The Department of Education has confirmed that an alert about asbestos in school buildings is to be extended this week, with all second-level schools being asked to check for the material, it which is potentially cancerous if broken or exposed to air.
A spokesman yesterday said he did not expect many schools would have to be closed, even temporarily, because of the risk from material which was widely used in construction during the 1960s and up to 1985. If undisturbed it is not considered hazardous, but if it is moved or fragmented the dust gives rise to respiratory problems.
The alert follows a successful prosecution by the Health and Safety Authority against the Department after asbestos tiles were disturbed during the refurbishment of Scoil Colmcille in Malin, Co Donegal. The school was forced to close for almost three months while it was fumigated.
The Department has already begun its own examination of school buildings to see if they contain asbestos. A spokesman said it would determine how many schools contained the high-risk material and, most significantly, what state it was in. The Office of Public Works is to commission consultants to carry out the survey on behalf of the Department. The scale of the survey is indicated by confirmation that it will take up to three years to complete, though an earlier examination of schools in the south-east has been undertaken.
A circular noting that asbestos was dangerous only if moved, or inappropriately handled during demolition or renovation, has been sent to primary schools. It instructs boards of management to have all their buildings checked and if an emergency is identified to contact the Department immediately. Some 1,500 schools are believed to have some asbestos, which was used to insulate or act as fire-resistant panels. According to the INTO, up to 95 per cent of new schools or extensions completed during the 1960s contain the fibrous material.
The spokesman said that, as part of the Department's capital rebuilding and renovation programme, considerable amounts of asbestos would be removed over the next few years. Money from this programme and from a separate health and safety project would go towards this remedial work. Buildings were routinely checked for any risk associated with asbestos, he stressed.
Notwithstanding the many millions of pounds which the Department of Education may face in reconstruction costs, the biggest issue with asbestos for the Government is likely to arise from compensation claims from State employees who worked with the material, or were exposed to it over a sustained period. Semi-state bodies are already facing dozens of claims from former workers or their families.
