Canadian School District Admits Asbestos Problems

January 31, 2007 - The school board of the New Westminster School District in Western Canada has admitted it failed to respond sufficiently to an asbestos-exposure incident 15 months ago, and is setting up meetings with students, teachers and parents to address the problem, reports the Vancouver Sun.

The meetings were prompted after a scathing report from WorkSafeBC (the workers’ compensation board of British Columbia), which claimed the district failed to properly handle the asbestos situation.  The district was fined $75,000 and ordered to provide information to those who may have been exposed as to the possible health consequences involved in breathing asbestos fibers.

"We realized, with the report from WorkSafeBC, that people should have been more fully informed of the incident and of the possible consequences," board chairman Michael Ewen said in an interview Sunday.

He added that the board followed protocol when the asbestos exposure became apparent by halting the renovation project that caused it and sealing off the room. "We take our lead from WorkSafeBC," he said. "The information I had is that the environment wasn't unsafe."

Parents and staff members, however, say this wasn’t the case.  Many believe the school board minimized the dangers of the incident.  A new civic electors group called Voice New Westminster released material from a surveillance camera showing crowds of students in the hall outside room 138 on the same morning that the asbestos-laden floor was removed. A janitor can be seen sweeping up dust, wearing no protective gear, and with a crowd of students gathered in the hallway.

In statements to WorkSafeBC obtained by the group, students and staff described "thick clouds of dust in the hallway [outside] room 138" and "a very sour smell." The group reports that many individuals in the building at the time complained of coughing spells, dry throat, sore eyes, and even nose bleeds. 

"Given their past record, they're only going to give out what information they're forced to give out," says Patrick O’Connor, a parent and member of the civic group. "It's not good enough."

"We feel this is standard operating procedure for the school board: to obfuscate, dismiss, trivialize," said Blair Armitage, president of Voice New Westminster.