ANAHEIM : Workers Exposed to Asbestos at School

Two maintenance men replacing floor tile in a trailer housing a child-care center at Riverside Elementary School were exposed to asbestos for several hours as the result of misinformation given by a supervisor, school district officials said Friday.

Orange Unified School District officials said it is unlikely that any children were exposed to the potentially toxic substance Thursday, since activities normally conducted in the trailer were moved to another site while the work was underway.

“There were people who showed up at the door unaware that the classroom had been moved,” said Larry Goshorn, construction projects manager for the district. “(The workers) directed the kids to their proper classroom.”

The mishap occurred when a supervisor misread an asbestos report and told the two maintenance men that the tile in the trailer did not contain asbestos, Goshorn said. The mistake was not discovered until several hours later, when another district employee reread the report and noticed the error.

District officials doubt that anyone suffered harm from the accidental exposure. They believe it is unlikely that the asbestos, which was contained in the tile in solid form, could have broken down into the fibers that can cause permanent lung damage.

“It’s no big deal,” said Howard Mason, the district’s administrator of maintenance operations and transportation.

However, one worker said that several of the tiles broke apart upon removal. Chances of exposure to the damaging fibers increase when the tiles are not intact, said Steve Wong, county assistant director of environmental health.

“It was real hard to get the tile up,” said Jon Betow, one of the workers. “We had to sweep the leftover dust particles and tile with a broom.”

District officials said the area will be tested for asbestos levels. If the results reveal that anyone could have been exposed to asbestos fibers, the district will determine if the parents of the 33 children who participate in the child care program must be notified about the incident, said Gretchen Hansen, the district’s assistant superintendent.

“We would be just dealing with those in child care,” Hansen said. “But since there were no kids in the room at the time, we will have to look at it when and if it comes up.”

The district is also ordering the two maintenance workers to undergo a physical examination.

“It’s just an evaluation of their current health status that could be used in the future to determine if anything happens,” Goshorn said. “With asbestos, you would not see any results for 15 years.”