Cal State Fullerton Cited for Asbestos Dust in Recital Hall

Toxic asbestos dust on overhead catwalks and beams in a recital hall at Cal State Fullerton is a “serious violation” of state health standards and must be cleaned up by Oct. 21, an official for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA) said Thursday.

Mark Carleson, assistant to Cal-OSHA’s deputy chief of field operations in San Francisco, said he has been told that the danger area has been cordoned off while the university arranges to remove the asbestos dust.

“It’s my understanding that there is no immediate danger since the area has been sealed off,” Carleson said Thursday in a telephone interview.

Thomas Whitfield, environmental health and safety officer at Cal State Fullerton, said Thursday that the beams in the recital hall are now restricted, pending removal of the asbestos dust.

“Only people who have proper respiratory protection may go up there,” Whitfield said.

Recital Hall Open

But the recital hall itself remains open.

Whitfield said Cal-OSHA’s tests showed no airborne asbestos and therefore no danger to students or faculty using the recital hall, which is in the Performing Arts Building. “The recital hall is still open,” he said. “Only the overhead area is restricted. We plan to have the problem removed (from overhead beams and catwalks) by Oct. 21.”

Asbestos, once widely used as a fire-retardant and as an insulating agent, was sprayed on overhead beams in the recital hall when it was built in the early 1960s, Whitfield said. “It wasn’t until the 1970s that it was widely known about the dangers of asbestos.”

Asbestos, when inhaled into the lungs, has been connected to a deadly form of lung cancer.

Worker’s Complaint

Carleson, of Cal-OSHA, said Cal State Fullerton had been cited Oct. 7, following an inspection by an agency official. The inspection was triggered by a complaint from a university employee, who said that he and other workers arranging recital hall lights on the catwalks and beams were exposed to the dust.

“The term for the highest form of violation that we cite is serious violation , and this was a serious violation,”Carleson said. “It means that there is a probability that death or serious harm can occur.”

Whitfield said Cal State Fullerton officials “encapsulated” the asbestos-covered overhead beams in the recital hall about 2 1/2 years ago. That move involved sealing the asbestos so it could not become airborne and pose a danger, he said.

“We don’t know if this dust came before or after the asbestos was encapsulated,” Whitfield said. He added that the only people who had come in contact with the asbestos dust were university employees who used the beams and catwalks.

Whitfield said the university was negotiating this week with a firm that will clean up the dust and make the recital hall environmentally safe again. He said he had no firm idea on the cost involved but added that he was fairly certain the Oct. 21 deadline could be met.