Asbestos At School

Asbestos at school

The asbestos has arrived to schools. The ex students-athletes, coachers and outdoor maintenance workers of the Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills, are being recommended to be checked for early signs of asbestos-related diseases.

This health check was suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for those who used or worked on the athletic fields, running track, dirt paths and baseball diamonds of that school, before 2004 -2005 school year.

On 2005, the school grounds were cemented and landscaped. In addition, the asbestos-laden soil was replaced from baseball diamonds. The federal Environmental Protection Agency completed this asbestos-containment work on the campus.

The school, which has about 1.800 students, was opened in 1984. Since that year on, all those who may have had some moderately long-standing contact with amphibole asbestos fibers before the improvement, are recommended to have that medical screening. The tremolite dust is the kind of asbestos widespread in El Dorado Hills and contains amphibole asbestos fibers. These fibers can cover the lungs, raising the danger of pleura disease and mesothelioma cancer.

Asbestos-related diseases typically do not turn out to be manifest until at least ten years or more after contact. Some of the symptoms can be coughing, shortness of breath and chest pain and doctors must pay attention to this if they are persistent.

After all the lessening efforts that have been put in the school, the district believes there is much less asbestos-exposure threat now on the foothills site.