Construction at Grossman Commons. (CJ Brooke)
By CJ Brooke and Aspen Langley
Some students have raised concerns about health and safety in Building 7 and other campus areas where renovations are underway.
The college is replacing doors in Grossman Commons and Wilkins Hall, work that requires abatement of door sealant containing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Signage warning of asbestos work has added to student concern.
Joe Mackinnon, facilities manager at Cape Cod Community College, said the college is using a third-party company to conduct abatement, a process that removes hazardous materials. He said the college is “following the law and special permitting” and using “trained and licensed abatement contractors, and a 3rd party environmental consulting firm” to ensure safe and legal disposal.
Mackinnon said the asbestos involved is “non-friable,” meaning it is bonded and “not easily broken up into dust particles and is less dangerous to be around.” He added that the asbestos “being dealt with…for this exterior door project is non-friable.”
He said contractors and environmental monitors are taking precautions by “monitor[ing] the air with an air pump” and “constantly testing the air to be certain no dust particles leave the work area.”
