Asbestos removed from DRL

As a precautionary measure, floor tiles containing asbestos were removed from all of the classrooms in the David Rittenhouse Laboratories during the winter break so that the material would not be disturbed during classroom renovations. According to Laura Peller, associate director of the Office of Environmental Health and Safety which supervised the removal, the asbestos in the building was not dangerous. "The asbestos from the floor tile was removed as a precaution," Peller said. "These safety procedures were taken so the asbestos wouldn't be disturbed, but there was no danger." "Asbestos is dangerous when the fibers become airborn," Peller added. "If the material is damaged, we would repair it or replace it. It was not damaged in this case. The material was removed as a safety measure." Ingestion of asbestos fibers is commonly known to cause cancer. According to Peller, the classrooms were not reopened until all the renovated rooms had extensive air sampling conducted by building inspectors certified by the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Pennsylvania. The asbestos was removed during winter break "in a controlled manner" by an outside contracting company. Peller said the company has worked on campus for over 10 years and is certified by the EPA and the state of Pennsylvania. Arthur Gravina, the University's vice president of facilities management, said that this type of job "traditionally costs a couple thousand dollars" but he did not have the exact figures. Gravina also said that the contracting company simply peels off the old tiles and replaces them with vinyl tiling, which does not contain asbestos. Peller also said that asbestos is common to the floor tiles used in many of the University's buildings and that any building built before 1970 probably has asbestos in it. But routine inspections are done by University building inspectors in order to detect any asbestos problems. "Inspections of all campus buildings are done from roof to basement," Peller said. "The inspectors do visual inspection, air sampling and sampling of the material itself."

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