Students not warned of asbestos presence

Cal State Long Beach students who spend hours every day surrounded by asbestos-containing materials during classes, lab hours or studying may never be informed of its presence by Facilities Management.

The California Asbestos Notification Law, commonly known as the Connelly notice, requires that property owners give notice to employees and tenants in a building known to contain asbestos. But, since they are not paid and do not pay rent, the university does not feel notification of asbestos danger is required for students.

However, experts in the field, including state regulators, city prosecutors and private attorneys, say that students who spend long hours in labs and as student assistants should be considered employees or regular occupants and should receive notice.

Student assistants employed throughout the campus, from the computing labs to the Administration Building to the many instruction-related positions open to students in various departments should be notified, they say, according to the letter of the law.

The Connelly notice may even apply, in some instances, they say, to students working long lab hours who are not being paid.

"Shouldn't a student be considered an employee?" Ed Nieto, an engineer at the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA), asked before answering his own question, "Yes."

Cal EPA is just one of the government agencies charged with enforcing the code on asbestos.

While the threat of asbestos is not of immediate danger to students (California Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines state an employee can breathe up to 100,000 fibers of asbestos in an eight-hour workday and still be considered safe from possible harmful effects), it is one that should be considered.

Effects of asbestos include asbestosis (fibrosis of the lung) and cancer of the lungs, bronchi and other organs. Asbestos can be harmful if the fibers are either swallowed or breathed in, but breathing in asbestos fibers is the greatest concern in building construction.

Ron Baker, a spokesman for the California Department of Toxics, said asbestos inhaled during normal breathing can be very dangerous.

"It gets into your respiratory tract," he explained, "It stays in your lungs and it causes diseases such as asbestosis and cancer."

Asbestos-containing materials (ACM) must break apart into fragments small enough to be breathed in order to be a danger, Baker said. Any time the material is disturbed it can break apart. That is why work on ACM is so carefully regulated.

When asbestos fibers are released into the air they are called friable. If the material is not friable, it is considered to be perfectly safe as long as it remains undisturbed. When asbestos-containing material is suspected of becoming friable, air-sample testing is recommended by both Cal OSHA and Cal EPA.

The locations of campus buildings housing asbestos-containing material are clearly indicated in a comprehensive list of all known asbestos sites compiled by the university. The list is included with the Connelly notice sent to employees.

The detailed list identifies locations in 51 of the 62 buildings on campus, including the Administration Building, the University Student Union and Student Health Services. The list is constantly being updated to reflect abatement projects.

Employees using these buildings receive a letter warning them of the presence of asbestos and urging them to "follow proper work practices to minimize the potential for disturbing ACM."

These practices are avoiding contact with known asbestos sites, not drilling holes or hanging plants or pictures in walls or ceilings with known asbestos-containing materials and changing light bulbs so as not to disturb any asbestos fibers.

The letter also instructs the employees to report any damaged asbestos-containing materials to Larry Elliot, the planned maintenance coordinator at Facilities Management.

If work is to be done on known asbestos-containing materials, Facilities Management notifies the department heads and counts on them to notify faculty members and student assistants, but does not check to make sure the notice is given.

Students and student assistants using these same buildings are never instructed to "minimize the potential for disturbing ACM." Students do not necessarily know where asbestos exists, how to prevent exposure or where to report damage.

Even if they spend more time on campus than they do at home and every building they regularly occupy on campus contains asbestos, students are not notified of asbestos presence.

CSULB Facilities Management is not required to post notices of asbestos presence for students, Elliot said.

"Students shouldn't be involved with asbestos," he said. Environmental Health and Safety Director Maryann Rozanski echoed Elliot's sentiment. "The university has an obligation to provide a safe and healthy workplace," she said. "We know the regulations."

Attorney Richard Warren also knows the regulations.

In addition to helping private property owners comply with their Connelly notice obligations for years, Warren currently teaches asbestos regulations through the University of California Berkeley's Extension Hazardous Materials Program. He helps independent contractors and facilities managers to become certified to handle asbestos.

"The intention (of the Connely notice) is to make sure that everyone who occupies a commercial building knows there is asbestos in the building," Warren said. "If you're a regular occupant of the building, you should be getting asbestos notification."

Warren said a student who is in the same building several hours every day for months is a regular occupant. That would include students who put in extended hours in the chemistry, ceramics, computer or newspaper labs and any other campus lab environment.

"I would call a reporter on your paper (the Daily Forty-Niner) an employee, even if they are not being paid," Warren said. "They ought to be notified."

Student assistants, paid by the university to perform a variety of tasks on campus, are employees and have the right as employees to asbestos notification, according to Warren.

John Fentis, a deputy city prosector in Long Beach who deals with environmental crimes agreed with Warren.

Although students are technically in a different classification from employees, a srtudent who spends several hours each day on campus coulc be considered an "extension of the university," he asid. The university has a duty to warn in those cases."

Most of the cases of environmental crime Fentis prosecutes in Long Beach are misdemeanor cases reffered by other agencies. A single violation of the Health and Safety Code carries a mandatory $5,000 fine and penalties can be up to $100,000 and can even include jail time.

Fentis acknowledged that the student notification issue has gray areas, but still feels that students who spend long periods of time on campus should be notified.

"If they wanted to avoid charges of negligence, (notification) would be the prudent thing to do