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Someone at work got a new office. He decided he wanted a second door and tunneled through the wall to make it.
(hexbear.net)
This wall was to the supply room with all of the uniforms and PPE. The building was constructed in the mid-20th century so it turns out it's full of asbestos. Thanks mole man.
The problem is with known and unknown unknowns. It's stable until a mole man burrows through the wall or a car hits it or a fire breaks out in the old structure. You can't renovate it or service the things inside the walls. A tornado or heavy wind storm, both possible here, would cause similar damage. Wildfires have destroyed an entire town in the same area without any warning, and one happening here would leave a big pile of asbestos in the open air. To me it's like having radioactive waste or chemicals that can't be mixed in that room. Perfectly okay until suddenly it isn't.
I work maintenance for a school board with over 80 schools. Every single one has Asbestos containing materials.
Don't get me wrong, it's a massive investment to remove it all. At the same time though most if not all of the water pipes in the country were once made out of lead. If we don't remove those pipes then any town can become Flint, Michigan if the water chemistry changes. There's a public health imperative to clean it up before a freak accident happens in one of 80 schools in your district alone.
It's a slow process for sure and if someone has to nail a picture to a wall they have to call my boss with 2 days turnaround time for a test