04/27/2011 - John Davenport
A group of Northeast Philadelphia school children have been relocated because of an asbestos exposure scare, and are waiting for Tuesday's air quality test results. On Monday, April 25, environmental officials were at the annex to conduct additional testing. According to NBC Philadelphia:
“The Benjamin Franklin Elementary School Annex, located within the Pilgrim Baptist Church in the Crescentville section of Philadelphia, was tested for asbestos on Friday, April 22 by the Office of Environmental Management & Services and the Philadelphia Teacher’s Union’s Health and Welfare Fund.
“The tests determined that the airborne samples were over the Philadelphia Asbestos Control Regulations re-occupancy criteria. As a result, the students and teachers were moved to the school’s main building two blocks away.”
Pilgrim Baptist, an old congregation, began construction on the church at Comly and Rising Sun in 1938. The Philadelphia School District leased the space at Pilgrim Baptist Church in 2003. A school district press release stated that routine asbestos inspections have been conducted every six months according to Asbestos Hazard Response Act (AHERA) regulations: “Until this most recent round of testing, there have been no known instances of elevated levels of airborne asbestos at the facility.”
The building remains closed to all students and teachers until the test results are known and further actions can be determined. However, the greatest risk of asbestos exposure is not to the children or teachers. The amount of airborne asbestos found at the Benjamin Franklin Pilgrim Baptist annex, while unacceptable, is not the amount which usually result in asbestos diseases such as asbestosis or other chronic pulmonary obstructive diseases (COPDs).
Construction workers who built Pilgrim Baptist, and maintenance workers throughout the years who fixed pipes and boilers, fixed the roof, updated plumbing, heating and cooling systems, are much more likely candidates for an asbestos disease like asbestosis or an asbestos cancer such as mesothelioma.
Air quality testing is very important in the enforcement of federal asbestos regulations. Law firms like Weitz & Luxenberg continue to fight the Philadelphia asbestos problem on the legal end by helping people suffering from asbestos-related diseases receive monetary compensation.
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