Asbestos alert at Poppleton Ousebank Primary School, York (From York Press)

Asbestos dust found in classroom at Poppleton Ousebank Primary School, York

9:24am Wednesday 9th September 2009 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

SPECIALIST contractors have been called in to clean a York primary school after traces of asbestos dust were found in classrooms.

The potentially dangerous dust is believed to have been generated at Poppleton Ousebank Primary School while work was being carried out on the roof during the summer holidays.

City of York Council said today that a light covering of dust had recently been discovered in several rooms at the school.

A spokeswoman said that some of the ceilings in the affected areas were known to contain asbestos, so air-monitoring was carried out in these rooms to determine if there was a problem.

She said air test results were “satisfactory,” but some of the original dust samples did contain traces of asbestos, although others did not.

“Although all air-test results were satisfactory, as a precaution, a specialist contractor was employed to thoroughly clean all the affected areas and to remove all residual dust,” she said.

“Further air-testing and dust sampling was then carried out to ensure that the premises were suitable for reoccupation.”

She added that as far as she was aware, children had been able to return to the school on Monday.

The council confirmed the asbestos alert had taken place after The Press was told about the problem by a source.

The source claimed that asbestos dust leaked through ventilation holes in the ceilings in to classrooms as the roofers were banging and moving around on the roof.

The source added that “men in white suits” had been cleaning up the dust last Friday.

Last year, another York primary school, Wigginton, was closed down for a fortnight after asbestos was found during a structural inspection. Safety work was carried out to remove the substance from the building.