RPS: Dorms should be asbestos-free in 4 years

IU should surpass its original timetable for asbestos removal in the residence halls, said Residential Programs and Services Executive Director Pat Connor.

RPS announced in November 2005 it had plans for all dorms to complete asbestos removal within the next 10 years in response to a series of Indiana Daily Student articles reporting the dangers of damaged asbestos in four residence halls. But Connor recently said this could actually be completed three years earlier than that estimate.

“When all’s said and done, by 2012 it’s safe to say that none of the residential buildings will have asbestos in the environment, and that’s kind of what we pledged when we responded to the IDS articles,” Connor said.

In the meantime, asbestos inspection and communication policies have undergone improvements, said Office of Environmental, Health and Safety Management Acting Director Michael Jenson.

Forest, McNutt and Briscoe Quads, along with Tulip Tree Apartments, were reported to contain asbestos in an Oct. 24, 2005, IDS article, which raised campus awareness of the potential health hazards. That same year, plans were announced to phase out asbestos from residence halls.

Asbestos is present in many of the buildings at IU, since most buildings built before 1980 used it in insulation material.

Intact, asbestos is not considered a hazard, but it disintegrates into airborne carcinogenic fibers that pose long-term health risks.

The asbestos removal at Forest Quad was completed in summer 2007 as part of renovations in the residence hall. This summer, the north side of McNutt Quad underwent asbestos removal, Connor said, and the south side will be completed next summer. The removal of asbestos in each half of McNutt would cost just over $1 million each. Connor said the tentative schedule for starting Briscoe Quad asbestos removal is May 2010 and Tulip Tree proposals are set to be approved this fall.

Around fall 2005, RPS and OEHSM adopted a more rigorous biannual asbestos inspection policy of dorms, and took steps to improve communications with the campus community. This was not necessarily the case before 2005, Jenson said.

“Before 2005, there weren’t regular inspections of the asbestos going on, at least in all of the buildings,” Jenson said. “Also, the big thing that happened is we started talking with different groups on campus a lot more about asbestos and where it is, what we’re doing about it.”

RPS and OEHSM originally had an asbestos warning printed in the RPS move-in guide. In 2005, however, articles raised concern that the written warning was insufficient. Connor said IDS articles on the subject at the time played a major role in improving communication with students. Since then, he said, dorms have issued additional verbal warnings at floor meetings to help ensure that students understand the risks.

“The removal of asbestos was always in our plan, but what the IDS did was to really put the issue to the forefront and really kind of helped us to do a better job of communicating with our students,” Connor said.

Warning or no warning, junior Allegra Johnson said she thinks the danger still exists.
“I think that even if you don’t tamper with it, just it being there is a risk,” Johnson said. “And in the dorm room, who knows what goes on in there.”

Jenson said because asbestos removal occurs continuously on campus, it is impossible to specify which buildings are being worked on in a given week. OEHSM has a full-time asbestos removal crew charged with the sole task of inspecting, maintaining and removing asbestos throughout campus. Jenson said members of the crew are the ones willingly putting themselves at the greatest risk of asbestos exposure.

“They’re kind of the unsung heroes of the University, really,” Jenson said.