FAYETTEVILLE -- Neighbors and passersby have nothing to worry about when work starts Monday to get the asbestos out of the old City Hospital building, project officials say.
The library is set to undergo an 80,000-square-foot, $49 million expansion. Voters approved a millage increase last year to pay for construction and operations.
Asbestos
Asbestos is the No. 1 cause of occupational cancer in the United States. Tiny fibers accumulate in lung tissue and in the membrane lining the lungs. Prolonged exposure or intense concentrations can cause diseases such as mesothelioma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The substance once served as a common ingredient in American construction material because of its flexibility and resistance to heat, electricity and corrosion. It was a common type of insulation until the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986.
Source: asbestos.com
No matter what the addition looks like, it will extend south where an old church and the former City Hospital site. Those buildings will have to go.
The City Council OK'd a $257,000 contract with Nabholz Environmental Services to do the asbestos abatement work. Safety and Environmental Investigations out of Little Rock was hired in late July to prepare specifications and oversee the work.
"Any of the surrounding properties or any of the people who may walk by -- they're going to be protected," said Robert Roberson with Safety and Environmental Investigations. "That's our goal, to protect the public and the environment."
Employees from the library and construction contractors discussed the plans Friday.
Work is scheduled to last until Jan. 19. Crews will work weekdays except Friday, Christmas Day and New Years Day. The demolition plan will come afterward.
Asbestos will be pulled out of the ceiling and scraped from the floor tile. The material will go into bags capable of hauling it and placed into a lined trash bin.
The only thing noticeable to the public should be the apparatus pumping the air from inside the building. The exhaust will go through multiple filters before being released, said David Stephens with Nabholz, who has 25 years of experience with the work.
"It's probably cleaner air than what you're breathing right now," he said. "The last thing we do is try to get anybody contaminated."
Maintenance staff has had issues with people damaging the old building, tagging it with graffiti or trying to break in. The building has been boarded up and secured, including cutting overhanging tree branches to dissuade climbers, said Sam Palmer, facilities director for the library.
Building a fence would have been counter-productive, Palmer said. People will get in regardless, and a fence would provide a false sense of security to trespassers, he said. The city has immunity if anything happens but in the meantime staff has tried to mitigate the danger.
A security monitor walks the grounds hourly during the day. Police take over at night, Palmer said.
"They do their paperwork in the City Hospital parking lot," he said. "There's oftentimes a cop car just parked right there."
The old church building has had its water and electricity turned off, but crews plan to turn the utilities back on and use the building as an on-site office. A little bit of asbestos lies within some of the piping, which the Nabholz crews will take care of.
It's extremely important people don't break into the building while crews work over the coming weeks, Palmer said.
"You'll breathe in death," he said. "It's going to be in the air. It doesn't settle quick. It's going to be suspended for a while. Don't go in the city hospital during the asbestos remediation process."
NW News on 12/09/2017