4.113 Administration & Finance
Environmental Safety-ASBESTOS CONTAINING MATERIALS
Date Adopted/Most Recent Revision: 08/04/2006

  1. Introduction

    1. The following procedures are provided to guide faculty and staff personnel in the safe and effective management of asbestos and asbestos containing materials.
    2. Midwestern State University provides for the training of certain university personnel, the establishment of an inspection and abatement program, and maintenance procedures relating to asbestos in university buildings and facilities. The university's objective is to inform all personnel who may work in an area with asbestos or materials which contain asbestos be informed of the history of asbestos, its past and present use, health affects, and remedial action necessary to meet current regulations and maintain a safe work environment.
  2. Purposes
    The purposes of this policy are to provide a plan for:

    1. Identification and immediate management of any asbestos-containing material that is in a friable state by accredited, competent, trained personnel;
    2. Strict enforcement of regulations and guidelines issued by the United States Department of Labor - Occupational Safety And Health Administration (OSHA), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Texas State Health Department Toxic Substance Control Division (TDH) to ascertain as well as possible that no one is exposed to an asbestos hazard; and,
    3. Continuances of an on-going program to maintain asbestos-containing material in a safe condition and remove and/or encapsulate this material as funds are available.
  3. Definitions
    For the purposes of this policy the following definitions will apply:

    1. Asbestos
      The asbestiform varieties of chrysotile (serpentine), amosite (cummingtonite grunerite), crocidolite (riebeckite), tremolite, anthophyllite, and actinolite and all materials containing one (1) percent or more of any of those substances.

    2. Asbestos Abatement
      The removal, the encapsulation or the enclosure of asbestos for the purpose of, that has the effect of, reducing or eliminating airborne concentrations of asbestos fibers or amounts of asbestos-containing material.

    3. Asbestos Abatement Activity
      Asbestos abatement, any on-site preparations or clean up related to the abatement.

    4. Asbestos-Containing Material (ACM)
      Materials or products that contain more than 1.0% of any kind or combination of asbestos, as determined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended methods as listed in EPA/600/R-93/116, July 1993 A Method for the Determination of Asbestos in Bulk Building Materials. This means any one material component of a structure or any layer of a material sample. Composite sample analysis is not allowed.

    5. Asbestos-Containing Waste Material
      Includes any waste that contains commercial or non-commercial asbestos that is generated. This term includes filters from control devices, friable asbestos waste material, and bags or other similar packaging contaminated with asbestos. As applied to maintenance, demolition and renovation operations, this term also includes regulated asbestos-containing materials, and materials contaminated with asbestos including disposable equipment and clothing.

    6. Asbestos Exposure
      Airborne asbestos fiber concentrations resulting from disturbance or deterioration of asbestos or ACM.

    7. Asbestos Removal
      Any action that dislodges, strips, or otherwise takes away ACM.

    8. Disturbance Activity
      Any activity which disturbs, dislodges, cuts, abrades, impinges or scrapes asbestos containing materials that might cause the release of asbestos fibers into the air.

    9. Fiber Release Episode
      Any activity that has disturbed an ACM to produce visible debris that indicate disturbance activity.

    10. Friable Material
      Materials that when dry can be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand pressure, and includes previously nonfriable material after such previously nonfriable material becomes damaged to the extent that, when dry, it may be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand pressure.

    11. HEPA
      A high-efficiency particulate air filter, capable of trapping and retaining 99.97% of mono-dispersed airborne particles 0.3 micron or larger in diameter.

    12. HVAC
      Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.

  4. Asbestos Program Manager

    The Environmental Safety Coordinator is the designated Asbestos Program Manager (APM) at MSU. The duties and responsibilities of the Asbestos Program Manager include the following:

    1. The APM must be licensed by the Texas Department of Health Toxic Substance Control Division (TDH) as an Individual Asbestos Consultant (IAC) and must satisfactorily complete the appropriate examination administered by the TDH. The APM will stay abreast of all pertinent regulations regarding asbestos. The APM must attend appropriate continuing education courses as required for the maintenance of his/her license with TDH.
    2. The APM will establish a training program to be completed by all university employees who might reasonably be expected to be exposed to asbestos material during the performance of their university employment.
    3. The APM will establish guidelines for supervisors who will provide periodic reminders to employees (following completion of the initial training program) of the employees' duty to inform their supervisor when any material containing asbestos becomes friable or may become friable due to daily wear-and-tear, roof leaks or maintenance.
    4. The APM will inspect or oversee the inspection of all university facilities for the presence of asbestos containing materials. This inspection shall include sampling, identification, assessment, and documentation of all detected asbestos containing materials.
    5. The APM will inspect all university buildings and facilities twice each year to determine the condition of any asbestos-containing materials. If need exists, bulk samples or air samples will be taken.

      1. Each inspection conducted will be documented on the standard form and filed in its respective building folder.
      2. Upon completion of these periodic inspections an updated composite letter recommending any remedial action or relevant information will be forwarded to the Vice President for Administration and Finance, Director of the Physical Plant and any other applicable administrator or director for their information and future planning.
    6. The APM will maintain two current files, located remotely from each other, on all university buildings and facilities containing any form of asbestos at 1% or above. It will be the responsibility of each maintenance crafts employee to notify his/her supervisor any time a question arises relating to work which may involve contact with suspected asbestos materials, and when the work requirements listed below are anticipated:

      1. Wall, ceiling, floor, or partition is to be penetrated, scored, drilled, refinished, or otherwise altered.
      2. Pipe insulation is removed, damaged, or altered
      3. Boilers, chillers, hot water tanks, heat exchangers, valves, and piping are repaired, changed, or altered in a way that may affect the insulation.
      4. Painting or paint removal is done to a surface that could possibly contain asbesto.

        The supervisor will notify the Asbestos Program Manager so that records may be researched and an approval to continue work may be secured.
    7. Contractors working on university property must comply with the same guidelines listed above. In addition, contractors must secure approval from the APM prior to beginning work and must consult the APM when any question or potential problem arises.
    8. All staff and faculty are responsible for reporting any damage to building components to the Physical Plant immediately upon discovery. If the damage is of an ACM, the APM will be notified immediately.
    9. Faculty and staff are responsible for the monitoring for wear, damage and proper use of kilns, laboratory equipment and burner pads, lab gloves, stage lighting, high heat lighting units, fire rated filing cabinets, fire rated doors, vault doors, acid resistant filters, mineral samples and miscellaneous materials and equipment that may contain asbestos. All mineral samples of asbestos for display, shall be displayed in airtight sealed containers. All friable materials must be containerized in sealed airtight containers or disposed of as asbestos waste by the APM. Any item or equipment that indicates wear or damage must be reported to the APM. The APM will assess the material and secure the appropriate personnel to perform repair or disposal of the damaged ACM.
    10. All disturbance or cleaning of asbestos waste is prohibited except by those persons designated by the APM. Any person that intentionally disturbs asbestos in a public building without proper training, license and authorization is subject to federal and state fines in amounts up to $10,000.00 per offense per day.
    11. Abatement activities will be conducted as required by current regulations and the Midwestern State University Asbestos Operations and Maintenance Plan (MSU O&M Plan).
    12. In the event of a Fiber Release Episode, the area is to be vacated immediately, the APM and Emergency Operations Coordinator notified, and the area sealed. Central Plant is to be notified so as the associated HVAC unit for the area may be disengaged. The Fiber Release Episode will be dealt with in a manner that is in accordance with the MSU O&M Plan.
    13. Annually, the APM will send a letter to all faculty and staff notifying them of their responsibilities under this policy and updating them on the availability of the Operations and Maintenance Plan and subsequent management plans for campus buildings.