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EVALUATION OF ASBESTOS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN 17 NEW JERSEY SCHOOLS - A CASE STUDIES REPORT
Citation:
Kominsky, J. R., R. W. Freyberg, C. S. Hubert, J. A. Brownlee, D. R. Gerber, G. J. Centifonti, AND R. M. Ritota. EVALUATION OF ASBESTOS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN 17 NEW JERSEY SCHOOLS - A CASE STUDIES REPORT. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-94/084 (NTIS 94-170388), 1994.
Description:
From 1988 through 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory (EPA-RREL) and the New Jersey Department of Health's Environmental Health Service (NJDOH-EHS) conducted studies in 17 schools in New Jersey to evaluate their asbestos management programs. Findings of a study conducted in 1988 to document Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) final clearance concentrations of asbestos at these 17 schools prompted a followup study in 1990 to determine the airborne asbestos concentrations 2 years after the abatement efforts. Although the 1990 study provided data regarding airborne asbestos levels during simulated occupancy conditions 2 years after abatement, whether these data were representative of levels during actual occupancy was uncertain. Another followup study conducted in May 1991 to determine the airborne asbestos concentrations during actual occupied conditions showed airborne asbestos levels to be above the AHERA initial screening criterion of 70 s/mm2 at eight of the sites. Reentrainment of residual asbestos-containing debris from the 1988 abatement or from operations and maintenance activities may have contributed to these elevated airborne asbestos concentrations. In 1992, EPA/NJDOH conducted a final study at the 17 schools to measure airborne asbestos levels during actual occupied conditions 4 years after abatement. This report presents the results of the 1992 study and integrates the results of the three previous studies to evaluate the asbestos management programs in these schools. It also presents case histories of each study site that summarize the findings of the 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1992 studies. 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 partial fulfillment of Contract No. 68-D2-0058. The report covers the period of June 1988 through September 1992, and work was completed as of September 30, 1993.