A SCHOOL hall was sealed off after traces of asbestos were discovered, it was revealed yesterday. Parents of children at the English Schools Foundation's (ESF) Beacon Hill primary school were told that white asbestos, which can be hazardous to health, was found despite work supposed to remove all asbestos 10 years ago. An officer from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) visited the school on Thursday and advised the principal to close the hall and to employ an authorised contractor to carry out decontamination. An EPD spokeswoman added: ''The third step will be to remove all the plaster with which the asbestos residue is mixed. This will have to be done in the summer when the children are not there.'' She said the department would continue to monitor the situation. The asbestos was undetected in several air tests. If the asbestos was covered by new plaster, students may not have been in any danger. But problems could arise if the plaster was chipped off exposing the asbestos, the EPD spokeswoman said. The substance can increase the risk of lung cancer if the victim also smokes. Beacon Hill principal Mr Robert Lyden declined to comment. It was not known if surveys were being carried out at other ESF schools.
