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More than air testing is required before UG can reopen – Benjamin
Asbestos being dumped at the Mandela dumpsite
A date has still not been identified for the reopening of the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus following the removal of asbestos that was deemed unhealthy.
This is according to President of the UG’s Student Society, Jason Benjamin.
He also noted that the Education Ministry is yet to respond to the UG administration on its request for the painting and waxing of the floors in the affected buildings.
According to Benjamin, these are best practices that should be employed to reduce the potency of any residue of asbestos, “not just air testing.”
He noted that there is money remaining to carry out these functions, given that only $170M was utilized for the actual removal and the remaining $30M could be used to complete the process.
When contacted last evening, Minister of Education Shaik Baksh noted that the asbestos removal process was still underway and as such a date could not be determined as yet.
Among the buildings in the campus that contained asbestos are the Physics, Chemistry and Health Sciences Department, the Library, Staff Club, the Administrative and Technology Laboratories, the original Technology Classrooms, Technology Mechanical Workshop, the original Faculty of Arts, the Social Sciences, the George Walcott Lecture Theatre, the Small Lecture Theatre, the Cafeteria, and the original Faculty of Education Buildings.
The asbestos removal process was prompted by concerns expressed by the university community about the possible health implications of the substance.
As a result, the university’s administration convened a broad-based asbestos committee to address the issue. One of the main tasks of the committee was to determine exactly the extent of the presence of asbestos on campus.
A technical team headed by Melvyn Sankies decided that the presence of asbestos would have to be determined by a detailed survey of the suspected buildings.
Sufficient samples of the suspected materials were collected to be scientifically analysed to ascertain the amount and type of asbestos present.
The samples were reportedly sent to the Canadian laboratory, Resource Environmental Associates Ltd, for detailed analysis.
The results confirmed that the ceilings of the suspected buildings did contain fairly high concentrations of asbestos, but not unusually high for the type of material, consisting of chrysotile and amosite types of asbestos.
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