NEA Health Information Network Surveys Schools on Indoor Environmental Quality
By Cindy Long
As communities began to tally up the astronomical costs left in Superstorm Sandy’s wake, there was an unexpected toll to add to the list – the cost of removing asbestos from storm damaged schools. Mark T. Sheehan High School in Wallingford, Connecticut, for example, was forced to close its doors after the winds tore off parts of the roof and littered the second floor with asbestos-contaminated tiles.
Sandy isn’t the only disaster to reveal our country’s asbestos problem – the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, left 2,600 tons of asbestos debris in its wake, much of it from local schools. Cleaning up exposed asbestos is an expensive and dangerous process, but it’s essential to the health of a school community.
About half of the schools in the U.S. were built between 1950 and 1969 – peak years for asbestos use in construction. Exposure to airborne asbestos dust can lead to fatal illnesses, including mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.
Unfortunately, toxic asbestos is just one of many factors impacting the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of our nation’s public schools and the health of our students and school staff. According to the U.S. Environmental
As communities began to tally up the astronomical costs left in Superstorm Sandy’s wake, there was an unexpected toll to add to the list – the cost of removing asbestos from storm damaged schools. Mark T. Sheehan High School in Wallingford, Connecticut, for example, was forced to close its doors after the winds tore off parts of the roof and littered the second floor with asbestos-contaminated tiles.Sandy isn’t the only disaster to reveal our country’s asbestos problem – the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, left 2,600 tons of asbestos debris in its wake, much of it from local schools. Cleaning up exposed asbestos is an expensive and dangerous process, but it’s essential to the health of a school community.
About half of the schools in the U.S. were built between 1950 and 1969 – peak years for asbestos use in construction. Exposure to airborne asbestos dust can lead to fatal illnesses, including mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.
Unfortunately, toxic asbestos is just one of many factors impacting the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of our nation’s public schools and the health of our students and school staff. According to the U.S. Environmental