The School District of Mystery Lake has contracted out Pinchin Environmental, a company based in Winnipeg, to do an asbestos inventory of all the buildings in the district.
School district superintendent Hugh Fraser says that Workplace Health and Safety is requiring a complete inventory of all asbestos in public school buildings as a follow-up to one done years ago in the district.
"Most buildings that were built in a certain era have asbestos in them. So if you have an inventory of where that asbestos is then if you're doing any kind of renovations and so on you know what potentially you might be getting into," he explains. "That's really the reason to have an updated inventoryWorkplace Health and Safety just wants us to double check and makes sure that we've got it all accounted for."Pinchin Environmental provides environmental services to property managers and developers; hospitals and health care facilities; educational institutions; private equity and insurance investors and more. It operates from coast to coast as a cross-country network of four regionally owned companies made up of 400 professional engineers, scientists, industrial hygienists, geologists, technologists, project managers and support staff.
The company, founded in 1981 by Dr. Don Pinchin, specializes in building science, climate change, environmental air and noise, environmental due diligence and remediation, environmental laboratory services, hazardous materials, indoor air quality and microbial contamination, occupational health and safety and training.
A week before elementary school students went back to school after the summer break this year asbestos was identified at Westwood School.
Keith Derksen, facilities manager with the School District of Mystery Lake, says that there are a number of locations throughout the buildings in the Mystery Lake School District where asbestos has been identified, with most locations only accessible to maintenance staff. The asbestos found in Westwood School was located during floor replacement operations after floor tile had been removed containing asbestos christotile material, a substance that has in recent years been banned in many countries and only allowed in the United States and parts of Europe in very limited circumstances.
Upon discovery of the asbestos the school district ensured special cleaning of the affected area was done immediately with help from an asbestos expert from Pinchin Environmental.
Fraser says he hopes the inventory of asbestos in school district buildings happens "as soon as possible."
