Many people worry about whether or not asbestos is present in the building where they work. A new study about airborne asbestos levels in buildings nationwide indicates that for most people, the risk is minimal or even non-existent.

Asbestos was so widely used in construction materials in the twentieth century that for residential, public, commercial, and industrial buildings constructed between the 1940s and 1980s, the presence of asbestos is extremely common.

However, while the risks for certain types of industrial workers has been well documented, the public has often feared that simply working in an older office building may expose them to dangerous levels of asbestos.

A new study, published in “Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology” in March 2008, entitled “Airborne asbestos in buildings” indicates that those fears may very well be unfounded. The study was carried out by researchers of the RJ Lee Group, Inc, in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.

To carry out the survey, the researchers took a total of 3978 indoor air samples from 752 different buildings nationwide. All of the samples were then analyzed for the presence of asbestos fibers using Transmission Electron Microscopy, needed to view the smallest asbestos fibers (which are thinner than a human hair and invisible to the naked eye).

The buildings that were surveyed had, in the past, been sites relating to litigation involving alleged asbestos exposure due to increased airborne asbestos levels.

The results of the survey found that no airborne asbestos could be detected at all in 27% of the buildings. In 90% of the buildings no asbestos was detected that could have been seen with the naked eye.

Airborne asbestos levels were, on average, slightly higher than background levels. The background level is around 0.0003 fibers per milliliter, while the average concentration of all samples was 0.01 per milliliter (less than the OSHA permissible exposure limit).

The general conclusion was that “These results indicate that in-place [asbestos-containing material] does not result in elevated airborne asbestos in building atmospheres approaching regulatory levels and that it does not result in a significantly increased risk to building occupants.”

Or, in layman’s terms, for most people, the occupational risk of asbestos exposure is absolutely minimal. People who are worried about that kind of asbestos exposure can lay their fears to rest.

However, even though these results show that the risk is minimal for anyone working in an average office, those traditional at-risk groups of workers are still at risk: certain types of construction, custodial, maintenance, and industrial workers share the same increased risks of asbestos exposure.

And it doesn’t include buildings where renovations and remodeling might be disturbing asbestos: anyone working in an older building that is being remodeled should be aware that the exposure risks are increased if the building contains asbestos and the workers are not taking the necessary precautions.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Asbestos Litigation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.