The removal of asbestos from the former Cascais secondary school has resumed, but continues to face criticism. Cascais City Council says it complies with all safety rules when removing this material that can cause cancer, however, an association insists that the work plan is still not being followed.
Footage captured by SIC less than a week ago shows workers continuing to remove asbestos at the former Cascais secondary school. A process that was reportedly suspended on Friday afternoon, and resumed a few hours later.
“From what I learned, it resumed on Saturday. I had hoped the council would have understood”, says Carmen Lima from SOS Amianto.
The community was put on alert by the work being carried out, particularly as it is moving forwards next to the new Cascais Secondary School, full of children, and during term-time.
Parents have been protesting, and keeping their children away, for the time being.
SOS researcher, Carmen Lima, has no doubts about how the process is being conducted.
“It is necessary to apply a product to the roof that they did not have enough of. I don’t believe the company found the product between Friday and Saturday,” she tells SIC.
The removal plan began last week and was supposed to end in December.
Cascais City Council has since said that 80% of the asbestos has been removed and that the remaining 20% will be removed by the end of tomorrow – with reinforced safety measures as indicated by the Authority for Working Conditions.
Parents are not buying it. SIC has had access to one e-mail (sent by a parent to the school principal), saying he would be keeping his child away from school “until adequate measurements have been carried out on the school premises and an assessment of the ventilation/air conditioning systems.”
As SOS Amianto stresses, the very fact that work has been scheduled “with hundreds of students and staff present at the school every day (…) flagrantly violates the recommendations of health authorities and the good practices defined by the European Union, which stipulate that interventions of this nature should take place during school breaks to minimise the risk of exposure to asbestos fibres, which are invisible, but dangerous to health”.
The association has repeatedly called for the immediate suspension and urgent rescheduling of the ongoing work to a period when school is not in session, but its entreaties have fallen on deaf ears.
SOS Amianto has also criticised the lack of involvement of the school management in the prior preparation, planning and logistical coordination of the work – and calls for “the entities promoting the work (Cascais City Council and other parties involved) to be held accountable for the complete lack of transparency, timely planning and respect for public health guidelines”.
Lusa news agency says it too is awaiting a response to the requests for clarification on this matter sent to Cascais City Council – a municipality already in the spotlight for allegedly ignoring public prosecutors over the construction of a Hilton Hotel on land that is classified as National Ecological Reserve…
Source: SIC Notícias/ LUSA
Natasha Donn
Journalist for the Portugal Resident.