title: Evaluation of ambient asbestos concentrations in buildings following the Loma Prieta earthquake.
abstract: On October 17, 1989, an earthquake struck central, coastal California including San Francisco and the Bay Area, damaging many buildings. Because of concern over the possible exposure to asbestos in the damaged buildings, building owners/managers hired several Bay Area industrial hygiene firms to collect air samples in suspect buildings. RJ Lee Group analyzed a total of 419 air samples from 55 buildings (25 school, 3 university, 20 commercial, 5 public, and 2 residential buildings) using transmission electron microscopy and has compiled the results. The data from each building were averaged and grouped accordingly into three classifications: indoor buildings, buildings with asbestos abatement in progress at the time of the earthquake, and buildings where sampling was performed to monitor clean-up of debris. Several buildings were sampled on more than 1 day. The results indicate that asbestos levels differed little from outdoor levels, even immediately after the earthquake. Exceptions to this were samples collected in the vicinity of debris clean-up and in buildings undergoing abatement which were higher than the indoor or outdoor samples. However, these samples generally had concentrations below the AHERA clearance levels and all were well below the OSHA action limit.
authors.affiliation: RJ Lee Group, Incorporate, Monroeville, Pennsylvania 15146, USA.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: van Orden
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kahane
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morse
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis; D001194:Asbestos / Q000032:analysis*; D002140:California; D004190:Disasters; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012494:Sampling Studies
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D001194:Asbestos