MOUNT VERNON — As cleaup continues from the demolition of the former Kresge building at 201 S. Main St., residents were concerned when asbestos was recently found inside the walls of the building.
Joseph Shrock, spokesperson for Shrock Premier Custom Construction and Rainbow International Restoration & Cleaning, assures that every precaution is being made to contain the debris and its removal.
“At the time we started demolition, we had no way of knowing there was going to be asbestos in the building,” Shrock said. “There was no way of safely getting in there to test. But once we started demolition, we used precautions as if there was asbestos and kept everything watered down.”
As layers of brick and plaster came down, the interior wall revealed pipe wrapping containing asbestos on the front and side walls.
“The owner could never have seen it,” said Shrock. “It was inside behind the drywall on pipes that went up through the wall. You would have never known unless you took out a wall. There were a number of areas where this went up the pipes from the basement.”
The Environmental Protection Agency, which had previously checked the building, was called back to the site and a certified asbestos removal company was brought in. An assessment was then made to determine the next steps and the project was delayed for a day. After the EPA gave the guidelines on the asbestos removal, the demolition continued but with new requirements.
At all times, Shrock said a certified asbestos removal expert is on-site, and random tests were taken of the mixed debris to see the level of asbestos.
“The test of the debris came back clear showing no asbestos,” said Shrock. “What this amounts to is there is so little asbestos pipe wrap mixed into the debris that the test came back positive for no asbestos. We know that there is asbestos in the debris but it is so small a percentage.”
Another test taken on the plaster of the building showed less than 1 percent containing asbestos, said Shrock. “So it was mainly in the pipe wrapping.”
The debris was placed into containers encased with two layers of plastic, which Shrock said is standard abatement procedures for asbestos removal, and hauled it to an approved landfill south of Columbus. Each day they can haul anywhere between five to six 30-yard containers, and though work has slowed as extra precautions are taken, Shrock hopes to be finished soon.
“There should not be any reason for people to be concerned about their health,” said Shrock. “We’ve done everything by the EPA asbestos removal guidelines during the cleanup.”
John Pardee, a certified asbestos removal expert, provided asbestos awareness training for the employees working on the site and performed several tests on the debris.
“We did some assessing of the property and spoke with EPA representatives on-site,” said Pardee. “Mr. Shrock did say there were some concerns being raised about exposure and with those concerns I suggested that we get some debris samples and plaster samples from the building in order to see exactly what is going on. We do know from EPA work that there was a asbestos containing pipe insulation that was in the building when it burned down. But I wanted to see what the debris was like on the street, so I collected six samples from the material.
“Five of the six samples came up negative, and of the one sample, half of it came up negative. It was a layered sample, and the other half had less than half a percent of asbestos in the sample. This told me that majority of the debris that’s in the footprint of the building is going to be non-asbestos containing material.”
However, because there is no easy way to segregate the asbestos containing material from the non-asbestos material, Pardee said, all of the debris is treated as asbestos. For this reason, the debris is kept wet to prevent fibers from flying, and the area is regulated with restricted access to the site.
“As long as you are doing proper handling techniques, it is no more or less dangerous than any other building material. Not a lot of people are aware that asbestos exposure is less of a hazard than cigarette exposure,” he said. “I don’t want to make light of it. ... [However] the epidemiological data indicates that in order for someone to become sick from asbestos-related exposure it has to be occupational, over prolong periods of time. For pedestrians on a sidewalk near a building that was burnt down, and materials are being removed, it’s not really a situation where a person can become ill from asbestos exposure. A lot of people don’t realize too that there is a giant period for asbestos exposure versus the onset of diseases.”
“People don’t just get sick right away from asbestos exposure,” said Pardee. “It takes 15 to 40 years of accumulated exposure in order for diseases to manifest themselves.”
Pardee wants the community to know that trained professionals are working on the site and the “public’s health is taken as first priority.”
