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Asbestos Still a Problem In Schools
By asbestoshub | January 15, 2009
Crestwood Middle School in Chesapeake, Maryland, closed in early January 2009 after tests found elevated levels of asbestos in the air.
Students were evacuated after one of six air-quality tests performed at the school came back too high, said school spokesman Tom Cupitt. They didn’t say how high but even one fiber is too many.
The school’s 600+ students were taken to another school a few miles away.
The division is waiting for the results of more tests to determine when students will be allowed back in the school or what measures need to be taken.
Workers conducting the first major renovation of the building’s heating and air-conditioning system uncovered some pipes covered in asbestos under some ceiling tiles. The school system was then required to call in a company to perform air-quality tests.
Asbestos was frequently used in school construction from the 1940s to the 1970s, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Asbestos was used in floor and ceiling tile, pipe and boiler insulation, and spray-applied fireproofing, among other uses. Crestwood, like so many other schools in the US, was built in the 1950’s and falls into the timeframe for asbestos use.
As long as the asbestos lies undisturbed, it is considered relatively harmless, but if the fibers are disturbed they become airborne. And we all know what happens then…
Parents were notified of the evacuation through an alert system that sends calls to their home, work and cell phones. That part is kind of cool but imagine the trepidation at sending the children back into the school.
And the bigger issue is, now what? The asbestos problem and health issues did not go away when prevalent use phased out decades ago.
Topics: Exposure |
