Environmental Health, Safety, and Risk Management
Asbestos & Lead
Building occupants, employees and contractors are not authorized to disturb wall, floor or ceiling building materials without clearance from EHS/RM.
- Disturbance includes drilling/nailing holes to install pictures, window treatments, shelving etc., and disturbing peeling paint or sanding painted surfaces.
ASBESTOS
Asbestos refers to an entire class of naturally-occurring fibrous minerals, including chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite asbestos, tremolite asbestos, and actinolite asbestos. The potential to release fibers into the air is dependant upon the mineral's FRIABILITY, or ability to be crumbled under normal hand pressure. Some materials such as floor tile are unlikely to become friable unless severely damaged, i.e. pulverized.
Where can asbestos be found?
Asbestos can be found in a wide variety of building materials, which includes: ceilings
tiles, floor tiles, roofing felts, drywall muds, pipe and boiler insulation, sprayed-on
materials for acoustic dampening or fire resistance. See the Resources for the list
of locations where asbestos has been found on campus. Note: Do not assume that locations
and materials not on the list do not contain asbestos.
LEAD ISSUES
Lead is a naturally occurring metal that can be found in a wide variety of places and products including:
- Paints and coatings up until 1980. Industrial paints still contain lead in high levels.
- Printing equipment.
- Video display units (computer monitors and television sets)
- Batteries
- Plumbing
- Soil
- Water
- Some imported food
- Some imported medicines and cosmetics
WHAT IS BEING DONE AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO TO PREVENT ASBESTOS AND LEAD EXPOSURE TO BUILDING OCCUPANTS?
- The Office of Environmental Health, Safety and Risk Management(EHS/RM) is involved with the review of all remodeling or construction projects to determine if materials containing lead or asbestos will be disturbed.
- Building materials are sampled and analyzed for asbestos and/or lead content.
- Disturbance of asbestos or lead-containing materials is limited to trained/certified employees and contractors. All associated activities and controls must meet Cal-OSHA, Cal-EPA, and Department of Health Services regulations.
- All asbestos abatements include air sampling for safety before rooms are opened for occupancy.
- Campus drinking water is tested for lead.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU SEE SUSPECTED ASBESTOS OR LEAD DAMAGE (such as: peeling paint, paint chips on the floor), AND/OR HAVE ANY RELATED QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS?
Do not touch the suspected damaged material. Please immediately contact EHS/RM at 559.278.7422 or ehsrm@mail.fresnostate.edu.