SOS Amianto requests immediate stop of works in school of Cascais

A sOS association Asbestos reiterated today that asbestos works must be stopped immediately at Cascais High School, because there is no evidence of safety assurance.

On Thursday, the Civil Protection of Cascais ensured that the removal of asbestos from the former secondary school of the county, which is happening, does not pose a danger to the students, teachers and employees of the new school, inaugurated almost a month ago.

The beginning of the work, last Monday, for the removal of asbestos in the old building of the Cascais Secondary School while taking place school activities in the new school, in a contiguous space, is worrying the educational community, which asked for the suspension of the work until all the safety conditions were met, a request that SOS Amianto, Portuguese Association of Protection against the Amianto, had also made.

Today, following the guarantees of Cascais Civil Protection, in a new communiqué, SOS Amianto reiterates the need to adopt urgent demands, “notably the immediate suspension or urgent rescheduling of ongoing work for a period of school interruption, safeguarding the public health of communities, including the education of the Cascais Secondary School”.

“ The health of children, young people and workers cannot, under any circumstances, be sacrificed in the name of administrative schedules ", warns the association.

On the Opinion of Civil Protection to SOS Asbestos says that reality on the ground puts workers and community at risk of exposure to asbestos, “there is no evidence of the guarantee of safety guaranteed by this entity” (Civil Protection).

SOS Asbestos ensures that the removal of the material poses a risk to the surrounding communities, including the school next door, and recalls that the existence of asbestos means the existence of a danger.

As for the assurance that all the safety rules are being complied with, the association responds that this guarantee “contrasts face to face with the reality verified on the ground and with current loyal compliance”.

For the association, “serious violations of the approved work plan and legislation have been detected”.

“Workers operating without harness, without line of life and without helmet, absence of Personal Protection Equipment (IPE) suitable for handling asbestos (facts and masks), workers with common clothing and caps on the head are visible”, he enumerates.

For SOS Asbestos, were also detected “inadequate practices such as breaking the asbestos fiber cement plates without ensuring the use of HEPA vacuum cleaners and without evidence of the application of binder in all the material to be removed, the decontamination unit shows no signs of having the three cabins required by law and is visibly inactive”, he adds.

The association recalls that asbestos is a category 1A carcinogenic whose suspended invisible fibres do not comply with provisional seals in the face of deficient procedures. And he cites the World Health Organization to say that there is no exposure value to asbestos below which it can be considered that there is no risk to health.

The argument that joint monitoring ensures the safety of the school community to SOS Asbestos replies that the proximity of fully functioning schools would require scrupulous compliance with the work plan, which is not happening.

Moreover, it adds that good practice in the European Union and international guidelines require school breaks for such interventions, so “keeping this work under these conditions is an unacceptable risk”.

The fear of the safety of the works caused alarm in the school community and today, according to several education officers, few students went to school.