Asbestos found in Hawley Armory

Members of the UConn Fencing Club found traces of asbestos in the basement of Hawley Armory at 1:30 p.m. on Monday.

A club member contacted the UConn Fire Department after discovering asbestos fibers in Hawley Armory's basement where the club stores old equipment.

John Kennedy, a 5th semester journalism major and vice president of the club, had been cleaning a storage shed of old equipment for several hours with three other club members. Kennedy noticed an insulated pipe running through the shed and the surrounding basement.

The pipe's insulation, damaged and poorly attached, struck him as the sort that might contain toxic asbestos fibers, based on his previous experience in construction.

Fire department officials arrived and sought to isolate equipment that could have been contaminated. This equipment, along with the fencers' clothing, was confiscated for examination.

UConn Deputy Fire Chief Mancini reported that officers from his department advised the club members to shower at the armory. The officers also suggested that the students ask their roommates to deliver clean clothing, and transport to their dorms. According to Kennedy, he was also offered the option of leaving in a HazMat suit. According to Benjamin Lee, a third-semester psychology major and the fencing club's treasurer, UConn's Department of Environmental Health and Safety contacted him the day after investigation to tell him that the insulation contained 3 percent asbestos fibers.

Terri Dominguez, Occupational Health and Safety Specialist with the department, said that no one who encountered the asbestos at Hawley Armory should be expected to have respiratory-health issues.

Asbestos appears frequently around the world and is still built into some imported construction materials, Dominguez explained. The use of asbestos in pipe insulation is specifically banned in new manufacturing, but could remain in older materials.

"I am not too concerned with exposure because it was just once and not for very long," Lee said.

Lee found it conspicuous that the pipe, which ran through the surrounding room, had been refit with insulation in all places except for the segment passing through the storage shed.

Dominguez stated that maintenance and custodial workers at the university receive training to identify and handle asbestos.

The incident of undetected asbestos poses little threat, even to the fencing club members who discovered it. Mancini said that the department found no need to take further measures in the matter.