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State fines Ashland district for asbestos Workers faced risk during tile removal By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- The state has fined the Ashland School District for putting workers at risk when they removed asbestos tiles from an elementary school in August. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency has launched a criminal investigation into the case. The state's Occupational Safety and Health Division fined the district $2,625 for "serious" violations that occurred when workers incorrectly removed tiles containing asbestos at Walker Elementary School in August. Since the situation came to light, the school district has taken steps to make sure nothing like it happens again, said School Superintendent John Daggett. "(Former Maintenance Director Bill Richardson) had to get school started on time -- he thought he could just chip that stuff away and it would be OK," Daggett said. "He knew better and is ashamed of himself." School district officials said the situation occurred after a private company was contracted to replace carpets this summer at four Ashland schools: Walker was the last of the four. As workers from the private company -- assisted by members of the school's maintenance staff -- pulled up the old carpeting, some tiles came up with it. On Aug. 31, six school employees and two others chipped away at additional tiles to remove them to allow the carpet to lie properly. But the tiles contained asbestos, a cancer-causing fiber. Fifty-six people could have been exposed to the fibers, according to an OSHA report. The school year had not started, and tests showed the buildings were safe before classes began. "Luckily the thing about tiles is the asbestos is bound up pretty well in the tile," said Barry Jones, manager of enforcement for Oregon OSHA. "You have more risk if you sand it or grind it. When you chip it you expose some on the edge of the chip, but the risk is much more reduced than other things." Jones said, though, the amount of asbestos needed to make someone sick has never been determined. It takes many years for the illness to show up. "For one person, one fiber could be enough, but for another it could be thousands," he said. "There is no exact determination of a safe level." The Department of Environmental Quality also investigated the incident. But it referred the case to the EPA's criminal division, according to Kelly O'Neill, assistant special agent in charge of the criminal division. He said the EPA's investigation is not complete. "The case has not been formally referred to a prosecutor to the best of my knowledge, but the investigation is continuing and we are in the process of interviewing people and reviewing documents," O'Neill said. He declined to specify what kind of charges could be considered in the case. A five-year statute of limitations applies to such cases. Often, charges come on the eve of the five-year statute, he said. "I don't expect this to take that long," O'Neill said. "But you can't tell." The OSHA investigation resulted in citations on 14 violations, all rated "serious." The violations include issues such as not performing monitoring for airborne concentrations of asbestos and not having a trained person on site to identify asbestos hazards. As a result of the incident, Daggett said, the district sent someone to asbestos training and audited district buildings to see where asbestos still lurks. Richardson was demoted to a foreman and a new temporary maintenance supervisor was hired. "We had things to learn and we learned them," Daggett said. "There was poor decisions made and they will be better in the future." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA