Citation:

Kominsky, J., R. Freyberg, J. Brownlee, D. Gerber, G. Centifonti, AND R. Ritota. AIRBORNE ASBESTOS CONCENTRATIONS DURING BUFFING OF RESILIENT FLOOR TILE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-93/159 (NTIS PB93227551), 1992.

Description:

Although asbestos-containing resilient floor tiles are considered nonfriable, the frictional forces exerted on the tile during routine maintenance operations can generate asbestos-containing structures. tudy was conducted to determine the level of airborne asbestos concentrations during routine spray buffing of asbestos-containing floor tiles at 17 schools in northern, central, and southern New Jersey. lthough the schools selected do not represent a statistical random sample, they do represent a cross section of floor conditions and floor-care maintenance practices. ncreased airborne asbestos levels during spray buffing were measured at 12 of the 17 schools. he increase was statistically significant at 7 of the 17 schools. verall, the mean relative increase in airborne asbestos concentrations during spray-buffing with the high-speed machines (1000 to 1500 revolutions per minute) was statistically significantly higher than that during buffing with low-speed machines (1 75 to 330 revolutions per minute). ore than 99 percent of the asbestos structures collected before and during spray buffing were chrysotile; less than I percent were amphibole. achine speed appeared to have a significant effect on the structure morphology of the airborne asbestos structures generated during spray-buffing. esults of the study indicate that spray-buffing can generate asbestos-containing panicles from the surface of asbestos-containing resilient floor tile. he estimated 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) of total fiber concentrations (0.093 f/cm2 maximum) in the breathing zone of the machine operators (as determined by phase contrast microscopy) did not exceed the OSHA action level of 0.1 f/cm3, 8-hour TWA.

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