§3606 Standards and safety procedures

Summary

Within 120 days after the Task Force meets the first time, the Secretary must write and give the state agency rules for testing asbestos in schools. The rules must cover how to test for asbestos fibers, safety steps for doing the tests, how to judge test results to see if fibers might leak into school areas, and what makes a contractor qualified to do the testing and evaluation. The Secretary must also set rules for who can get loans under the program, based on how big a health hazard the asbestos poses using those testing standards. After reviewing the Task Force’s recommendations and with its agreement, the Secretary must make regulations that tell local school districts how to contain and remove asbestos, what to use to replace removed materials, and how to restore buildings afterward. The Secretary must also set contractor qualifications for that work. While doing all this, the Secretary must avoid, as much as possible, duplicating work already done by the Environmental Protection Agency.