Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Asbestos Abatement Project Designer Tim McLaughlin points to a pipe elbow fitting made of asbestos in a classroom at Warren Area High School. The classroom, which is part of the next phase of renovation at the school, also contains asbestos floor tile and asbestos-containing textured plaster in the ceiling and aprons.

Times Observer photos by Brian Ferry
An old steam pipe in the ceiling above the classroom hallway at Warren Area High School is covered in asbestos insulation.

A sign warning of asbestos is located inside a fume hood in a Warren Area High School classroom. Asbestos was used in the equipment due to its resistance to acid.

Asbestos is a naturally-occurring material.

It has some very desirable properties as a construction material — fire and acid resistance, sounds absorption, and durability.

If the fibers are floating free, they have very undesirable effects on people. Prolonged exposure to the fibers can lead to very serious diseases, including cancer.

So, asbestos cannot be used in public building projects and must be removed from schools and other public buildings before renovation or demolition.

On Monday, several staff members at Warren Area High School expressed some concerns about the asbestos abatement portion of the ongoing renovation at the school.

Microbac’s Tim McLaughlin, abatement project designer, explained the process to teachers, aides, and administrators.

“There is a plan,” he said. “There has to be.”

That plan is available for perusal at the district office.

Asbestos fibers are not dangerous unless they are floating free in the air. “You don’t need air samples unless there’s a disturbance,” McLaughlin said. “It’s not released until it’s disturbed — broken.”

There are several materials in the school that contain asbestos — pipe insulation, floor tiles, duct wrapping, fume hoods, and some plaster.

It is very unlikely that a significant number of fibers would be released from the floor tiles even if they are broken, he said.

Some of the other materials are “friable” — they can be crushed easily, even by fingers, Warren County School District Quality Assurance Supervisor Boyd Freeborough said.

During a tour of the building after the discussion, McLaughlin said the ceiling material had been sealed in the 1990s, preventing it from crumbling. Freeborough said the floor must be kept waxed to prevent the tiles from losing material during buffing.

Every space in the project area “will be gutted and the floor will be blasted to clean concrete,” McLaughlin said.

Microbac tested materials throughout the project area, identifying what to look for, McLaughlin said. Canfield Development of Pittsburgh is responsible for finding and removing every instance of those materials in the project area.

Those will be removed before any other work can take place. The abatement contractor by law must be different from the project designer and must be a prime contractor, not a subcontractor brought on by the general contractor. Canfield will start working Tuesday, but will not begin removing asbestos right away, McLaughlin said.

People who work in the building day in and day out were concerned about asbestos escaping the work area. They asked if the company’s history was checked for violations. McLaughlin said violations going back several years would have to be disclosed as part of the bid process and that there were none in Canfield’s proposal.

The area will be sealed off, with only the abatement team working there until that portion of the job is done. Microbac will perform air testing at the beginning and end of the process and randomly about once a week, McLaughlin said. The abatement will start on the first floor of the recently cleared classroom wing, then move upstairs. Each floor is expected to take about two weeks.

Stairwells and other areas of the building are not included in the current phase.

“There’s a hard wall right now,” McLaughlin said. The door through that wall will be locked and require a key for access from either side. The abatement team “will be the only ones in that area.”

“There will be plastic on the other side,” he said. “All abatement work will be done in a negative pressure enclosure.”

“They will be pulling air into the area,” McLaughlin said. Filtered air will be pumped out pipes that will be seen hanging out of windows.

When asked about possible air quality concerns outside, McLaughlin agreed to arrange testing outside.

There is a three-stage plastic flap system that will prevent the escape of fibers into the rest of the building in case of a power outage. The flaps will bulge toward the abatement area when air is being sucked in. “When the power goes down, the flaps close,” McLaughlin said.

Asbestos-containing materials that are removed must be wet, bagged, and put in a sealed dumpster, he said. Those dumpsters will be removed by a certified hauler.

Each area must pass five air quality tests at the end of the project. When the first area is complete, other contractors will be able to begin working there while the abatement team moves upstairs.

There are federal laws that apply to asbestos and set the minimum standards, Freeborough said. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has additional requirements and the additional steps agreed upon by Microbac will exceed those. McLaughlin said he expects both DEP and the Department of Labor and Industry to monitor the project from time to time.

“We’re going above and beyond,” Superintendent Amy Stewart said.

After the 40-minute question-and-answer presentation, one of the staff members said, “I feel better.”

McLaughlin even gave reassurance about an area that is not in the current phase. The abatement team handled the cleaning of material in the ceiling of the gymnasium, not because that material contained asbestos, but because they were suited to the work. That material is paper product — cellulose — as is not harmful for those who came in contact with it, he said.

Stewart said information about the abatement will be sent home with students and a meeting for concerned parents will be scheduled.