By Teri H.P. Nguyen
Daily Bruin Contributor
tenguyen@media.ucla.edu
The state is investigating whether UCLA had prior knowledge of
asbestos being present in the ceiling tiles of Powell Library
before demolition began earlier this year.
Though the most recent tests found asbestos in tiles, original
tests in 2001 came back negative, which gave the university
approval to began demolition.
However, some UCLA employees, who now worry that they were
exposed to asbestos, recall a 1999 removal project of a few tiles
containing the hazardous material. They cite this abatement project
as proof that university officials must have known of the asbestos
beforehand.
“The evidence (the university) had did not show
contamination,” Jack Powazek, assistant vice chancellor of
Facilities Management and UCLA Environmental Health and Safety,
said of the initial test results.
“This is unfortunate, but it was not intentional,”
he said of the asbestos in Powell ceiling tiles that were
exposed.
Neither university officials nor the California Division of
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is heading the
investigation, would comment on possible consequences for the
university should the investigation show prior knowledge of the
presence of asbestos.
Martha Copeland, an employee of the Office of Instructional
Development, remembered the 1999 abatement when demolitions of a
ceiling near her office on the third floor east wing of Powell
Library began in January.
According to Copeland, who notified Cal/OSHA, a 50-square-foot
area of tile was removed from an approximately 1,000-square-foot
ceiling in 1999.
At the time, the replaced tiles were assumed to contain
asbestos, though never tested, said Jason Quon, asbestos and lead
program manager with UCLA Environmental Health and Safety.
Three years later, construction began on that ceiling.
Asbestos was widely used in building materials before it was
considered dangerous by the Environmental Protection Agency in the
1970s.
Asbestos-related diseases such as lung cancer, asbestosis, the
scarring of lung tissues, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining
of the lung and chest, could develop over time from asbestos
exposure, according to the EPA.
Intact and undisturbed asbestos-containing material is
relatively harmless. It becomes a hazard when the asbestos fibers
get into the air and are inhaled, aggravating lung tissues.
According to OSHA, exposure after more than an eight-hour period
without respiratory protection could be dangerous.
Demolitions that began Jan. 14 resulted in dust that may have
contained asbestos fibers. This called for the evacuation of Powell
Library and enclosure of the area under construction on Jan.
22.
Tests conducted that same day ““ one week after demolitions
began ““ revealed there were an average of 0.007 fibers per
cubic centimeter of asbestos in the air ““ below the maximum
limit of 0.01 f/cc set by Cal/OSHA.
But OID employees working in the area days before evacuation
were possibly exposed to asbestos fibers present in the dust.
The area where employees worked was “foggy, misty and
blurry,” Copeland said.
“The dust traveled down to the elevator and to the ground
floor,” she said. “This puts students at risk
too.”
The university took immediate actions after discovering the
asbestos, Powazek said.
“At the first indication of a problem, demolition
stopped,” he said.
It will be years before Copeland and other workers detect
asbestos-related health problems, should any develop.
Though the university conducted the required random and
representative bulk sample tests of the area for asbestos before
demolition, federal code regulations were not fully met.
California State Regulations do not specify how many samples
must be taken as long as they were selected at random, but it
states that test samples shall be “collected in the manner
described” under federal law.
Federal code regulations require that at least three bulk
samples are collected from an homogeneous area that is uniform in
color and texture of 1,000 square feet or less.
The area under construction in Powell is approximately 1,000
square feet, but initial tests did not meet the required three
samples.
The initial tests by Ellis Environmental Management Inc., an
independent environmental consulting firm hired by UCLA, were
performed on a bulk sample of only two ceiling tiles, according to
its Aug. 9, 2001 report. The 12-inch tiles under question were
reported as not containing asbestos material.
Ellis administered a second test Jan. 15, 2002 ““
immediately after Copeland brought up the possibility of asbestos
to project manager John Foerster. The test again reported negative
results of asbestos.
But the second test was done on a bulk sample of only one tile,
said Cal/OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer.
According to Ellis reports, two areas were tested ““ the
main server room and the corner office ““ but in each area,
only one tile was sampled.
Foerster, program manager of UCLA Facilities Management who was
in charge of renovations and to whom Ellis deferred comments, was
unavailable to speak on why federal regulations were not met.
Negative results from the two Ellis tests gave the go-ahead for
the demolition, Quon said ““ the same area assumed to contain
asbestos in 1999.
If anything is to be blamed, it should be the limitations of
research and methodology, Quon said.
“It was by chance that in both tests the tiles selected at
random did not contain asbestos,” he said.
On Jan. 17, due to complaints from Copeland, EH&S conducted
its own test on two tiles and concluded 3 percent asbestos in one
tile. None was detected in the other tile.
These conflicting results urged a second test by EH&S on
Jan. 18. It concluded a positive 4 percent composition of asbestos
in three sampled tiles.
Air-monitoring tests conducted after the Jan. 22 evacuation
revealed levels below maximum permissible limits, according to a
report by Ellis.
But it is the amount of asbestos in the tile samples, not in the
air, that determines whether the area needs to be enclosed, said
Philip Harber, chief of the division of occupational and
environmental medicine and a professor of family medicine at
UCLA.
“Four percent asbestos in the material can be dangerous if
released during construction,” Harber said.
“This is a sign that UCLA’s control program may not
be effective,” he added, referring to the presence of
asbestos in tiles even after procedural sample tests and abatements
were conducted.
During the last 30 years, Powell Library has undergone major
constructive maintenance and numerous refurbishing of broken tiles,
leaving the ceiling with different tiles that do not contain
asbestos, Powazek said.
But not all the tiles were replaced.
The investigation, with time limitations of six months, should
conclude within the next month.