The University of Toronto (U of T) has been hit with health and safety grievances from the union representing its teaching assistants and contract faculty, following a trio of recent asbestos leaks in the main campus’ Medical Sciences Building.

The leaks resulted from renovation work in the building, part of a large, campus-wide rehabilitation project funded in part by the federal and Ontario governments, according to Scott Mabury, U of T’s vice president of university operations. Part of this project involves getting rid of all asbestos, he explained.

“The University of Toronto has a policy,” said Mabury, “that whenever we’re doing a significant renovation in any space, we remove asbestos.” The removal is not mandatory, he added, but the university’s choice.

The first leak occurred on Feb. 1, with the second on Feb. 24; these incidents affected four rooms in the research tower of the Medical Sciences Building. “I stress ‘four’ because we have 1,900 rooms in that building, to give you an idea of the scale,” said Mabury.

The third incident involved the discovery of a 50-year-old wall sealer, 0.5 per cent of which contained asbestos fibres, in another room of the research tower. “None of us had ever seen this before, and our outside consultants hadn’t seen it before,” Mabury said.

Local 3902 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has claimed in its grievances that the university risked the health of its employees by allowing them to work in the building during the leaks. The majority of the building’s workers were unaware of the first asbestos leak for about five weeks after its discovery, according to media reports.

While CUPE Local 3902 did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment, Mabury conceded that there had been insufficient communication to employees following the first leak.

“In retrospect, it would have been better if we had more broadly communicated the first incident,” he said. “But one has to balance that kind of communication with the desire not to unnecessarily raise concern and alarm.”

But the university did inform the joint health and safety committee of the leaks and take other required actions, such as frequent air-quality tests. As of April 17, U of T had conducted 491 air samples outside of the containment zones of the building since autumn, Mabury indicated.

“We’ve had outside experts come in and assess all the evidence, both our procedures and actions, as well as all the data,” he said. “We believe that the building is as safe now as it was when it was built.”

In addition, the asbestos contractor whose breaches caused the first two leaks is no longer working in the Medical Sciences Building.

“That contractor had worked on campus for many, many years, very successfully, but that led us to not have them work in the building any further,” said Mabury.

Following the CUPE grievances, the university has put additional procedures and oversight in place and made efforts to communicate with workers and other stakeholders more effectively, such as in online updates.

“We will more extensively communicate if this ever happens again,” said Mabury. “We’ve learned from the experience here and applied this learning not only in this building, but throughout the tri-campus University of Toronto experience.”

EDIT: The affected lab rooms in the building have recently reopened, according to an announcement on the U of T website.

Three employees of a sports facility in the community of Pownal, P.E.I. were treated at a local hospital and released, following an ammonia leak that occurred on the morning of April 10.

Pownal Sports Centre employee Dave McDougall was working on a valve in the building when it failed and released the gas, according to Ronnie Drake, a part-time worker at the facility.

“I was here at the time,” Drake told COHSN. “It’s a normal procedure that he does all the time: he drains up oil off the ammonia, and anyhow, in doing so, the valve that he was using, it’s under pressure. He just lets the valve go very lightly, and that valve was defaulted.”

Although McDougall was already wearing respiratory protection at the time, he had to put on a Scott air pack as well before closing the valve, added Drake.

“And Dave, he was saying, ‘I’ve never seen a valve do that before,’” he said.

The Cross Roads Fire Department in nearby Stratford reportedly attended the scene of the incident, as did the hazardous-materials team from the provincial Department of Communities, Land and Environment.

“Following an investigation, it was determined the leak was the result of a mechanical failure of the oil-drain valve,” said Amber Nicholson, a senior communications officer with the Department, in an e-mailed reply. “A comprehensive review of the maintenance procedures for servicing the ammonia refrigeration system is currently underway.”

Cross Roads did not respond to COHSN’s request for comment.

McDougall, Drake and a third employee were treated and observed for possible side effects at the hospital for three hours. Drake had inhaled some ammonia, while McDougall had sustained skin and breathing irritation.

“He was a little hoarse, and I think he had a burn on his left leg, from the ammonia,” said Drake, regarding McDougall. “He had to have Band-Aids on it. He had a couple of blisters.”

All three employees have since returned to work at the Sports Centre.

A leak like this one had never happened at the facility before, according to Drake.

“Just a freak accident type of thing,” he described it. “The refrigeration guy was here, and he mentioned to the board inspector, he said he’d never seen that happen before, valves do that.

“When they tested the valve, that’s when they found it wasn’t anything that happened. It was just a faulty valve.”

The Pownal Sports Centre includes a stadium and an indoor ice arena, according to its website. The facility opened in 2004.

Pownal is a small community in the municipality of Alexandra, about 8.5 kilometres southeast of Charlottetown.