order to prevent exposure. Last year, the EPA fined an asbestos supervisor for removing asbestos from a school without following the regulations as set forth by the Clean Air Act, which requires specific safeguards to ensure that asbestos fibers are not released into the air. According to Donald S. Welsh, an EPA administrator,

“Improper removal of asbestos in schools is dangerous and will not be tolerated. EPA will continue to do everything in its power to see that these cases are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Following the Clean Air Act and EPA’s guidelines might cost a school more money, but it also saves lives.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 6:45 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.