Of everyone who worked in schools, custodians and maintenance workers had the highest asbestos exposure — because their job was to maintain, repair, and disturb the very building materials that contained asbestos. While teachers faced environmental exposure, school maintenance staff handled asbestos directly.

Why Custodians and Maintenance Staff Were So Exposed

School maintenance work meant regular contact with asbestos-containing materials:

  • Boiler and pipe insulation — maintaining and repairing the school’s heating plant and steam/hot-water piping, which were wrapped in asbestos insulation
  • Floor tile and mastic — stripping, waxing, buffing, and replacing old vinyl-asbestos floor tile; buffing in particular could abrade tile and release fiber
  • Ceiling tile — replacing water-damaged or broken ceiling tiles
  • Repairs and renovations — drilling, cutting, and patching walls, ceilings, and mechanical systems
  • Cleaning up debris after asbestos materials were damaged or fell
  • Working in boiler rooms, tunnels, and crawl spaces where asbestos insulation was concentrated and often deteriorating

The Boiler Room

The school boiler/mechanical room deserves special mention. It contained the most concentrated asbestos in the building — insulated boilers, steam and hot-water piping, valves, gaskets, and pumps — and the custodian who tended it was exposed on every shift, often for an entire career.

Diagnosed Decades Later

Because mesothelioma takes decades to develop, custodians and maintenance workers from the asbestos era are now being diagnosed. Many spent 20 to 40 years maintaining the same aging buildings.

What to Document

  • The schools/districts you worked for and the years
  • Whether you worked in the boiler room or did floor, ceiling, or insulation work
  • The age of the buildings you maintained

If you were a school custodian or maintenance worker diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease and were exposed to asbestos while maintaining a school building, you may be entitled to compensation through asbestos trust funds and civil litigation.

This information is educational and does not constitute legal or medical advice.