PCB Testing, Removal & Remediation Blog

by Craig Sasse, Senior Engineer

By Jason Atwood, Field Service Manager

In recent months, public scrutiny surrounding the presence of PCB's in materials commonly used in public school building construction prior to 1978 has been mounting. Media coverage and an onslaught of resulting attention have forced this issue to the forefront of public health and safety concerns pertaining to our environment. Typically - this focus has been aimed at the presence of the contaminated caulking itself: in window glazing/caulking, interior and exterior joint compounds, in Univent construction, paints, etc.

By Kristina Florentino, Environmental Compliance Specialist

An emerging environmental health issue is information published by the Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) that caulk containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) was used in many nonresidential buildings, including schools, throughout the 1950s through the 1970s. PCBs are man-made toxic chemicals that persist in the environment and bioaccumulate in animals and humans. Exposure to PCBs can affect the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine system and is potentially cancer-causing. Caulk is used in construction to seal gaps to make windows, door frames, masonry and joints in buildings watertight or airtight. Before the prohibition of PCBs in all U.S.-manufactured products in 1977, caulk was prepared with PCBs due to the flexibility and other valuable properties of the compound such as persistence and low reactivity. Buildings that were constructed or renovated during this period could contain caulking with elevated levels of these hazardous compounds.

By Sean Reagan, Corporate Director of Higher Education

Long awaited guidance from EPA Headquarters on the issue of PCB-laden building caulking material provides us with a great deal to digest. Although the EPA states that the presence of PCBs should not be cause for alarm -effectively managing this complex issue is cause for alarm for many school administrators and facility managers. Here's a first pass on the highlights of this guidance:

By Kevin Poulin, Account Manager

A potentially significant environmental health and safety concern was brought to the public’s attention this past week in the Boston Sunday Globe. The article written by Beth Daley confirms what many environmental officials have suspected for years, that high levels of PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) are present in many older New England schools. The high levels of PCBs used in the caulking applied to various parts of these buildings are now in a deteriorating condition. Tests have shown PCBs are finding their way into the soils around these buildings in concentrations above the regulatory limit through the weathering process and actual physical pieces falling off of these structures. Some tests are now being conducted to verify if this material is potentially becoming an airborne hazard inside these structures.

By Sean Reagan, National Director, Education

This is not the first, nor will it be the last instance, where a hazardous substance is discovered ubiquitously in building materials of schools, colleges and universities.

By Jason Atwood, Field Services Manager

What are PCBs?