As of: January 26, 2024, 9:49 a.m
By: Helga Zagermann, Eva Strauss
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If you look up in the classroom, you will see loose ceiling panels.
Some have already fallen down.
© Private
Maisach's middle school is dilapidated.
Among other things, fibers from the insulating material of the ceilings are distributed throughout the classrooms.
The measurements were apparently manipulated - there was almost a crime story going on in the background.
Maisach – Teachers and students complain about irritated respiratory tracts.
Parents now demanded new indoor air measurements out of concern for their children - but this was manipulated.
The fibers that worry parents, children and teachers come from above.
More precisely, from the ceiling.
Mayor Hans Seidl explained their structure to the local council when he informed them about the manipulated measurement and the next steps: Underneath the plastic slats there is a vapor barrier made of fleece, including glass wool insulation.
Because some slats are broken, artificial mineral fibers, so-called KMF flakes, come loose.
These fall onto the tables.
Are the insulating flakes harmful to health?
The main question is: In what concentration can KMF flakes be harmful to health?
However, there are no legal limit values for indoor spaces, as explained by the local council.
The first complaints about the falling insulation material were made in 2019 (see box).
Now, in autumn 2023, there were new lawsuits - from the parents' association and the teachers' works council of the secondary school, which uses rooms in the middle school.
So the indoor air was measured: on November 30, 2023 in three rooms, while school was in session.
Problems with controversial insulation flakes have been known for years
The problem of falling KMF flakes first emerged at the Maisach middle school after water damage in 2019.
According to the municipal building authority, ceilings were opened in November to repair the water damage.
Afterwards, students and teachers complained about irritation of the respiratory tract.
The room air measurements carried out in six classrooms in December 2019 showed the following: In one room a concentration of 2150 fibers per cubic meter of room air was measured, in the other five rooms there was an average of around 500 fibers/m³.
Experts recommended increasing ventilation in the rooms.
In the room with the highest concentration, the mineral wool was removed from the ceiling on January 14, 2020.
In mid-February 2020, measurements were taken again in all other rooms.
There was no cause for concern: all values were well below 500 fibers/m³, with a maximum of 290 and 100 or less in the other rooms.
At the end of January 2020, the middle school association decided to renovate the ceiling.
But nothing has happened yet because more and more renovation measures were gradually added for the entire school.
The project had to be advertised across Europe.
The building permit for the general renovation of the school has been available since mid-2023.
Now the Maisach town hall is waiting for an answer from the Fürstenfeldbruck district office, which should contribute to the costs because the secondary school also uses rooms from the middle school.
Opaque
And now it's getting opaque.
This measurement must have been manipulated.
From whom is unclear.
In any case, there was such a level of contamination from KMF flakes in the measuring devices that the specialist company had never experienced before.
Two samples had values of over 30,000 fibers/m³.
Values between 500 and 1000 are considered slightly elevated, as building authority manager Petra Endres explained to the local council.
If there are over 1000 fibers/m³, we are talking about a significant increase. We have to look for the causes and possibly tackle renovation.
But how can such extremely high values come about?
The local council said that fibers were probably taken out of the blanket and deliberately distributed over the measuring instrument.
Mayor Hans Seidl said that the head of the measuring company even suggested that the municipal administration file criminal charges.
Because an official measurement was knowingly manipulated.
The head of the town hall himself spoke of “overzealousness: someone said they had to do something so that something would finally happen.” This was probably done out of the idea of protection, because they wanted to speed up the start of the school renovation, rather than out of criminal energy.
Nevertheless, that didn't help the matter.
Incidentally, 3,000 euros were spent on the investigation for free.
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Locks replaced for second measurement
So another measurement had to be taken – on December 20, 2023 in three rooms.
But this time not during school hours.
And the locks on the rooms were even changed so that no one could get in.
Result: two rooms have a load of 2160 and 2060 fibers/m³, one room has a load of 100 fibers/m³.
An immediate measure is now being initiated.
The gaps between the slats should be covered with flame-retardant duct tape (so that fire protection is also met) so that no more fibers can escape to the outside.
This should resolve the problem until the final renovation is completed.
The masking is done for “preventive health protection,” says Seidl.
It is not the case that classrooms have to be closed.
But the insulation will have to be replaced with harmless material in the medium term.
Inspection with occupational safety experts
The town hall boss asked that speculation be refrained from.
The issue has been taken seriously since November 2019, and the middle and secondary school principals have always been involved.
An inspection with an expert in occupational safety was planned this week, because it is also about the safety of teachers.
You can find even more current news from the Fürstenfeldbruck district at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.