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Broomfield High School students and staff were exposed to airborne asbestos after a boiler rupture last November. BVSDWatch Broomfield representative Louise Benson, MD, asked BVSD Communications Director Briggs Gamblin a series of questions about the district's response to this incident, and grades BVSD on it. The overall grade is less than satisfactory.
RECAP: On November 6, an aging boiler ruptured, and the debris was swept up by custodians apparently unaware of the possibility of asbestos. District personnel became aware of the incident on Nov. 21, and sent samples for testing that were not tracked. Someone thought to call on Dec. 12 and received results positive for asbestos; air samples in the boiler room and adjacent classroom hallway were found to be unsafe. A clean up was done over the weekend and re-tests came back clean, allowing the school to re-open Monday.
BACKGROUND: Asbestos exposure can cause life-threatening lung disease
and cancer 20-30 years later. Asbestos is a tiny crystal or fiber-like mineral that was used in the past for various purposes and is still in many older buildings. It is usually safe if kept "encased" and carefully monitored, as required by the EPA. Minor or brief exposures usually don't cause disease, but heavy or prolonged exposure can. See http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/asbestos THE QUESTIONS asked OF BVSD and the Colorado Dept. of Public Health
Asbestos Program:
1. Were asbestos levels high enough to cause disease?
Yes, there were 121 fibers per square millimeter of air, measured six weeks after the boiler rupture. The highest "acceptable" level is up to 70 fibers, according to the Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). There is no known "safe" level of asbestos.
2. Were staff and students advised to seek medical care, as recommended by the National Cancer Institute (link above)?
Staff were referred to occupational medicine physicians. Students' families were given an electronic link
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/asbestos/pubs/ais20quests.pdf to a government document "Asbestos in Schools," a Q&A which makes the recommendation of medical evaluation for exposure. No effort was made to identify those students who had classes in the affected hallway, or to notify these families directly. The district "would not speculate on who would be responsible should persons develop disease in the future." The CDPHE recommended that exposed students see their physician and make sure the exposure is documented in their medical records for follow-up purposes. Students should also be told that smoking greatly increases the risk of future asbestos-related disease.
3. When was the last EPA mandated asbestos inspection of Broomfield High?
A full inspection (every 3 years) was done September 2004. A minor inspection was done February 2007. The incident was discovered while doing a 3-year inspection on November 21, 2007.
4. What has been done to prevent future incidents of asbestos exposure?
Training of all staff was completed over the winter break. Tracking programs for test results have been put in place.
5. Will the remodeling of Broomfield High be done safely?
Yes, a contract for asbestos abatement was recently approved for this purpose.
6. Did BVSD get fined or warned about the incident?
According to the CDPHE, the amount of asbestos material released did not "trigger” such action. Interestingly, OSHA does not cover schools or any government entities, CDPHE does.
BVSDWatch Grades BVSD:
To the district's credit, they have admitted that the initial response to the boiler rupture and test tracking was not up to its standards. Systems and training have been upgraded. GRADE: B
While staff have been appropriately referred for medical care, in the opinion of Dr. Benson, the exposed students should have been identified and given more specific information. As it now stands, the question of student exposure is open-ended in terms of potential medical impact on students, with a possible long-term liability to the school district. GRADE: D
BVSD failed to anticipate the existence of asbestos in the school at the outset of the incident, something that should have been expected and planned for, based on the age of BVSD buildings and past experience (for example the asbestos encountered at Crest View Elementary during its remodeling around 1995). GRADE: F
The “bottom line” is that this was an entirely preventable incident that exposed many staff and students to the risk of serious disease. GRADE: F |
