Students and a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s St. John's Campus claim that unsafe conditions exist in the school’s science building as a result of a flood that occurred last summer. A petition has been circulating to bring attention to the problem and to expedite a response from administrators.
Alistair Bath, a geography professor, has been displaced from his office since July because of the presence of aspergillus spores—a type of mold that developed after the flooding and that can be hazardous to individuals with weakened immune systems. Though the aspergillus spores were present throughout the building, they were most heavily concentrated in Bath’s office, where a reading of 27,120 spores was recorded. The mold was quickly cleaned up, but Bath discovered another potentially harmful substance that was even more troublesome: asbestos.
Emergency asbestos abatement was done upon notification, and the school’s director of health and safety, Sheila Miller, has expressed little concern regarding the potential for resulting illnesses. “Health-wise, it's not bad,” she said. “What you're seeing is many years of deferred maintenance, and if you were to walk around public buildings anywhere, you'd see the same kinds of issues.”
Bath isn’t totally satisfied with the school’s response. “It seems like the university's plan at the moment is a Band-Aid approach on a cancer patient,” he said. “In my own mind, our own health and safety has lost a lot of credibility. So there's a lot of trust and other, bigger issues that need to be dealt with before we believe our own university health and safety.”
Although its widespread use has been banned since the ’70s, there continues to be frequent discoveries of asbestos in buildings that pre-date the ban. Asbestos exposure can lead to a variety of respiratory problems, including mesothelioma, which is why it’s important that officials and authorities properly follow protocols and procedures regarding its safe removal and disposal.