A worker Tuesday prepares the fourth floor of the Nigh University Center for the asbestos removal project during the Thanksgiving break. Photo by Kory Oswald.

By Ryan Costello, The Vista Staff Writer

UCO made the campus just a bit safer over Thanksgiving break, removing asbestosis buildups that were found on the roof of the Nigh University Center.

Workers from the UCO Environmental Health and Safety Department, Marshall Environmental, and Environmental Action Incorporated, an environmental group in Oklahoma City, performed the asbestos detection and abatement work, which was finished this Wednesday.

“We had to squeeze [the work] in over the break,” said UCO’s environmental health and safety supervisor, Brent Miller, who noted that the work couldn’t be green lit until the Nigh Center was completely vacated.

The asbestos was discovered when UCO maintenance was working to repair a leak in the ceiling the NUC’s fourth floor, which was caused by faulty water drains on the building’s roof.

“When we looked at the drains, they looked suspect, so we tested them,” Miller said.

Just as Miller feared, 14 of the drains in question contained anywhere from two to 15 percent of a mix between chrysotile and amocite, which are two of six minerals that are categorized as asbestos minerals. “Anything over one percent asbestos is considered as an asbestos material,” Miller said.

The process of removing the asbestos starts by wetting the surface, to prevent any fibers from going airborne. Workers then use what is called a ‘glove bag’, which contains the working surface, isolating their hands from the asbestosis and preventing direct exposure.

Also, the immediate environment remains under air monitoring by during the removal work, detecting any breach of the asbestos’ containment.

According to the National Cancer Institute, asbestos can cause scarring and inflammation when inhaled as a dust, and over time can cause asbestosis, an inflammatory lung disease that can cause shortness of breath, coughing, and permanent lung damage.

Also classified as a human carcinogen (a substance that causes cancer) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, asbestos can cause several types of cancer, most commonly mesothelioma, which infects the thin membranes that line the chest and abdomen.

Used as early as the 1800s in the United States, asbestos became a popular mix for builders and architects, who utilized the mineral’s strength, flexibility, and heat resistance.

Although it has never been officially banned, the EPA restricted any new applications for asbestos in 1989.

Miller said that the asbestos in the NUC’s roof was not a risk to UCO students and faculty at the time, but upcoming work to be done on the building’s roof could have shaken the asbestos dust out, exposing it to people below.

The university campus is under constant surveillance for asbestos threats by the Environmental Health and Safety department according to Miller. “We have an asbestos management plan in place for all areas of campus,” Miller said.