Construction Shakes Loose Asbestos--and Librarians : Health: A Theo Lacy jail expansion rattles buildings both on and near the site. Asbestos is jarred out of ceilings, forcing two evacuations.

Orange County library administrators have been forced to flee their aging headquarters, and sheriff’s deputies have had to shuffle more than 200 inmates at Theo Lacy branch jail, both as a result of construction that threatens to jar loose asbestos at those facilities.

“It was a personal safety decision to leave,” Assistant County Librarian Carmen Martinez said Thursday. “The pile driving at the jail started shaking the building, and there was a real danger of asbestos snowing down on us.”

Jail construction has rattled buildings both on and near the site. Inmates had to be removed from two 120-man barracks at Theo Lacy for four days, county officials said.

No inmates or library personnel are believed to have been exposed to asbestos, a known carcinogen that was often used as a fire retardant in older buildings. The Theo Lacy evacuations took place early this month; the inmates have been returned.

Jail officials notified a federally appointed monitor about the asbestos problem and the need to move inmates, said Capt. Bob Kemmis, who oversees the jail.

The monitor agreed that the situation warrants more double-bunking in other barracks, which is how the jail handled the overflow, Kemmis said.

“We felt we should certainly err on the side of safety,” he said. “Inmate safety was our paramount concern, and we thoroughly tested the barracks before we let anybody back. . . . It just wasn’t a big deal.”

While the barracks were empty, asbestos removal crews entered, sealed the areas in plastic and scraped off the material. It was gathered into plastic bags, tested and discarded, officials said. The barracks were then certified as safe.

Library and General Service Agency officials said the evacuation at the library headquarters, though hasty, also was without incident.

Library administrators first noticed the shaking in mid-November, as pile drivers working on the jail expansion began rumbling the headquarters. The building has an old concrete roof, with asbestos lining parts of it, Martinez said.

As the pile drivers worked toward the library, the shaking became more pronounced, and some workers expressed concern.

“The books started shaking,” Martinez said. “We didn’t expect it.”

Martinez said her staff of about 60 full-time employees abandoned their headquarters late last month. Workers have taken up residence in other libraries around the county.

Services to the public have not been affected, Martinez said.

The move went “without a hitch,” she added. Well, almost. Library administrators tried to leave answering machines on their lines to redirect phone calls, but the shaking got so bad that the machines came loose, so phones have just rung and rung. The lines are being switched over to a new prefix, but Thursday those numbers too went unanswered.

“That’s been the one frustration,” Martinez conceded, “not being able to answer calls.”

While shaking at the library headquarters is expected to continue as long as the pile driving is going on, the effects at the jail have been less noticeable, which GSA Director Bert Scott attributed to different geologic conditions under the two facilities. The library is built over relatively light soil, making it more vulnerable to shaking.

As a result, library workers could be affected for some time. Scott said he does not expect to be able to let them back in their building for about six months.

“I’m very pleased with the way everybody’s cooperated on this,” Scott said.