Connecticut High School Closes during Asbestos Abatement

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April 1, 2008

For the second time this year, Bethel High School in Danbury Connecticut was temporarily closed due to tests that showed asbestos fibers in the air in certain areas of the school. The Danbury News Times reports that an asbestos abatement company under contract to remove all asbestos from the school’s structures reported a minor accident that resulted in elevated levels of asbestos shown in air samples at the school.

Eagle Environmental Inc. was working in a school lab when one of the lab tabletops was dropped and broke. While the incident occurred on Tuesday, school officials were not informed until Thursday, when the school was evacuated until air samples showed clear readings. School officials were not pleased when they learned the incident had occurred two days before the report of airborne asbestos fibers. Further, there was some question among school personnel as to the disparity between the location of the lab accident and the location of the air sample that prompted the school closure.

The principal of Bethel High received a fax from Eagle Environmental on Thursday morning, informing her that the state Department of Health wanted the school closed. There was some confusion at the state level, however, as to whether the department had requested the school closure at all.

As a result of the confusion, the state is sending an investigations team to Bethel High, to try and determine the sequence of events and the locations for the air samples that led to the school’s disruption. The incident is one more example of the potential danger involved in conducting asbestos abatement in buildings that are in use.

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