Hello!
A copy of a posting requesting info on asbestos removal has
been sent to me. I have a tale to tell.
Hilton C. Buley Library here at Southern Connecticut State
University, has been undergoing an "on-again off-again" asbestos
removal. Asbestos has been removed one floor at a time. (We have
five floors and an electrical/mechanical penthouse.) Removals
have taken place in the summer.
We move out of the building each time and it is closed to the
public!
The original plans had us staying in the building, offering full
library services. Each floor was divided into sections, and one
section per floor was to be worked on a time. The idea was that
we would ignore the plastic-lined wooden abatement walls on our
floor, we would work around them, moving desks, services,
computers, seating, and stacks every few weeks as the workman
changed sections to work on. We would do this for two years.
We were told that the Department of Public Works in the state
capitol had ordered that the building had to remain open to the
public, and that the section plan was the only feasable one.
It turned out to be a lie. All hell broke lose when we found out
the truth.
At that time, the library building had not only the library, but
the library science school, the computer center and programmers,
and the learning resources center. 95% of the people who worked
in the building signed a petition asking the president to
intercede with public works, and get us out of the building away
from the absbestos removal. The library director would not sign
the petition. He wanted to remain neutral to "better facilitate
communication."
A general, informational meeting was held for everyone on
campus, to explain the asbestos abatement. Almost everyone who
worked in the library building was there. To answer our questions
there was an asbestos abatement engineer, a high-ranking member
of the state health department, and the extremely condescending
head of the asbestos project for the whole state. All three of
them said abatement was "safe" and that "the risks of accidents
were within acceptable limits" and that a certain amount of
"leakage" was within "tolerable limits." Nothing that they said
eased the fear of the people in the room.
Then the president stepped up to take charge of the meeting, and
control the crowd. (He's an ex-politician, if a politician can
ever be ex-.) Big mistake. During the questions and answers, the
president revealed that he had ordered the library to remain
open, not public works, that he had decided that the current plan
was safe, without consulting anyone who worked in the building,
and that he had rejected all alternative plans as unfeasable.
Fear turned to outright anger. The "one-hour meeting" lasted two
and a half hours. The president never gained control of the
meeting, couldn't calm anyone down. He lost face, and many people
still habor resentment toward him for his asbestos decisions. As
a result, all plans for a compromise, including one I helped draw
up that the abatement engineer even liked, failed. The majority
of people in the library building would not stay in the building
during asbestos removal. Period. No backing down, no compromise.
Union rep's were contacted, people got ready for walkouts.
Several unions wrote letters saying that their people were not to
work in the building during asbestos removal, and had to be moved
out. The Faculty Senate and the AAUP did not support the
librarians, as the teaching faculty wanted the library to remain
open. Polls of undergraduates taken by the student newspaper
revealed that students would not come in the library while
asbestos was being removed. The company that serviced the campus
main-frame computer, housed in the library building, said that
the asbestos abatement plans for the computer center area would
violate the environmental conditions needed by the computer, and
hence would violate all service agreements and warranties on the
computer and all it's equipment. The computer had to be moved out
of the building. Period. No compromise, either.
The president backed down. A plan that had previously been
rejected, was modified and presented. The asbestos would be
removed from the building one floor at a time. The work would be
done in the summer only, and spaced over five years. The library
building would be closed to the public. All staff would be moved
out. The computer center would be moved to the science building
and stay there forever. The library school would move to some
temporary buildings used as classrooms. A temporary library with
a core collection, would be set up elsewhere on campus.
Summer #1 was a dining hall, (YUCK!! Biggest cockroaches I had
ever seen in my life! ) Summer #2 and #3 was the old gym.
(Excellent natural lighting, and good ventilation for a
non-airconditioned building.) Summer #4 and Summer #5, the
project was put on hold. There's a new plan.
Most of the buildings on campus need extensive renovations.
Public Works said, "Why don't we erect a large temporary
building, say 40,000 square feet or more. We'll move the library
into it, then finish the asbestos removal. Then we'll move the
business school into it, and renovate their building, etc, etc,
etc." Everybody liked that plan, even the president. He gets all
the buildings renovated over the next ten years, without having
to worry about where to move classrooms, labs, offices.
The temporary building will be built in the Spring 1994. We will
move the library into it in Summer 1994. We will stay for 1.5
years, possibly 2 years. We will have 30-45% of the collection.
The rest will be stored, and unavailable. That's where we are
now.
Problems. Okay, here goes.
1. Moving companies see books as objects. Take off shelves, put
in boxes, put back on shelves. They do not understand Dewey, LC,
or alphabetical order. When my bound journal collection was
stored for the summer, it took me and my student crew three
months to shelf-read and realphabetise it correctly.
2. Storage was in cardboard boxes in trailer trucks. They got hot
in the summer sun. They leaked during the hurricane. They weren't
sealed against insects. On the plus side, we didn't lose much.
3. Asbestos abatement is NOISY!!!!!!!! The Air circulators make a
constant noise, men in asbestos suits have to shout at each other
to be heard. The hoses used to wet the asbestos makes noise, the
guys often have loud boomboxes playing to break the monotony.
They'll need a shower area in the containment area, more noise,
and in one case here, they just used plastic for the shower room
walls. Clear plastic. Playgirl centerfolds these guys are not.
Oh yeah. One year the asbestos general contractor subcontracted
the actual removal work to a smaller company. Their entire crew
were Korean nationals on work visas. Only one guy in the crew
spoke english. Inspectors trying to monitor the worksite went
nuts. With everybody wearing head to toe TYVEK suits and face
masks, they could never find the guy who spoke english. Everyone
just shrugged their shoulders, said something in Korean, and just
went about their business. The asbestos general contractor and
the inspectors had more than a few arguements. One inspector got
pushed to the ground, and hurt his back.
4. Asbestos removal is DESTRUCTIVE!. All the ceiling tiles must
be removed and destroyed. The ceiling track and all the lights
must come down. To do this, all power to the building is shut
off. The contracter supplies his own power from generators. (More
noise.) Usually, they then cut the electrical wires to the
lights. They need clear access to the "deck" above the ceiling
tiles. All wires in their way get cut. (Phone wires, computer
wires, and a P.A. system wires were cut and had to be rewired
here.)
Water pipes, if they can be removed, are removed. The contractor
uses a water supply outside the building and pipes it in with
leaky rubber hoses to the abatement area. HVAC conduits are
removed. Here, the HVAC conduits and control valves were removed
and replaced, but the replaced valves were not set to what they
were before removal. It took campus HVAC guys months to figure
out the correct settings for all the valves.
Water leaks out of the containment area. Humidity is high. Paint
on walls is damaged. Carpets in the abatement work area cannot be
saved; it's safer to rip them up during the removal and put in
new carpets later. (With Toxic Carpet Syndrome, of course.)
5. Some of the workers are THIEVES! Despite locked storage rooms,
nowhere near the work areas, personal computers, TV's, VCR's,
somehow got stolen. The contractor and workers have free access
to their area of the building, or in our case, the entire
building. With the main electricity off, the alarm systems didn't
work. Besides, they cut alarm wires, too.
6. Contractors get behind. There are delays. Equipment breaks
down. Most public schools out here have major removals in the
summer, so contractors move workers to those sites as needed.
7. Air tests. Before the removal, there were lots of tests to
determine base levels. The test results were sent to the
presidents office. Copies were then sent to the library.
During Summer #1, we recieved air test results weekly, and were
allowed to read the final air test report. During Summer #2, we
received air tests every two weeks, and were allowed to read the
final air test report.
During Summer #3, we saw NOTHING!
No air tests, no final report, no certificate of occupancy to
indicate that the building was safe, NOTHING! The administration
shared no information, despite repeated requests. We should have
used the Freedom of Information Act, but, hey, it was the fourth
floor, and only the library school uses that floor anyway.
I'm sorry to get so long winded. I didn't realize this would turn
into a book. Asbestos is a serious matter here, very serious.
Please send me questions if you have them. Feel free to send this
to anybody who wants to read it. We have a number of memos and
new articles we can send, one of the best being "Library Ala
Carte" from Connecticut Libraries magazine. It describes our time
at the dining hall. Just ask. We have lots of asbestos stories,
some funny, some horrific, and some just plain stupid.
Ed Hoyer
Assistant Periodicals Librarian
Hilton C. Buley Library
Southern Connecticut State University
New Haven, CT 06515
203-397-7042
hoyer@scsud.ctstateu.edu
"All opinions expressed are my own. If you'd like to steal them, feel free."
+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+
| Frighten Your Administrators! |
| Read The GrimFacts |
| the unofficial newsletter of the CSU Library System. |
| Contact hoyer@scsud.ctstateu.edu or read it on BUBL |
+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03/09/00 PST