The Virginian-Pilot
©
CHESAPEAKE
Crestwood Middle School will be closed today after tests found elevated levels of asbestos in the air Tuesday.
Students were evacuated from Crestwood on Tuesday afternoon after one of six air-quality tests performed at the school came back too high, said school spokesman Tom Cupitt. It was not clear Tuesday how high the levels were.
The school's 620 students were taken to Oscar Smith High School, fewer than three miles away.
The division is waiting for the results of more tests today 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.
Many older buildings contain asbestos, and it 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 was built in 1954.
As long as the asbestos lies undisturbed, it is considered relatively harmless. If asbestos materials are damaged, they can release fibers into the air.
The fibers, when inhaled, have been linked to different forms of lung cancer, as well as absestosis, or scarred lung tissue, according to the EPA.
Parents were notified of the evacuation through an alert system that sends calls to their home, work and cell phones.
Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com
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Asbestos in schools
This is terrible, asbestos should be banned! Check out http://www.banasbestos.us/ and http://www.weitzlux.com/asbestos_1962542.html if you want to know more about why asbestos should be banned.
Ongoing Renovation
For those of you asking why it was not done this summer, this renovation has been ongoing for quite awhile. The signs were out in front of the school this past summer. There must be contained areas. I have to agree Dennis the elevated levels were probably in a contained area.
No chance for a lawsuit. This story was quite slanted.
ONE exposure to asbestos is all it takes....
My father has mesothelioma from asbestos exposure and has undergone radical treatments (lung removal, radiation, chemo) in the hopes of remission. His oncologist, surgeon, PCP are all in agreement that his mesothelioma likely occurred from ONE exposure to asbestos. He was a game warden his entire life, grew up in a home with no asbestos, never lived in a home with asbestos....but was in a meeting in a building ONE time years ago that had asbestos. My father's surgeon said that one exposure is all that the body needs for some people. Others can work around it their entire lives and have asbestosis but never get mesothelioma. The threshold varies with each person. It almost always takes 20-30 years from the time of exposure to cause the cancer. So, to set the record straight, one exposure to asbestos can be deadly. My family knows from experience....
Main Issue Ignored
The issue is not weather the amount of asbestos exposed to, is harmful or not. The issue is that people who are paid decent salaries, via taxpayer funds are not following procedures in place to prevent this from happening. If you look back at all the poor decisions, Fly Ash Golf Course, Drug Dealer owned Bio-Diesel Plant, Bell Harbor, Four Million for Wal-Mart Road, you can understand the lack of investigative prowess of our local government at every level. We must stop thinking of what's best in the short term and start playing "devils advocate" to protect the city from the negative long term affects these poor decisions will have on our city. We desperately need people on our city council, who will make the right decisions based on the benefits, projects will bring to our city and its citizens, instead of decisions based on who contributed the most money to my political campaign. There must be accountability for this failure of following procedure, starting at the top.
Basic Question to Ask
Having been in and around asbestos abatement contracts for more than 30 years, I have one simple question: Was the high reading inside the containment area or outside of it? (My educated guess is that it was inside where it is expected to be high during the removal process; and, somebody spun this article out of control to get folks excited over nothing). What say you, V-P? Better yet, what does the Contractor's Certified Industrial Hygienist (involvement required by law) responsible for the safe abatement say?
The Common Thread
between this, the fly ash situation, and the Ryan Frederick controversy is the perceived failure of the persons in charge to follow proper procedures. Sadly, it appears that lawsuits may be filed and the citizens and rank-and-file employees will be paying the price.
Hard to believe
In the late 1980's, a federal law called AHERA was passed which required the inspection and sampling of all schools for the presence of asbestos containing material. If found, the location was to be documented in a management plan that would track the condition, abatement and maintenance of the material through annual reinspections to ensure it didn't deteriorate over time becoming a hazard. The implication in the article that the asbestos was "hidden" until now is simply unbelievable. If true, then MANY people over the last 20 years have not done their jobs. The "AHERA Management Plan" should be a public document available for viewing in the school office. VP, how about doing a little more investigative reporting?
Please read it
Please actually read the data. People need decades of daily exposure to start showing risk. This is as stupid as saying eating one doughnut will give you heart disease.
Evan, Evan, Evan.......
It is good to see that the spirit of Ronald Reagan lives on when he stated that "our trees and forests are the world's largest source of air pollution."
I agree with Mark and expect to see Evan over at Crestwood this morning in his shorts and t-shirt removing this asbestos, in between his smoke breaks, of course.
Evan cites the CDC site and what I read there, from HIS citation, not mine is "Research has shown a clear link between exposure to asbestos and respiratory cancers."
That is a big deal Evan.
EvanJ
It may not be plutonium, but if you sit through the depositions of people who are dying of asbestosis, you get a good understanding of how deadly asbestos dust can be. People who didn't work with the material but were exposed to it by washing clothes of those that did. People that simply walked by places where asbestos dust was in the air. The simplest of exposures - and years later it destroys their lungs. There's a good reason people wear special suits and full masks when doing asbestos abatement work. Now if you don't think it's that dangerous, how about volunteering to work abatement at the Crestwood school without that protective equipment.