Asbestos cleanup done at Lynn Woods School

LYNN – Lynn Woods School received a clean bill of health after workers removed asbestos found in the school basement last weekend.”Air tests were done by Covino Environmental Consultants,” said Mike Donovan, Inspectional Services Chief and Building Commissioner. “There was no air-borne asbestos and no risk to teachers, students or anyone in the building.”Donovan said that as workers began removing the school’s old boiler to make way for a replacement, they found several areas with asbestos, a mineral fiber used in many construction materials during the 19th and most of the 20th century.Asbestos can be a serious health hazard if inhaled over long periods of time. The material poses the biggest risk when it is removed during renovations and demolitions.Donovan said that in 2007 the city removed asbestos building materials from the Lynn Woods School’s boiler room.”We did the big abatement in 2007,” he said, adding that the material found recently was not accessible during that clean up.”What they found this time wasn’t a big amount,” said Donovan. “It was in and around the boiler where we would not have been able to remove it before.”In addition to some caulking between old bricks, workers removed asbestos insulation wrapped around roughly 75 feet of pipe.Donovan said that there was no risk to the school community while those materials were in place and undisturbed.”Most old buildings have asbestos,” he said “It’s everywhere.”The Environmental Protection Agency’s policy on undamaged asbestos in public-school buildings has been to leave it in place and maintain it. Potential health risks only arise when asbestos is removed.But the Lynn Woods School boiler has been leaking, and needed to be replaced. And like so many projects on old homes and buildings, one repair often leads to another.Donovan said work crews are still at the school installing the new boiler.”They are working on it now, and everything should be done in the next couple of weeks,” he said.