The discovery of asbestos by construction workers on the south side of Bragaw Residence Hall has prompted officials to hire a company to remove it, according to Barry Olson, associate director of Housing's facilities division.
"It's standard with our renovations, especially with buildings built before the early 1970s," Olson said of the asbestos cleanup. "There is typically some level of asbestos containing materials that is safe to human beings unless disturbed. In the case of renovation, materials are disturbed."
The disturbance of the materials, along with the fact that the University wants to remain as safe as possible led the university to employ Raleigh's Matrix Health and Safety Consultants, a certified asbestos removal firm, Olson said.
According to Olson, Matrix will help not only with the removal of the asbestos containing materials from the area, but also with the necessary testing to make sure the employees and the environment around Bragaw are safe.
"We're going through and not only removing it but...following all of the requirements through the EPA for safe removal and disposal," Olson said of the collaboration between NCSU and Matrix.
The particular work being done this summer, according to Olson, involves removing floor and ceiling tiles and pipe insulation.
"In this particular case we are removing mastic, or glue, underneath all of the floor tiles, the mastic holding the ceiling tiles in place and some pipe wrap," he said of the asbestos containing materials in Bragaw.
"They wet it down, remove it, double bag it and then dispose of it according to [Environmental Protection Agency] regulations."
Those EPA regulations, according to Olson, force Matrix to be very careful about the process of removing the asbestos and take several safety precautions.
"Basically, they have all this plastic walling up," he said. "They set up what is called a negative air chamber to keep all of the air where it needs to be. It becomes problematic when it becomes friable, or dusty. That's when it can get into a persons lung."
Olson said that students who have lived or will live in Bragaw should not worry about safety or their health because asbestos containing materials are not harmful unless disturbed.
"Asbestos was a very common building material for a number of years and if left undisturbed, it's safe," he said. "It's when you disturb it, then it becomes problematic. We're removing it and making the environment completely safe."
For David Earley, a junior in English and a Resident Advisor at Bragaw, the asbestos cleanup is something worth doing while renovations are going on.
"I know Bragaw is really, really old so it didn't surprise me," he said after learning of the asbestos cleanup. "They might as well get rid of it while they are renovating, I don't see any reason not to update it. It's probably a good thing."
