Redmond High School Gym Closed After Asbestos Threat

Redmond Washington High School Gym Closed After Asbestos Threat

On April 3, the gymnasium at Redmond High School, Redmond, Washington, was closed and sealed off after asbestos-contaminated, spray-on fire retardant was knocked loose from the ceiling by a stray tennis ball during one of Friday's physical education classes.

According to Stephanie Curtis, the Redmond School District's Communication Officer, the material fell on the gym floor but did not come into contact with any students or staff. The area was immediately evacuated, and Redmond School District officials contacted Alpine Abatement Associates, Inc. (Bend, Oregon), as well as Paulsen Environmental, also of Bend, to clean and test the school for asbestos pollution.

The spray-on, asbestos-containing fireproofing was originally applied in the 1970s, after the school was built, and covers the entire steel deck and all structural steel joist surfaces. Because the school district couldn't afford complete asbestos removal when the problem was recognized in the late 1980s, SAFE Encasement Systems (SES) later came in and performed remediation measures. SAFE, a leading manufacturer of protective coating systems founded in 1997 and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, used airless tank sprayers to apply two coats of asbestos stabilizer, followed by a protective topcoat, which saved the school about 75-percent of the cost of removal.

Unfortunately, the coatings are not impervious and - even though the asbestos content of the fireproofing is extremely low, according to Alpine - the fact is that none of the agencies charged with asbestos reporting and health monitoring (OSHA, the CDC, the EPA and the American Cancer Society) have ever established minimum, safe levels of exposure. A day or a lifetime can trigger asbestos disease.

These diseases include lung cancer, cancer of the pharynx, cancer of the esophagus, stomach cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma can lie dormant for decades, but when it finally manifests, the patient almost always dies within 18 months.

School district officials confirm that the quantity and length of exposure to the asbestos was so minimal it did not present a risk. Alpine continues cleanup of the entire gym, with one area left to vacuum before air clearance tests, by Paulson, confirm the gym safe again. Until then, gym classes are being held outside. As of April 7, the gym remained closed.

Redmond school officials acted in a prompt and effective manner to limit asbestos exposure, and are to be commended. This doesn't always happen. At South Street Elementary School in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, school officials and maintenance staff allowed the unregulated removal of asbestos-containing floor tiles from their gym while students and staff were present and using the facility.

The EPA later assured South Street parents and students that the risk was "moderate", since the floor tiles were removed intact rather than being broken up. Nonetheless, the risk existed, and some students may reach their thirties with serious health impacts from the exposure.

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