Schools and Asbestos: What Can Go Wrong
Before the 1980s, school buildings were heavy users of asbestos-containing products. They’re a toxic legacy of a bygone age that might endanger anyone in these buildings. Given how much time has passed since the dangers of asbestos in school became known, the fact any child or school employee might still be exposed shows how misdirected our priorities are.
Asbestos-containing products were used to fireproof steel beams and cover steam pipes and floors. Ceilings were made of asbestos-containing acoustical tiles. As time passed, these products age, fall apart and release cancer-causing asbestos fibers into the air, where they could be inhaled and swallowed by students and school staff.
School Systems Have Had Plenty of Time to Make Their Buildings Safe
The Asbestos School Hazard Abatement Act became law in 1984, according to Asbestos Nation. It created a program that gave schools expertise, technical assistance, and financial resources so schools could determine the threat asbestos posed to employees and students.
The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) passed Congress in 1986. It requires the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create regulations requiring local education agencies to inspect their buildings for asbestos-containing products, create management plans, and prevent or reduce asbestos hazards.
The Asbestos School Hazard Abatement Act put aside up to $600 million in loans and grants to pay for asbestos abatement. Between 1984 and 1993, Congress appropriated $382 million more for the program. No additional federal money has been appropriated since then.
School districts are primarily responsible for these costs, though there may be state grants to help pay for it. Insurance policies that will pay for abatement may cover a school district. School systems have also sued asbestos product manufacturers to recover abatement costs.
Case in Point – The Philadelphia School District
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the nation’s sixth-largest city. Its school district operates 329 schools with 197,288 students, according to its website. Its fiscal year 2023 budget is $2.4 billion.
Philadelphia school buildings were an average of 70 years old in 2018. As of that date, there were an estimated 11 million square feet of asbestos-containing products in district buildings. That’s the equivalent of 191 football fields.
The school district has an asbestos problem, according to a 2018 article by the city’s two largest newspapers, the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Researchers looked at school system documents, interviewed 120 people, and had school staff at 11 elementary schools take 84 surface dust samples.
Though air monitoring for asbestos may be a more accurate test of how much asbestos is in an area, surface testing is seen as an investigative tool to determine if additional testing should be done.
There is no recognized safe level of asbestos exposure. Experts state that 100,000 asbestos fibers per square centimeter or higher in surface dust are alarming. Asbestos fibers are easily stirred up and stay in the air for hours before settling down, only to be stirred up again.
The investigations found:
- The district removes or repairs asbestos an average of more than 200 times a year
- $5 million was budgeted for asbestos abatement in fiscal year 2017-18
- In a 2015-16 school year inspection, more than 80 percent of the schools had damaged asbestos, which was found in 2,252 locations, many frequented by students
- In more than a quarter of the locations (639), inspectors marked spots as “high priority” because of the potential health risks of deteriorating asbestos products
- Some “high priority” areas needing attention went unrepaired for up to two years
- The inspection found more than 12,000 square feet of damaged asbestos tile floors. In one school, a dust wipe test of a patch of missing tiles found 2.6 million asbestos fibers
- A floor of a closet used by students had four million asbestos fibers per square centimeter
- A hallway floor near a sixth-grade classroom below an asbestos-covered pipe partially encased in metal tested at 8.5 million asbestos fibers. This is the highest amount found
- Test results in six of the 11 schools came back above 100,000 asbestos fibers per square centimeter
In the last school year,six Philadelphia district schools and two of their charter school buildings were closed due to damaged asbestos. District officials also admitted that for years, areas in an unknown number of schools described as not containing asbestos actually do.
Your Local Mesothelioma Law Firm
If you or a loved one worked in a school are diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, you should understand your rights to compensation for the harm asbestos causes.
Experienced Satterley & Kelley’s, PLLC, asbestos injury lawyers can discuss your situation and help you recover damages to cover your medical expenses, lost wages, and the pain and suffering you’ve endured. To schedule a free initial consultation at our Louisville office, call us toll-free at 855-385-9532 or complete our contact form today.