Asbestos-containing materials in New York City buildings

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-containing materials in New York City buildings, by P. Lundy, M. Barer (Environmental Research, 1992).

The study

• Authors: P. Lundy, M. Barer
• Journal: Environmental Research
• Published: 1992;58(1):15-24
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 004742).

Abstract

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) carried out a survey to assess the public's risk of exposure in buildings to in-place asbestos-containing materials (ACM). Data regarding the presence of in-place asbestos and the potential for exposure to asbestos were collected in 886 buildings from 16 different building categories in New York City. Overall 68% of the buildings in New York City contain ACM. The estimated total amount of ACM in the city is 323 million ft2 most of which is thermal system insulation. Overall, 16% of all ACM had greater than 10% of its surface damaged and another 68% of ACM had some, but less than 10% of its surface damaged. About half of all ACM is in mechanical spaces within buildings. On the basis of results of the survey, buildings in New York City were prioritized for management and an in-place management bill was introduced into the New York City Council.

In plain English

This article summarized a survey for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to assess the public's potential exposure to asbestos-containing materials in place in buildings. The study, conducted by Westat, Inc., inspected 886 buildings in 16 building categories in all five boroughs. Primary and secondary school buildings, foreign government buildings and the United Nations were excluded. Inspectors sampled surfacing materials, thermal system insulation and ceiling tiles and rated each material's condition. Projected to the whole city, 68% of buildings contained asbestos-containing material, from 17% of garages/gas stations to 84% of tall office buildings. The estimated total was about 323 million square feet, of which thermal system insulation made up about 271 million square feet. Of this material, 16% was rated poor (more than 10% of its surface damaged), 68% fair and 16% good. About half was in mechanical areas such as boiler rooms. The authors ranked building categories into three priority groups, with tall office buildings, hospitals, elevator apartments, hotels and educational structures first. They reported that the City Council was considering legislation based on these rankings.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Statistical survey (building inspection survey) with results projected to the city's building stock
• Who was studied: 886 buildings in 16 building categories across all five boroughs of New York City, sampled from a city Department of Finance list. Foreign government buildings, the United Nations, and primary and secondary school buildings were excluded. An educational-structures category was still surveyed. The report went to the City Council on December 1, 1988.
• Exposure: In-place asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in three categories: surfacing materials, thermal system insulation (TSI), and ceiling tiles. Bulk samples were analyzed for asbestos, and condition and potential for disturbance were rated. The article does not name fiber types.
• Main results:
  • Projected citywide, 68% of New York City buildings contained ACM. By category this ranged from 17% for garages/gas stations to 84% for tall office buildings.
  • The estimated total amount of ACM in the city was approximately 323 million square feet, excluding 3 million square feet of ceiling tile. Elevator apartments held about 122 million square feet, or 38% of the total.
  • Of all ACM, 16% was in poor condition (more than 10% of its surface damaged), 68% in fair condition and 16% in good condition. 84% had some damage.
  • About half of all ACM was in mechanical areas. The rest was in common areas (27%), special-use areas (18%) and living/working areas (4%).
  • Thermal system insulation made up approximately 271 million square feet, about 84% of all ACM. 19% of TSI ACM was in poor condition.
  • Surfacing ACM totaled approximately 49 million square feet, or 15% of all ACM. About 84% of it was in tall office buildings.
  • About 1% of buildings had asbestos-containing ceiling tile, approximately 3 million square feet in total.
  • Tall office buildings had the most ACM per building (64,431 square feet). They also had the most person-area visits by service workers and residents/workers near damaged ACM per building (1,880).
  • A ranking index placed tall office buildings, hospitals, elevator apartments, hotels and educational structures in the first priority group.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that weighing the factors together allowed building categories to be ranked into three priority groups. They reported that the City Council was considering asbestos management legislation for all city buildings based on these rankings.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors described person-area visit counts as rough estimates. The same person could be counted several times.
  • All results are statistical projections from the sampled buildings to New York City building categories.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos-Containing Material (ACM), Thermal System Insulation (TSI).

Related studies

• Asbestos release from whole-building demolition of buildings with asbestos-containing material — R.A. Perkins, J. Hargesheimer, et al. (2007)
• Mesothelioma among employees with likely contact with in-place asbestos-containing building materials — H.A. Anderson, L.P. Hanrahan, et al. (1991)
• Asbestos in New York City public school buildings--public policy: is there a scientific basis? — R. Wilson, A.M. Langer, et al. (1994)
• Exposure of sheet-metal workers to asbestos during the construction and renovation of commercial buildings in New York City. A case study in social medicine — E. Drucker, D. Nagin, et al. (1987)
• Worker exposure to asbestos during removal of sprayed material and renovation activity in buildings containing sprayed material — N.W. Paik, R.J. Walcott, et al. (1983)
• Asbestos concerns in Australian buildings — T.K. Burki (2016)

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