Maryland school officials say new asbestos regs will be “burden”

ANNAPOLIS - Maryland school officials are concerned about a new set of asbestos handling guidelines set down by the EPA recently. They fear that schools will be forced to test every single new tile, pipe or wall used in school building construction and repair. In the past, Maryland schools have used the material safety data sheets supplied by manufacturers to determine if hazardous substances, including asbestos, are in the products that they buy. The EPA informed the state school system in September 2006 that those fact sheets could not be used to determine if products contain asbestos, said an Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson. The issue was addressed after the Maryland Department of the Environment asked the EPA a “clarifying question”. Asbestos is a known carcinogen that causes a rare but deadly cancer, mesothelioma, as well as many other lung diseases. While many uses of the material were banned in the early 1980s, the use of asbestos containing materials in building is still allowed. According to EPA regulations, even schools may use asbestos containing materials, as long as any materials that may contain asbestos are labeled as such in the school’s management plan so that proper safety precautions can be taken when repairing or removing the materials. Asbestos that is safe, say health and safety experts, as long as fibers of it cannot become airborne. When it is damaged or in a form that can shed asbestos fibers, it becomes a health risk because the inhaled asbestos fibers can cause mesothelioma. Until recently, Maryland schools depended on the manufacturers’ data sheets to tell them whether or not a product they intended to use contains asbestos or not. The EPA says that is not acceptable, as many products that contain asbestos, particularly those from Southeast Asia, may not be properly labeled. The schools say that requiring them to determine whether a product contains asbestos without relying on manufacturer’s information is an unfair burden. Ray Prokop, director of facilities for one Maryland school district said that the schools are the ones who are required to do the testing and the policing. He stated that the EPA doesn’t go after the manufacturers, just the schools. The new regulations, he said, would require the schools to independently test every single product used in school construction and repair. The EPA says the schools do not need to test all the building materials they use for asbestos, though they can. If they choose not to test for asbestos, they need a manufacturer’s letter certifying that there is no asbestos in the product, or they must assume that it does contain the carcinogen. An EPA spokesperson pointed out that if the schools assume that a product contains asbestos, they merely need to note it in their management plan. It’s not quite that simple, counter the school officials. If they assume that everything they install contains asbestos, it will unnecessarily complicate maintenance and repairs. If the presence of asbestos is assumed, then any renovations or repairs will require asbestos abatement - and the asbestos is not even likely to be there. The schools and the state are working together to work out a reasonable way to deal with the new regulations. The State Department of Environmental Management doesn’t think that the schools will have to go back and test everything that was installed since 1986, when the regulations to label asbestos containing materials in the schools began, but they may be required to test all new materials for asbestos, or assume that they contain the deadly hazard. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)