Asbestos is a natural mineral fiber that was historically used as a component in a variety of building materials and applications due to its fire/heat resistance and durable nature. Many of the older buildings at Illinois State University still contain some asbestos containing materials. Environmental Health and Safety has had an active Asbestos Management Program since the early 1980's. All buildings have had an asbestos building inspection which has identified materials that contain asbestos. Building inspection history and bulk sample records are maintained by Environmental Health and Safety.
Asbestos on Campus
Environmental Health and Safety maintains records of all building inspections and associated bulk samples. The Asbestos Program Coordinator receives the appropriate training and maintains a license to collect bulk samples prior to any operations and maintenance work that may disturb suspect materials not previously sampled.
EHS has also developed a Facilities Management Asbestos Containing Ceiling List. This list is intended for University operations and maintenance staff such as Heating Plant personnel, Craft Trades, Building Mechanics and Building Service Workers who have work with or around ceilings or respond to leaks and floods involving ceilings.
In order to ensure that outside contractors to the University and University employees are informed about the types and general locations of asbestos containing materials in each building, an Asbestos Containing Building Materials Summary is available for review.
ISU Asbestos Abatement Team
Illinois State University has a trained Asbestos Team composed of individuals who have completed an initial 40 hour Asbestos Worker/Supervisor course and attend an eight hour refresher each year. Each team member is licensed through the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to perform asbestos abatement activities. The work by the team is done primarily in response to University operation and maintenance activities. All work by the Asbestos team is coordinated by the Asbestos Program Manager and/or a representative of Environmental Health and Safety. All team members are included the University Respiratory Protection Program to include a medical surveillance program and annual respirator fit testing.
Asbestos work in excess of the 3 square feet/3 lineal feet limit are performed by licensed asbestos abatement contractors.
Environmental Health and Safety maintains a database for all work completed by members of the abatement team. This includes a job summary report completed by the workers as well as results of personal air sampling conducted to ensure that the permissible exposure limits set by OSHA are met. This database is available to the team members for review at any time.