Asbestos Abatement Procedure at LaGuardia
The Environmental health and Safety Officer (EHSO) is responsible for coordinating asbestos removal projects at LaGuardia Community College. Asbestos is removed only when required for renovation, remodeling or maintenance. This usually involves repairing plumbing, removing floor tiles or anything else that contains asbestos in some areas on our college property. It is the responsibility of campus maintenance personnel, facilities planning and design personnel or contractors to coordinate with EHSO for inspection and/or removal of asbestos
Not every pipe and floor tile contains asbestos material, but whether it does or not cannot be determined by the naked eye. Samples of the suspect material collected by licensed consultants are analyzed under a microscope by a certified and independent laboratory. Every sample is considered positive until proven otherwise by a lab analysis.
EHSO selects the vendors to provide the asbestos abatement work and to conduct the independent third party monitoring of the projects on behalf of the College. In order to avoid a conflict of interest, and to ensure the contractor adheres to all applicable rules and regulations, the abatement work and the monitoring are done by two different vendors who are not associated with each other.
All abatement and removal is conducted according to rules and regulations set forth by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP), unless otherwise required by a higher governing agency. The rules of the NYC DEP for asbestos removal can be accessed at: New York City Department of Environmental Protection Asbestos Rules
Emergency removal is conducted when asbestos has been accidentally disturbed. Every effort is made to return the affected area to its normal occupancy as soon as possible.
Abatement is done inside enclosures to prevent the fibers from spreading. Air handling units serving the affected area are turned off until the work is completed to keep the fibers from spreading to other areas. To prevent any attached fibers from getting into the surrounding air, the work area is always kept under negative air pressure as required by the rules. During the work, only authorized personnel can access the work area and a 25 foot boundary is imposed for other occupants of the building.
When a job has been completed, samples of the surrounding air are analyzed under a phase-contrast microscope. Based upon the results, the area is either cleared or re-cleaned and re-sampled. If the area is declared "clear," it is opened to normal occupancy and all warning signs are removed.