District 30 in Queens voted late Tuesday to delay opening until it received results from all the asbestos inspections for its 25 schools.

And the school system's crash program of asbestos inspection and removal, which has delayed the start of school, is no different.

But environmental officials say Mr. Appleton was forced to act when field audits found more than a third of all asbestos inspections to be flawed.

He said that if the investigation showed fraud in asbestos inspections, the board could once again face fines.

A setback in asbestos inspections raised new questions on when New York's schools would open.

Currently, the city is considering further legislation that would require an asbestos inspection for every building in the five boroughs.

They worked for seven years carrying out asbestos inspections, and then in 1987 threw out what they had already done as unreliable.

The asbestos inspection of the schools missed its Sept. 9 deadline because officials underestimated the obstacles.

The city's regulatory proposal for all buildings except homes is modeled after a Federal act that mandates asbestos inspections in public schools.

The request came after the agency that has been leading the emergency asbestos inspections failed on Monday to report which schools were ready to open.