More than a dozen workers exposed to asbestos in Edmonton public schools last year

Hundreds of pages of documents detailing potential asbestos exposures at Edmonton’s largest school division reveal human error led to more than a dozen worker exposures last year.

CTV News Edmonton obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information (FOIP) request after hearing complaints from former and current workers around hazardous materials safety at the division.

One of the complaints was about a former worker – 50-year-old Jason McCallum – who has since been charged with forging asbestos test reports.

The obtained documents reveal several other exposure cases that occurred after McCallum left the division in 2022.

Up to 15 workers ‘potentially exposed’ during flood cleanup at Greenfield School

In the spring of last year, an internal report states 15 workers were “potentially exposed” during flood cleanup at Greenfield Elementary School.

A leak from a classroom sink flooded two other classrooms on April 24, 2023.

More than a week later, an investigation found damaged asbestos-containing drywall was demolished but exactly when and by whom couldn’t be pinpointed.

Then in June carpenters were directed to install new drywall.

They trimmed the existing drywall to properly fit in the new drywall and later learned they cut into asbestos-containing material.

In a follow up incident report, one carpenter said after the work was done, they discovered an asbestos report taped to a classroom door that wasn’t being used.

When asked “what will you do to prevent this from happening again?” They responded “There is absolutely nothing I can do to prevent this. I cannot force my supervisors to provide me with possible life saving information”.

A complaint was made to the Government of Alberta (GoA) Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) on June 26 the report says.

In September, Superintendent Darrel Robertson held a news conference announcing students and others at Greenfield School may have been exposed to low levels of asbestos since the plastic sheeting used to contain construction dust was insufficient.

In the investigation report, an EPSB OHS consultant concluded procedures were not followed, there was a lack of training for workers and a lack of accountability and supervision from a leadership level.

Six workers ‘potentially exposed’ during Parkallen library conversion project

Around the same time as the flood at Greenfield, workers were also identified as being “potentially exposed” to asbestos at Parkallen School.

An internal report states multiple trades staff were assigned to turn the Parkallen library into two classrooms with a seclusion room.

Pre-planning started in February and third-party hazardous materials testing confirmed the presence of both lead paint and asbestos in the walls.

In April, drywall demolition began with carpenters assigned to tasks such as hanging new cabinets and installing new drywall in June.

Those workers reported learning of the hazardous materials test results after cutting into the walls.

In a follow up incident report, a maintenance worker wrote “I worked on the site for 10 hours. While working, we swept the floor, vacuumed the floor and disturbed the dust particles that contained asbestos.”

An internal investigation found two carpenters wrote on their timesheet that they completed the drywall demolition but those workers were “not available for an interview.”

The report said there was “no evidence of a project meeting” before the work began and the results of hazmat reports were not communicated with workers.

It also said workers failed to complete field-level hazard assessments daily.

Other asbestos exposure cases in schools last year

Also in June 2023, a carpenter was found to be “potentially exposed” during a classroom conversion project at Crawford Plains Elementary School.

An internal investigation found a carpenter removed approximately 50 square feet of classroom carpet that contained asbestos.

Six days later, other carpenters arrived at the site and upon inquiring about hazardous materials testing found none had been done.

Third-party testing was ordered and it detected asbestos in the carpet glue.

The investigation states division OHS was unaware asbestos could be in carpet glue and the oversight was added to the division’s asbestos awareness training.

In January 2023, another worker was identified as being “potentially exposed” at Braemar School while cleaning up vermiculite that spilled from holes drilled into classroom walls.

Carpenters were tasked with installing new TVs and smart boards but they stopped work following the spill.

As per the Alberta Asbestos Abatement Manual vermiculite insulation is presumed to be contaminated.

An internal report states another worker attended the school to clean up the spill.

He reported wearing PPE and wet wiped visible dust in the classroom.

He also said he drilled five additional holes as marked by the carpenters using a bag taped to the walls and a vacuum to contain the vermiculite.

The investigation noted this was outside the scope of his assignment and required air monitoring and government notification.

The position of the worker is removed from the document as is allowed under FOIP legislation.

It says the province was notified in July triggering an internal investigation more than six months later.

EPSB OHS determined the worker used one of two school vacuums to contain the vermiculite so in August both vacuums were removed from service.

‘It looked like the awareness was not there’: OHS hygienist

An OHS hygienist with more than 30 years experience in asbestos abatement, asbestos surveys and project monitoring in Alberta and B.C. said it’s clear the division’s processes need improving.

“After reading those reports and the issues they had in the three or four month span it looked like the awareness was not there with their staff, with their project managers, their supervisors and their workers,” Don Fillion told CTV News Edmonton.

Fillion called asbestos in schools “a major problem” since school divisions have limited funds and opportunity to complete construction.

“We saw that a lot in the early 90s with the office towers. When the floors became empty, they did the complete abatement of the whole floor, where the schools only have two months to do all their renovations and their maintenance work, so they're limited with the amount of time and resources to get that work done.”

In an interview last month, Edmonton Public Schools chief infrastructure officer told CTV News Edmonton the division does not have the financial resources to abate all its schools.

“The average age of a school in our division is more than 50 years old and our deferred maintenance across 214 facilities is near the one billion dollar mark,” said Cliff Richard.

“So there's a lot of work that has to go into facilities and we do run into asbestos unfortunately. But the protocols and processes, they exist and the expectation is that they are followed.”

Edmonton Public Schools chief infrastructure officer Cliff Richard speaks to CTV's Nicole Weisberg on September 17, 2024.

‘Considerable work’ done to improve working conditions at the division

The division said over the past two years, all trade and project staff have had extra training and onboarding was redesigned for new and returning staff.

As well, it’s created a new position to document and record hazardous materials testing and large project work is often supported by third-party abatement contractors.

“In general, we want to be a learning organization. If there's gaps, we want to close them. If there's gaps in training, that needs to be rectified,” said Richard.

“There's been considerable work that's been done over the past couple of years.”

Since they fear legal action by the school division, CTV News Edmonton spoke to several former and current Edmonton Public Schools workers under the condition of anonymity.

They said while EPSB has been “forced to change”, problem leaders remain.

“Accountability needs to occur first. And the people at the top – that have been aware of this for a long time – I think as long as they are in their positions, meaningful change won’t happen,” one said.

Richard wouldn’t say whether anyone had been fired over these issues but said there is a human resources (HR) process to keep people accountable.

Asbestos-related illnesses in the workplace

Asbestos was commonly used in construction before 1990.

It is safe if undisturbed however during building renovations or demolition, the particles can become airborne and be inhaled.

Exposure has been proven to cause cancer including mesothelioma and other respiratory ailments such asbestosis.

These illnesses can take 30 years to develop.

A provincial summary of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths states in 2021, asbestosis and mesothelioma accounted for the most deaths – caused by illness – in the workplace.

That year, they made up 41 per cent of occupational illness fatality claims in the province compared to 51 per cent in 2019.

Fillion said Albertans continue to face “serious risks” from asbestos exposure and as such public institutions such as Edmonton Public Schools should take a more “proactive” approach to the issue.

“There are a few school divisions where they specifically hire a consultant to do annual or triennial inspections in schools to make sure that asbestos-containing materials are in good shape and don’t impact students.”

Fillion added asbestos has been found in over 3,000 different building materials so “up-to-date knowledge” of where asbestos-containing materials are located is crucial.

Edmonton Public Schools commissioned a survey of all schools and division buildings in 1999 to get baseline knowledge of where asbestos may be present.

The survey did not include destructive testing – such as removing carpet to see what’s underneath – so the division said it does additional testing before any construction work begins. 

With files from Jessica Robb