Asbestos in Schools

Nearly half of America's public schools were built between 1950 and 1969, and many more were built or expanded in the 1970s, the years when asbestos was used most heavily in construction. Many still contain it: in ceiling plaster and floor tile, around boiler room pipes, in the fireproofing over the steel, in old science-room table tops. A federal law passed in 1986 requires schools to find that asbestos, keep track of it and tell parents and staff where it is.

Asbestos in a school is not, by itself, an emergency. Material in good condition and left alone releases few fibers. The danger comes when it is damaged, or disturbed by repairs, renovation or careless maintenance, and the people most often exposed over the years have been the custodians, maintenance workers and tradespeople who worked on the buildings.

If you worked in a school, or as a contractor or tradesman in school buildings, and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer or asbestosis, call us. We can help find out what was in the buildings where you worked and who made it.

Where asbestos is found in schools

Asbestos went into the same building products in schools as in offices and factories, along with a few that were common in schools:

• Ceiling plaster and fireproofing. Sprayed and troweled acoustical plasters quieted classrooms, gyms, cafeterias and auditoriums. U.S. Gypsum's Sabinite was advertised for schools among other buildings. Sprayed fireproofing covered structural steel. See Asbestos pipe insulation, block and spray fireproofing.
• Floor tile and mastic. Hallways and classrooms were laid with vinyl-asbestos tile over black asbestos mastic. Stripping, buffing and replacing those floors was routine custodial work. See Asbestos in floor tile and black mastic.
• Boiler rooms and pipe chases. Boilers, steam and hot-water pipes, and tanks were insulated with asbestos pipe covering, block and insulating cement, and custodians and boiler operators worked among them every day.
• Walls and ceilings. Joint compound, plaster, ceiling tiles and textured coatings. See Asbestos in joint compound and ceiling texture.
• Science rooms. Laboratory table tops and fume hood linings were often made of asbestos-cement sheet, such as Johns-Manville's Transite and Colorlith. Colorlith's 1979 safety data sheet lists 40% asbestos. Heat pads and gauze used with Bunsen burners could contain asbestos too.
• Auditoriums and shops. Stage fire curtains were often woven from asbestos cloth, and shop classes used asbestos-cement board, gloves and heat-resistant materials.

What the federal law requires

Federal action on asbestos in schools came in stages. Congress passed the Asbestos School Hazard Detection and Control Act in 1980. EPA's 1982 rule required schools to inspect for friable asbestos and tell staff and parent groups what they found. The Asbestos School Hazard Abatement Act of 1984 offered federal loans and grants to help needy schools abate asbestos hazards. The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986 (AHERA) set the rules schools follow today, found in EPA's regulations at 40 CFR Part 763, Subpart E.

Under AHERA, each local education agency (a school district, or the owner of a private nonprofit school) must:

• Inspect every school building for asbestos-containing building material, using an inspector accredited under EPA's Model Accreditation Plan;
• Keep a management plan for each school, listing where the asbestos is, its condition and how it will be managed, prepared by an accredited management planner;
• Make the plan available to parents, teachers, staff and their representatives for review, and notify parent, teacher and employee organizations in writing at least once each school year that it is available;
• Check the asbestos every six months (periodic surveillance) and have it reinspected every three years by an accredited inspector;
• Respond to damaged material with the right repair, encapsulation, enclosure or removal, done by accredited workers;
• Train custodial and maintenance staff in asbestos awareness, with more training for those who may disturb it; and
• Name a designated person responsible for making sure the school meets these duties.

A school building built after October 12, 1988 can be left out of inspection if the architect or project engineer responsible for building it, or an accredited inspector, signs a statement that no asbestos-containing material was specified or used in it.

What parents and staff can do

Ask to see the management plan. The school must keep a copy at the school office and the district must keep one at its administrative office, and you are entitled to review it. It should list each material, where it is, whether it is friable, and the dates of the inspections and six-month checks.

Ask when the last reinspection was. Reinspections are due every three years. Records of the six-month surveillance should be in the plan.

Report damage. Crumbling ceiling plaster, broken floor tile, damaged pipe insulation, or debris after a leak or repair should be reported to the school's designated person.

Watch for renovation work. Most serious school exposures have come from repairs and renovations done without proper controls. Asbestos work in a school must be done by accredited workers, with the work area closed off to students and staff.

If the school will not respond, contact your state's AHERA program, usually in the state environmental or health department, or EPA's regional asbestos office.

Our posts follow school asbestos in the news: 80% of NYC schools built with asbestos were not inspected, Philadelphia schools and the legacy asbestos problem, and What safety inspections must cover in fire-damaged schools.

Who was exposed in schools

Custodians and maintenance workers. They stripped and buffed asbestos floor tile, cleaned up fallen ceiling plaster, worked in boiler rooms and pipe tunnels, and drilled and cut into walls and ceilings for repairs. For years, many did it without being told what the materials were.

The trades who built and repaired schools. Insulators, pipefitters and plumbers, electricians, carpenters, plasterers and drywall finishers and flooring installers handled the products directly when schools were built, expanded and renovated.

Teachers and students. Their exposure was generally lower and less direct, from damaged material, dust from work going on nearby, or science and shop rooms. Teachers and other school staff have nonetheless been diagnosed with mesothelioma, and no level of asbestos exposure is known to be safe. See Bystander and proximity exposure.

If you were diagnosed after working in schools, the claim is not usually against the school district. It is against the companies that manufactured and sold the asbestos products, and many of them now pay claims through asbestos bankruptcy trusts. We find out which products were in the buildings where you worked.