ASBESTOS POLICIES TIGHTENED ROMER FORMS TASK FORCE TO OVERSEE WORK.

Byline: Erik Nelson Staff Writer

Citing improper conduct by contractors, Superintendent Roy Romer announced sweeping reforms Tuesday to tighten supervision of school construction projects where asbestos is disturbed, posing a threat to students and staff.

Key elements of Romer's plan include a four-member Los Angeles Unified School District task force that would change the way school asbestos problems are handled, and even prevent future release of the cancer-causing fibers.

``I just want to make sure that we're managing this in the best way possible,'' Romer said.

Under Romer's plan, a special consultant, working with district asbestos officials, would oversee construction work to ensure that safety rules are followed. Contractors who violate asbestos procedures would be denied payment.

The move comes after a six-month effort to correct what officials call a ``systematic failure'' of district procedures to prevent the release of asbestos. The investigation was launched after students and staffers at Chatsworth High School may have been exposed to asbestos, uncovered during wiring work in March.

Although district officials said it's impossible to determine the level of asbestos exposure to students and staffers at Chatsworth and other schools where work has been done, it's clear that rules to prevent exposure were not followed and policies to enforce those rules were inadequate.

``You can't go back in time and reconstruct the dose history,'' said Angelo Bellomo, interim director of Environmental Health and Safety. ``The cold fact was that there was a breakdown in the very procedures that Congress has said are necessary (to prevent exposure).''

Chatsworth Principal Dan Wyatt said contractors installing new wiring for Internet access and alarm systems worked after hours in the same classrooms students occupied during the day.

Bellomo said that such construction activity normally creates dust, and when that dust contains asbestos - as the material drilled at Chatsworth did - some of it might still be on the floor after the job is completed.

In 14 school construction projects cited in a private consultant's March study, including the Chatsworth incident, ``releases of asbestos-containing material were confirmed,'' Bellomo said, although some were low-level and not considered dangerous.

``In several of these incidents, the investigative record indicates that a release of asbestos-containing material had occurred, and before the release was discovered and cleaned up, the classrooms remained accessible to staff and students,'' Bellomo said.

The district is still investigating whether any contractors are at fault in the 14 incidents.

Members of the Asbestos Review Task Force include Bellomo, Robert Buxbaum, interim general manager of facilities, and risk management consultant Steven Miller, with a fourth member to be named later.