According to figures released by the Flemish waste management agency OVAM, just over half of schools in Flanders require the urgent removal of asbestos. This was the case in 53% of the schools that OVAM has checked.
Half of Flemish schools that were checked require the urgent removal of asbestos
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Compared with other buildings schools have far greater issues when it comes to the risk of asbestos contamination. Currently, just under 20% of the school buildings checked is asbestos-safe. This compares to 60% of the other types of building that OVAM checked.
Not only is asbestos present in the vast majority of school buildings, but in more than half of them it needs to be removed ASAP in order to protect pupils and staff. In 53% of the schools checked the asbestos contamination fell into OVAM's “remove most urgently” category.
This means that around 1,350 school buildings urgently require action to remove asbestos.
Problem even worse?
However, OVAM only checked 2,500 school sites. At a further 3,300 school sites it is not known whether there is asbestos contamination or not.
Schools are given funding by the Flemish authorities to make their buildings asbestos-safe.In recent years around 700 school enlisted the held of OVAM to remove asbestos. Removing the asbestos is a long-drawn-out process. Not all the schools that received funding to remove asbestos were declared “safe” when OVAM carried its inspection.