EPA soil tests determined that asbestos fibers could re-suspend in the air

Asbestos fibers EPA found in soil tests can be disturbed by weather

The attorneys at the personal injury law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg have decades of experience defending victim’s rights in practice areas that include: accidents/general injury, dangerous drugs, medical malpractice, and environmental pollutants.

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Here is some information concerning asbestos fibers and soil tests done by the EPA. To better understand how re-suspension of dust could cause exposure, the EPA conducted another round of sampling on the site in October 2002 during activities such as leaf blowing and trench digging.

Although this sampling event was limited in scope, results indicated that asbestos fibers on site were re-suspended, however, at much lower levels than found during the glove box experiments. PCM analysis detected asbestos at a maximum of 0.25 f/cc which exceeds the occupational PEL of 0.1 f/cc, while TEM results did not exceed 0.045 f/cc.

Generally speaking, asbestos fiber counts were higher at on-site locations versus those on top of the bluff off-site. Furthermore, asbestos fibers were either not detected, or were detected at much lower levels when TEM was used to corroborate the PCM analysis. This difference illustrates that PCM analysis of a re-suspended soil medium may produce results that are higher than reality.

Also of note is that more dust and asbestos may have been re-suspended had the experiment been conducted in the middle of summer versus the fall, when wetter soil may prevent dust re-suspension. At the time of the air sampling, the soil was moist a few inches below the surface.

Furthermore, redevelopment of the site is likely to expose a larger area of bare soil, which may also contribute to higher levels of re-suspended dust and asbestos through wind and vehicle traffic.