RSS 2.0 FeedMarch 17, 2011, Bellmore Life
CHSD cited for asbestos violations at Grand Avenue
CHSD is fined $2,500 for asbestos violations.
The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District has been cited by the state Department of Labor for asbestos violations that occurred last month at the Grand Avenue Middle School.
According to Jean Genovese, a department spokeswoman, an inspector visited the school on February 11, where leaky plumbing was found in the sand cellar of the school. The sand cellar holds tables, desks and out-of-use objects.
Ms. Genovese said that while the insulation was removed to repair the leak, the insulation contained asbestos and neither the district nor the maintenance personnel who handled the removal had the required state licenses to handle the asbestos.
According to Ms. Genovese, the district was cited on February 14 for violations to state code NYSCRR, Part 56-3.1a, which requires the district to have an asbestos-handling license; and to Part 56-3.1b, which requires maintenance workers to have asbestos-handling licenses.
She said that Enviro-Science Consultants of Ronkonkoma, longtime environmental contractor for the district, was required to either decontaminate the asbestos dust-contaminated objects such as desks from the fallout of the pipe insulation in the sand cellar, or remove them from the cellar altogether.
The district, in a statement, said that the consultants had tested the air in the cellar and throughout the school, and the results were negative for asbestos. The district added that the environmental firm continues to closely monitor the air in the school.
Calls to the firm to inquire if it had removed or decontaminated the desks and other objects from the cellar were not answered by press time. The $2,500 fine had not been paid to the state by press time.
Bellmore Life learned that the desks have been used by students during year-end tests.
