Bailey Elementary in Greenburgh New York to Undergo another Asbestos Test

Bailey Elementary to Undergo another Asbestos Test

Bailey Elementary school in Greenburgh, New York, will get another air quality test for asbestos after complaints from a school employee initiated a round of finger-pointing over the effectiveness of asbestos abatement procedures in January.

According to Frank Ferraro, Greenburgh School District assistant superintendent, the Public Employees Safety and Health Division will conduct the additional test on February 9 under the auspices of the New York Department of Labor.

The asbestos was discovered on January 14 when a plumber engaged in fixing a leaky pipe in the ceiling of a hallway encountered the substance, used in older buildings to insulate boiler pipes delivering heat.

The insulation was on the same level as classrooms and the school cafeteria, and both students and school personnel had access to the hallway while the plumber was working, creating hazardous conditions.

Once the situation became known, the school contracted with an asbestos abatement company, which sealed off 30 feet of the hallway, removed the asbestos and replaced the two-foot section of pipe. According to Ferraro, the asbestos insulation did not crumble at any time, and subsequent air quality tests showed a minimal risk of exposure to those who had used the hallway.

Unfortunately, no one was made aware of the problem until staff and students entered the school the morning of the 15th and found the hallway cordoned off. Parents of students who may have been exposed were not notified at all.

Ferraro later admitted that failure to notify the parents was a mistake, explaining the school district had not wanted to "cause undue panic". He nonetheless insists that the district followed established safety procedures. Labor Department officials had no comment.

This last test, coming as it does three weeks after exposure, will likely show minimal contamination. Even so, school district officials clearly don't have a safety protocol in place to protect students and staff in the event of hazardous-material exposure. Either that, or the chain of command for activating such protocols is poorly understood and enforced.

The link between asbestos and mesothelioma has been clearly recognized since the 1960s, and neither the U.S. Dept. of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nor the American Cancer Society has ever established minimum, safe levels of exposure. A day or a lifetime can trigger mesothelioma, which can take up to five decades to manifest and is currently regarded as incurable.

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