Environmental Hazards Concerns for Environmental Site Assessments

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Environmental HazardsConcerns for Environmental
Site Assessments
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What is Radon?

• Radon is a cancer-causing, radioactive gas.
• Radon, Rn-222 (T 1/2 3.82 days), is a daughter
  product of radium, Ra-226, which in turn is
  derived from the longer-lived antecedent, U-238
• These radionuclide series are present in slowly
  decreasing amounts in the environment (geologic
  time scale), due to radioactive decay of their
  parents, which has been known and understood
  since the end of the last century.

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Where is Radon Found?

• Zone 1 avg. radon greater than 4 pCi/L
  (picocurries per liter) (red zones)
• Zone 2 avg. radon between 2 and 4 pCi/L (orange
  zones)
• Zone 3 avg. radon less than 2 pCi/L (yellow
  zones)

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Radon as a Hazard

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• Cracks in solid floors
• Construction joints
• Cracks in walls
• Gaps in suspended floors
• Gaps around service pipes
• Cavities inside walls
• The water supply

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Differential Risk
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Radon Health Effects

• Radon gas decays into radioactive particles that
  can get trapped in your lungs
• As they break down further, these particles
  release small bursts of energy.
• This can damage lung tissue and lead to lung
  cancer over the course of your lifetime.

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Asbestos Fibers

• Asbestos applies to six naturally occurring
  minerals that are mined from the earth.
• Amosite Chrysotile Tremolite Actinolite
  Anthophyllite Crocidolite
• All types of asbestos tend to break into very
  tiny fibers.
• These individual fibers are so small they become
  imbeded into lung tissue

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Where is Asbestos Found?

• Sprayed on insulation
• Ceiling tiles
• 9" floor tiles in buildings built prior to 1981
• 12" floor tiles in buildings built prior to 1981
  
• Insulation around pipes and boilers
• Interiors of fire doors

• Mechanical rooms
• Steel reinforcing beams
• Ceilings in older buildings
• Around Pipes

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Pipes
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Ceilings
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Old Pipes
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Additional Sources

• Roofing and siding shingles are made of asbestos
  cement.
• Houses built between 1930 and 1950 may have
  asbestos as insulation
• Asbestos may be present in textured paint and in
  patching compounds used on wall and ceiling
  joints before 1977.

• Household products such as FIREPROOF GLOVES,
  STOVE-TOP PADS, IRONING BOARD COVERS, HAIRDRYERS.
  AUTOMOBILE BRAKE PADS AND LININGS, CLUTCH
  FACINGS, and GASKETS.
• Artificial ashes and embers sold for use in
  gas-fired fireplaces may contain asbestos.
• Walls and floors around woodburning stoves may be
  protected with asbestos paper, millboard, or
  cement sheets.

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What is Formaldehyde?

• A colorless, strong-smelling gas. It is widely
  used to manufacture building materials and
  numerous household products. Its most significant
  use in homes is as an adhesive resin in pressed
  wood products. There are two types of
  formaldehyde resins urea formaldehyde (UF) and
  phenol formaldehyde (PF). Products made of urea
  formaldehyde can release formaldehyde gas
  products made of phenol formaldehyde generally
  emit lower levels of the gas.

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Formaldehyde Physical Properties

• Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a pungent,
  suffocating odor at room temperature the odor
  threshold for formaldehyde is 0.83 ppm.
• Formaldehyde is readily soluble in water at room
  temperature.
• Commercial formaldehyde is produced and sold as
  an aqueous solution containing 37 to 50 percent
  formaldehyde by weight.

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Formaldehyde Uses

• Formaldehyde is used predominantly as a chemical
  intermediate.
• It also has minor uses in agriculture, as an
  analytical reagent, in concrete and plaster
  additives, cosmetics, disinfectants, fumigants,
  photography, and wood preservation. 
• Formaldehyde (as urea formaldehyde foam) was
  extensively used as an insulating material until
  1982. 

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Finding Formaldehyde

• Glues
• Wood products
• Preservatives
• Permanent press fabrics
• Paper product coatings
• Certain insulation materials.
• Particle board
• Fiberboard in cabinets and furniture
• Plywood wall panels
• Foamed-in-place urea-formaldehyde insulation

• Sources that release Formaldehyde
• Incomplete combustion
• Cigarette smoking
• Burning wood
• Burning kerosene
• Burning natural gas

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Formaldehyde in Homes

• Levels of airborne formaldehyde range from 0.10
  to 3.68 ppm in homes.
• Formaldehyde concentrations reported in U.S.
  urban areas are in the range of 11 to 20 ppb. The
  major sources appear to be power plants,
  manufacturing facilities, incinerators, and
  automobile exhaust emissions. 
• Formaldehyde may also be present in food, either
  naturally or as a result of contamination. 

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Health Effects of Formaldehyde

• Concentrations of 0.05 ppm. Causes colds, flu,
  and allergies.

• Normal Concentrations less than 0.06 ppm (parts
  per million), in both outdoor and indoor air.

• Concentrations at or above 0.1 ppm, watery eyes
  burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat
  nausea coughing chest tightness wheezing skin
  rashes

• Concentrations of 100 ppm are immediately
  dangerous to life and health and cancer causing.

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PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE LIMIT

• The permissible exposure limit (PEL) for
  formaldehyde in all workplaces (including general
  industry, construction, and maritime, but not in
  agriculture) covered by the OSH Act is 0.75 ppm
  measured as an 8-hour time weighted average
  (TWA). The standard includes a 2 ppm short-term
  exposure limit (STEL) (i.e., maximum exposure
  allowed during a 15-minute period). The "action
  level" is 0.5 ppm measured over 8 hours.

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Hazardous Waste

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Hazardous Waste
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Underground Storage Tanks

• An underground storage tank (UST) is a tank and
  any underground piping connected to the tank that
  has at least 10 percent of its combined volume
  underground.
• The federal regulations apply only to USTs
  storing either petroleum or certain hazardous
  substances.

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UST requirements

• USTs must have leak detection and spill,
  overfill, and corrosion protection
• Other UST requirements address notification,
  installation, corrective action, financial
  responsibility, and recordkeeping.
• Tanks installed after December 1988 need to
  comply with all UST requirements upon
  installation.

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USTs
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Leaking Underground Storage Tanks
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Clues to Finding Contamination

• Corroded 6-inch pipe provides important clues to
  potential hazardous site contamination.

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Knowing where to look for contamination

• Although hazardous waste could be buried or
  dumped just about anywhere, it is most often
  found near the places hazardous chemicals were
  stored, transferred or used.
• The easiest way to find a hazardous waste site is
  to have someone show you where spills occurred,
  or where waste was buried.
• So, the first question to ask is "Are there any
  good hazardous waste sites around here?"

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Look at Historic Records

• Why was the building originally built?
• What activities have been conducted in the
  building.
• This records search helps locate storage tanks,
  pits, vaults, industrial areas, and old drains.
• Old aerial photographs show what was really
  happening outside the building.
• What you see in the building today can be totally
  different from the original buildings use.

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An observant walk through and around the building
often reveals previous uses

• Patches and depressions in the asphalt show where
  underground tanks and pipes have been installed
  or removed.
• Places where the asphalt has been reduced to
  loose black gravel are indications of old solvent
  spills.
• Stains on the walls point to where gasses and
  liquids were discharged.

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An observant walk through and around the building
often reveals previous uses

• Gaps cut in the curbs allowed liquids to be
  washed into the desert.
• Old rusty pipes that start and end nowhere
  special lead back to old industrial areas
• Rust marks on the concrete show where drums and
  compressed gas bottles were stored.
• Discolored soil and areas where the plants are
  visibly different, or where there is no visible
  life at all suggests chemical contamination.