Fax cover sheet, 105 Duane Street site file

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

(Page 13 of 16)

r..~.`...-►irar~rw.»H..w- ~.~....•...- ..s.,.•.-._.,.. ....__..___. I 07/19/2002 10:27 FAX 212619747'6 * .. Tenants&Neiebbrs la 03

105 Washington — Tenants. and Neighbor# .' . F.. . .

Introduction At the request of Claude Rolo and Joe Hesphy of Tenants and Neighbors, asbcet+s sampling was conducted in the second floor offices of Tenants and Neighbors, loc tied at 105 Washington Street in Manhattan. The survey included a visual inspection of the offices, and sampling surface dust fur the presence of asbestos. Edward Olmsted, CIH, CSP perhoned the survey on May 31, 2002. The purpose of this survey was to de '!ithis levels of asbestos contamination on carpets that may, have been caused by the collapse of the twin towers of the Trade Center. Asbestos is the most prevalent air con► —i"ai t produced during the collapse and as such it serves as a good surrogate for essossigg exposure to other air contain inRnts. These fibers settle in the building as a dust and ere likely to remain a problem unless proper cleaning is done. THE FINDINGS OF T SURVEY INDICATE THAT IN SOME AREAS THE CARPET IS CONTAMINATED WITH ASBESTOS. Levels of asbestos ranged from non- detectable to 9,300 fibers per square centimeter.

Background The World Trade Center. (WTC) burned and collapsed on September 11, 2001. The buildings were constructed of cement, steel, glass, gypsum wallboard, acoustical tile ceilings, sprayed-on insulation (asbestos-containing and non-asbestos types) and contained wood, plastic and metal furniture, computers and ftxhues and paper products. Most of these materials were either physically destroyed (compressed, pulverized) or burned in the collapse of the building. This process gave rise to particulate nu—w ranging from a very fine dust to larger sited, quicker settling particles. The dust lettled out onto roofs and other surfaces of nearby buildings. The cleaning e$art to remove the dust from these buildings -has varied and is dependent upon the efforts of the building owner. In the 2"d floor offices it was reported that the carpets and other surfaces In the office were cleaned by a contractor shortly after the collapse.

Methods Surface dust samples for the presence of asbestos were collected according to the method 5755-95 published by the American Society of Testing and Materials(ASTM). This involves drawing dust from a surface area of 100 square centimeters on a 0.8 micron! nuxed celluldse ester filter. Disposable paper 100 cm.2 templates were used to collect the samples. A new clean template was. used for each sample. The dust was collected using a personate sampling pump operated at 2 liters per minute. The filter is analyzed by ttaasmission electron microscopy for asbestos fibers. All of the samples were she d overnight and analyzed by IATL. This- lab is accredited through the Now York St Departmentof Health environmental lab accreditation program (ELAP).

Exposure Criteria The ASTM method is intended for guidance on examining dust contamination of building surfaces and as a general assessment of the building. There is no suggestion in the ASTM method that it can be used to assess general health risk from asbestos expostst+o, nor does it suggest that all building surfaces be maintained to the levels published in the standard. The method is generally applicable for the estimation of the concentration of asbestos fibers on surfaces starting from approximately 1000 fibers per square cazitima er

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NYC-WTC 000125839