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AIRBORNE ASBESTOS CONCENTRATIONS THREE YEARS AFTER ABATEMENT IN SEVENTEEN SCHOOLS
Citation:
Komisnky, J. R., R. W. Freyberg, J. A. Brownlee, D. R. Gerber, G. Centifonti, AND K. A. Brackett. AIRBORNE ASBESTOS CONCENTRATIONS THREE YEARS AFTER ABATEMENT IN SEVENTEEN SCHOOLS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-93/152 (NTIS 93-218501), 1992.
Description:
From 1988 through 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory and the New Jersey Department of Health's Environmental Health Service conducted air monitoring in 17 schools in New Jersey to determine the effectiveness of their asbestos control programs. In 1988, a study was conducted to document Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act final clearance concentrations of asbestos at these 17 schools. The findings of this study prompted a follow-up study in 1990 to determine the airborne asbestos concentrations 2 years after the abatement efforts in these schools. Although the data from the 1990 study provided information regarding airborne asbestos levels during simulated occupancy conditions 2 years after abatement, whether these data were representative of levels during actual occupancy was equivocal. Another follow-up study was conducted in May 1991 to determine the airborne asbestos concentrations in these 17 schools during actual occupied conditions. Results showed elevated levels of airborne asbestos at seven of the schools. Reentrainment of residual asbestos-containing debris from the 1988 abatement or operations and maintenance activities may have contributed to the elevated airborne asbestos concentrations measured during the May 1991 study. Environmental Quality Management, Inc., submitted this document to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development, Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, in fulfillment of Contract No.68-D2-0058. The report covers the period of July to December 1992, and work was completed as of December 31, 1992.