Asbestos Issues in Schools

As dozens of Ohio school districts begin to approach their substantial building renovations, additions, and new construction projects, asbestos assessment and abatement issues will increasingly become concerns of School Administrators and Construction Managers.

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC), has established guidelines regarding the removal of asbestos in renovated and new construction situations.

The Property Services division of Lawhon & Associates, Inc. (L&A) possesses extensive experience in assessing the environmental conditions of an educational facility before construction begins.

Our certified asbestos experts will visit the various sites within a school district that are scheduled for demolition or renovation, collect samples of suspected asbestos-containing materials, analyze those samples, and finally report our findings and make recommendations regarding abatement procedures.

L&A professionals are also well seasoned in designing abatement specifications and working closely with Construction Management teams to insure proper abatement procedures are implemented.

We have been involved in the assessment, specifications design, and project oversight of over a dozen school projects state wide, in districts ranging from the rural to urban districts responsible for upkeep of 25 or more buildings.

L&A has been assisting schools in complying with the EPA asbestos-containing materials in school regulations (also known as Asbestos Hazard Energy Resource Act AHERA) since the requirements went into effect in 1987.

While most school districts submitted the Building Inspections and Management Plans originally required by the notification, compliance with the follow up six-month and three-year inspections have been scattered at best.

The six-month inspection is described in the regulation as Periodic Surveillance and requires the district to “visually inspect all areas that are identified in the management plan as Asbestos-containing Building Materials (ACBM) or assumed ACBM”.

Information gathered during the periodic surveillance is to be submitted to the school’s designated person for inclusion in the management plan.

The three-year inspections are much more in depth and require the services of an accredited inspector. The inspector must “visually re-inspect and reassess the condition of all known friable and assumed ACBM.” Also, the inspector should check all previously determined non-friable ACBM to ensure that they have not degraded.

If any material(s) have become friable, then this material must be reassessed under AHERA, and added to the management plan as a friable ACBM. The information gathered should then be submitted to the school agency’s designated person.