Asbestos Concerns At American Airline's Maintenance Base

Maintenance workers are worried at Tulsa's American Airlines base, after they learn that some of the Boeing 757's they worked on "could" contain a small amount of asbestos. <br/><br/>News on 6

Wednesday, May 3rd 2006, 11:01 am

By: News On 6

Maintenance workers are worried at Tulsa's American Airlines base, after they learn that some of the Boeing 757's they worked on "could" contain a small amount of asbestos.

News on 6 business reporter Steve Berg has been talking with workers, union leaders, and American Airlines officials about the news.

The concern is centered on the "lavatory module" in about "40" of American's fleet of 757's. These are older 757's, made in the late 1980's.

The News on 6 talked with American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith. He says there appears to be some degree of potential asbestos in the adhesive that's used in the wall or wall covering of the lavatory module. The lavatory module is manufactured as a separate piece of the airplane.

We found a picture of one on the web site for Yokohoma, which says the company is the exclusive supplier of lavatory modules for the Boeing 757.

The "concern" is because maintenance workers at the Tulsa base sometimes do sanding and drilling on the lavatory modules and might disturb the asbestos that way. American spokesman Tim Smith says the potential problem was brought to their attention by an outside company that also does aircraft maintenance work, but he wouldn't say who that outside company is. He says even "if" the asbestos is present in the adhesive, it would be in very small amounts.

In the meantime, he says they'll be monitoring the air in the shop areas of the maintenance base, to see if there's a problem. They stress that this is just a "possible" problem at this point.