From left are GEBE CFO Iris Arrindell, CEO Kenrick Chittick, COO Veronica Jansen-Webster, project leader for GEBE’s building demolition project Donald Webster, ICE Structural Engineer Yuri Daal; Royal Haskoning asbestos expert Alice Bremen and GEBE Senior Administrator Ahisha Nunes.
PHILIPSBURG–Utilities company GEBE on Thursday assured the public that all the necessary precautionary measures are being employed for the safe removal of asbestos from its hurricane-ravaged former main building on the Walter Nisbeth Road (Pondfill), which is currently being demolished.
The assurance was given by members of GEBE Managing Board and its partners working on the project, at a press conference on Thursday.
Asbestos is contained in the blue decorative plates that are based to the top exterior of the building and is also contained in tiles in one of the rooms inside the building. The removal of the blue decorative plates is expected to be completed by Sunday or Monday. Work to finalise the removal of the asbestos from the inside will be completed soon after.
“Those decorative plates will be removed in the coming days. It would be quite visible to the public. That’s why we took various precautions including having water installed around the building so that it can be wet down because asbestos becomes a problem if the plates break. The dust that will come out will be the issue. If you wet it, you won’t have the dust,” GEBE Chief Operations Officer (COO) Veronica Jansen-Webster said. The decorative plates will be removed intact. The intention is not to break them.
In an effort to ensure that the asbestos removal is done safely and according to international standards, the main contractor handling the demolition has brought in asbestos experts from the Netherlands to handle the removal of the potentially dangerous material.
As an additional safety measure, GEBE has secured the services of Independent Consulting Engineers (ICE) and through ICE, an asbestos expert from Royal Haskoning in the Netherlands has been contracted to oversee and supervise the asbestos removal and ensure that it is being done according to the standards set in the Netherlands.
Jansen-Webster said the former main building is a landmark building that has been around for many decades. As a result of the damages caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017, the building now has to be demolished.
Project leader for the building demolition project Donald Webster said the project is being executed in three phases: the deconstruction phase geared towards salvaging items from the building that can be res-used in the future, the demolition phase and the asbestos removal phase.
“Asbestos is a hazardous material and it has to be removed in a very precise manner and for the supervision of the removal, Royal Haskoning via ICE has been contracted through GEBE to do the supervision for that and to monitor the entire process and ensure that it is done according to international regulations,” Webster said.
ICE structural Engineer Yuri Daal said ICE has worked with Royal Haskoning in the past on other asbestos removal projects in St. Maarten. He assured that all efforts will be made to ensure that it is done professionally and in accordance with international standards.
Royal Haskoning asbestos expert Alice Bremen said GEBE made a good choice when it contracted Royal Haskoning for the job. “We follow the rules of the Netherlands and we expect to do a good job here and get rid of all the asbestos in the end, in a good way,” Bremen said.
Jansen-Webster said GEBE wanted to assure the public that they should not be afraid when they see the asbestos removal team in suits carrying out their tasks in the coming days.
Jansen-Webster said GEBE became aware that asbestos was in the building when the company conducted a study and decided that it needed a new building. She said many older buildings tend to have asbestos and since the former main building was an old building, the study was done to determine whether the building could have been demolished in a safe manner.
The asbestos material removed from the building will be stored in airtight bags and then in an airtight container. GEBE would like to ship the material off island, but said it is awaiting government’s decision on how to dispose of it.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/92145-gebe-assures-safety-top-priority-for-asbestos-removal-from-former-building
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