Asbestos in schools: Sud éduc’ opens work in Hérault

L'utilisation de l'amiante est interdite depuis 1997. Midi Libre – MICHEL PIEYRE

Le syndicat a lancé une vaste consultation des collectivités en vue d’établir un état des lieux très précis. Peu de réponses lui sont encore parvenues mais elles confirment la présence de ce matériau, interdit depuis 1997, dans certains établissements.

Obtain a precise inventory of the presence of asbestos in educational establishments and their annexes: this is a large-scale investigation into which the Sud’s union has embarked. Educ. Work carried out on a national and departmental scale which led its activists to ask all building owners for communication of the obligatory administrative document attesting to the presence or absence of this material which has been banned since 1997. "Sud Educ launched this campaign to denounce the inaction of the employer, the Ministry of National Education. We have the obligation to identify asbestos in the premises,” specifies Priscille Manzanarès, elected by the union to the social administration committee of the academy and the kingpin of this work.

70 responses, 23 establishments concerned

According to a first census, 678 premises are likely to harbor asbestos in the department. Sud Educ therefore contacted all town halls which have at least three schools, the Department and the Region in order to have knowledge of the "asbestos technical document", the DAT, relating to each building.< /p>

70 responses were sent to it, in particular from the municipalities of Lattes, Clermont-l’Hérault, Mèze, Saint-Gély and Saint-Jean-de-Védas and Montpellier for some of its schools. "It appears that 23 DATs report the presence of asbestos in the premises" indicates Elsa Charlot, a school teacher. Sud Educ intends to quickly relaunch communities in order to reach a larger sample but, according to Priscille Manzanarès, the initiative has the merit of putting this health problem back at the heart of the agendas. "The campaign seems to be moving things forward since the ministry has launched its investigation. At the academy level, an information point will be made on February 6. The administration would have announcements to make to us.

In June 2023, a survey of 19,331 primary and nursery schools revealed that a third of buildings contained asbestos fibers.

“Inform colleagues of the risks”

"We want to inform colleagues so that they know what they can demand in terms of protection" preé cite the two members of Sud’Educ à the origin of this work in H&rault. They are based in particular on a 2015 circular on the exhibition ’ asbestos in the public service which requires a census of its presence in buildings housing agents. Asbestos, present, must be reported. to people and removed if it shows signs of deterioration. Costly but essential work in the face of the dangerousness of the material. "A single fiber is enough to trigger serious illnesses, respiratory cancers, meosoth&liomas".

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