Asbestos Risk in Schools

Thursday, February 18, 2010 by Yahaira Quezada

The risk of school children being exposed to asbestos fibers is a serious and legitimate concern. Inhaled asbestos fibers can cause serious health problems including mesothelioma, a deadly form of lung cancer.  The effects of lung cancer, particularly on children, are devastating.

Because of this asbestos risk, Congress passed the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) in October 30, 1986.  The act is designed to protect school children and school employees from exposure to asbestos in school buildings.  AHERA required EPA to develop regulations for dealing with asbestos in public and nonprofit private elementary and secondary schools. 

The peak years of asbestos use in schools were from 1939 until the 1970s.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are asbestos-containing materials in most of the nation’s primary, secondary and charter schools. Asbestos is most commonly used in schools as insulation and in building materials. 

The AHERA schools rule requires all public school districts and private schools to conduct an asbestos risk assessment in all school buildings; to develop plans to manage asbestos in schools; and to carry out the plans in a timely fashion. The rule also provides an opportunity for parents, teachers, and other school employees to be informed about the asbestos risks in their children’s schools and become familiar with and involved in their school’s asbestos management program. School officials are required to notify parent, teacher and employee groups about asbestos-related activities.

The EPA developed steps that detail the proper way to deal with asbestos materials in public schools in order to minimize asbestos exposure. Upon finding asbestos in a school building, school officials can develop and carry out a special maintenance plan to ensure that asbestos containing materials are kept in good condition. This is the most common method when the materials are in good condition at the time of initial inspection.  School officials can also repair damaged pipe or boiler covering, which is known as thermal system insulation.  Another option is to spray the material with a sealant to prevent fiber release – a process called encapsulation.  Further, school officials can decide to place a barrier around the materials, which is known as an enclosure.  The last option is to remove the asbestos – under special procedures.  Only an AHERA-accredited management planner – an asbestos professional with proper training, qualifications, and experience – is authorized to advise school officials on which response action is appropriate for a particular situation. The final selection of the proper method is up to school officials after they receive the advice of the school’s accredited management planner.

Of course, if a child or school official is diagnosed with mesothelioma, the affected parties should consult a mesothelioma asbestos law firm for legal advice.  Because of the nature of the disease and the law surrounding asbestos, mesothelioma litigation is very specialized and complex.  It is important that the affected parties consult a mesothelioma cancer attorney. 

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Shape of Asbestos Fibers is the Real Danger

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 by Scott Hendler

NEW YORK - JULY 19: A police officer wearing a...

Asbestos exposure can be deadly–especially from the types of asbestos that are made up of long, thin, needle-like fibers. In decades past, before regulations were put into place, anyone working in the manufacturing industries, for example with textiles or cement pipe, was likely to be heavily exposed to asbestos. Today workers are most likely to be exposed while performing maintenance activities, dealing with accidents such as pipe explosions, or de-contaminating structures built with asbestos-containing products.

A report from the NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) suggests that scientists and regulators need much better information about how many workers are exposed to asbestos fibers now and in the future. Read more about the asbestos risk assessment.

Until now, safety standards have revolved around the main forms of asbestos used in commercial applications. They include chrysotile asbestos, the most common type, and five amphibole varieties: amosite, crocidolite, actinolite asbestos, anthophyllite asbestos and tremolite asbestos.

Seeing that some types of asbestos fibers were particularly long and thin, and noticing that these were most often implicated in causing respiratory disease and cancer in humans, researchers started paying more attention to other long, thin mineral fibers that could enter the lungs and remain inside.

More than 15 years ago, scientists realized they couldn’t tell the difference between the effects of long, thin asbestos fibers and those of any other mineral with a similar shape. So they expanded the definition of asbestos to include other elongated mineral fibers.

Now that they are including other mineral fibers, researchers will have to invest more time and effort into finding out the specific toxic risks of other materials. There are currently workers being exposed to the long, thin fibers of taconite during their work in those mines in Minnesota, and workers exposed to talc fibers in those mines in upstate New York.

It is important for anyone who’s been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease such as mesothelioma to investigate their legal rights as soon as possible. Exposure in the workplace that took place decades ago was due to corporate misconduct and may be cause for receiving compensation. Call us at 800.443.6353 with any questions about your legal rights.

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Asbestos Still Around--Don't Remodel Without Asbestos Risk Assessment

Friday, January 8, 2010 by Scott Hendler
Even though asbestos use has been tightly regulated for more than twenty years, it's a mistaken notion that citizens of the United States are never in danger from asbestos exposure. As recently as last month a public building in West Virginia had to be closed in order to safely remove a section of the roof that contained asbestos. The most serious risk is eventually developing mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer.

The fact is, if you are tearing down or remodeling or rehabbing any structure, there can be danger from disturbing old materials that may contain asbestos. Its thin fibers are released into the air when any asbestos-laden material crumbles or is cut, sawed, or knocked down. Those fibers, when breathed or ingested, can penetrate deep into the linings of human organs and usually cannot be adequately cleared out via the body's normal self-cleansing actions.

What does asbestos look like? How about that crumbling old insulation in your basement? Can you make a sure identification yourself? Don't count on it. The only way to protect yourself is hire a qualified expert to perform an asbestos risk assessment. If a company says it will quietly remove asbestos from your home or garage for a cheap price, don't put the health of you and your family at stake.


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Asbestos Risk is Real--Even in Places You Wouldn't Think Of

Thursday, December 3, 2009 by Scott Hendler
Researchers are still discovering new sources of asbestos risk--sometimes in surprising places. A recent report from a panel of Mesothelioma experts in Italy shows that a man who upholstered furniture for a living--and who was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma--was found to have an unusually high number of asbestos fibers in his lung. This is an unusual instance of connecting the activities of the upholstering profession to possible asbestos risk. In the U.S. many upholstery cleaning companies also offer air duct cleaning and asbestos abatement services--either of which could cause significant exposure.

Exposure to asbestos fibers can occur if someone who's worked doing these types of work comes into the home and bits of asbestos remaining on their clothes or hair fall onto carpets or upholstery. Homeowners of older homes, especially if remodeling or other tearing down or out is going on, may put themselves, their family members, and their neighbors at risk. Anyone can easily be breathing in these deadly fibers without even being aware of it.

While you can view images of asbestos types, it's important to realize that you can't know what asbestos looks like in a particular product. The best and only way to be sure is to have a professional asbestos risk assessment done in your home or workplace.

Visit www.mesothelioma-advice.org for more information on asbestos exposure, potential medical consequences, and how to get help with mesothelioma legal advice if you've been diagnosed.

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