Samples of suspected asbestos sent to T&T for testing

Linden school shutdown

Following the relocation of students of the Christianburg Wismar Secondary School in Linden owing to the suspected presence of asbestos at the school, samples of the suspected materials have since been tested.
Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), Orrin Gordon, confirmed to this publication that tests have been conducted both locally and overseas.
Gordon said samples of the materials were sent to Trinidad, and other tests have been conducted here locally by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and report on the results is expected shortly.
He noted that following tests on the air inside the school, it was found to be free of asbestos fibres.
“We, at the level of the RDC (Regional Democratic Council), did send the sample to be tested…The Ministry of Education did send a team on Sunday to test the air, to find out if the air in the classrooms that are purported to have asbestos…is clean. And it was found that the air indeed was clean, and so there was no evidence of any asbestos fibres floating around. And this was the EPA doing this in conjunction with the Central Ministry,” Gordon indicated.
Parents of students attached to the school recently protested the decision by Education officials to have students relocated to the Wisburg Secondary in light of the suspected presence of asbestos. They had noted that they were against a decision for their children to attend school from 12:00h to 17:00h. The parents had made calls for the issue to receive urgent attention from the Education Ministry, as they called for an arrangement for buses to take the students to school.

Under pressure
Gordon on Thursday noted that parents were under severe pressure, and he added that the Department of Education has been unable to provide transportation for all of the students.
“My concern though is that what happened last week was that the parents were up in arms on the issue because they now have to send their children a further mile away from the normal place of schooling and that placed them under severe pressure financially and otherwise. Children were going home late in the evening, and so that meant then that other arrangements had to be put in place for their safety. That, to some extent, is untenable,” he noted.
“The second issue was that the Department of Education does not have enough transportation or enough vehicles to transport the children from one area to the next, which was what was promised to them. And so that could not be sustained. That means that again the parents were under severe pressure,” he said.
Gordon added that following results from the tests, a decision will be made as it relates to when the students will return to school.
In August, shortly after the Region 10 Administration had said that asbestos had been discovered in the ceiling of the school prior to its reopening, the Education Ministry had refuted the claims. Regional Chairman Renis Morian had noted at the time that officials had received reports from parents while conducting checks on the school’s readiness for reopening, as the asbestos had been discovered in the ceiling of the school by contractors who were conducting repairs. The Regional Chairman had also related that officials were aware that in 2001 and 2002, a contract was handed out for the removal of asbestos from inside the school. However, he noted that it appeared as though some had been hidden, given the way asbestos had been placed.
According to the Ministry, an investigation was done, and it indicated that asbestos was not present in any part of the building. “This was ascertained by testing a sample of the material suspected to be asbestos found in the ceiling. Consequently, a request was made for the contractor to resume work on the building in an effort to have the building ready for use in the time allotted,” the Ministry had said. Despite this, the students were later relocated after the suspicions intensified.
The removal of asbestos must be done with great care due to the toxic properties of this substance. Asbestos removal is a very dangerous and expensive undertaking. Locally, very few companies have the capacity to properly remove this hazardous substance.