Aspen school district has ongoing asbestos problems

Aspen, Colorado - Schools all over the country are feeling the pinch of stretched budgets and hurried schedules, as they complete asbestos removal and construction programs before school begins again at the end of the month. The Aspen School District is one of those struggling to complete asbestos removal work; however this year asbestos-related problems have put the district $1.3 million over budget and forced the district to delay some of the work until after school starts. Thousands of schools in America were built using asbestos-containing construction materials, due to the extremely durable, strong, and fire-resistant nature of asbestos fibers. Unfortunately, those same properties make asbestos a health hazard. When inhaled, asbestos fibers become lodged in the lungs, and over several decades can cause deadly mesothelioma to develop. For that reason, exposure to inhalable asbestos is an extreme health hazard, and many schools which contain asbestos materials end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on asbestos containment or removal, in their efforts to keep students and staff safe. Dave Detwiler, project manager for the Aspen School District, has said that the school has had to pay a significant amount of money to cover unexpected asbestos removal, and that the budget blow-out could prevent the district from completing some of its planned summer construction projects. Without the asbestos removal, Detwiler said, the work would have been competed on time and within the budget. The problems stem from asbestos removal work at the district’s middle school, which the district plans to demolish to make way for a new school. Asbestos removal work was completed there several decades ago, but the district is now having problems cleaning up the remaining asbestos. The remaining asbestos is located within interior walls in the school, meaning that the work could not be completed while the buildings were in use. A further problem is that the state of Colorado recently implemented regulations about the removal of vermiculite, which was used in insulation in the walls of the school. The district hired a contractor in January to remove asbestos from the middle school, hoping the work would be completed by the beginning of the summer. However the contractor has located so much asbestos in the school that the work has dragged on much longer than anticipated and the cost of removal has climbed to almost $1.5 million, with no signs of stopping. The project now has a shortfall of $1.3 million, and asbestos removal won’t be completed until just before the beginning of the new school year, meaning the demolition will have to be carried out during the school year. Detwiler says the contractor for the demolition is willing to work during evenings and weekends, but doing so would mean more delays and additional costs. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)