Professional Training from CAM Environmental Services

IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

What Every Handyman Should Know about Asbestos in the Home

Treated Wood: Toxic Hazard in Your Backyard?

Reducing Costs by Staying Safe in the Workplace

About CAM Environmental Services

Whew! Hope you had a great Superbowl weekend!

It's my sincere desire not to waste your time by sending unwanted emails. If you feel that this newsletter is not useful and you do not wish to receive future issues, please reply to this email with "REMOVE" in the Subject Field and I'll immediately remove your name from our distribution list. I want this newsletter to provide some real value so I welcome any comments, suggestions, or ideas for future articles. Thank you!

Hiram Perez , President

hiram.perez@cam-enviro.com

CAM Environmental Services

8 PS: please check out our new, redesigned website at www.cam-enviro.com and tell me what you think! 7

ASBESTOS IN THE HOME

Asbestos is an issue that is usually associated with industrial plants filled with piping, storage tanks, and vessels. Rarely do people consider whether or not their homes contain asbestos. However, asbestos continues to be used in many common building materials--especially those manufactured outside of the US. These types of materials include many of those that the typical home handyman attempts to repair or replace such as:

STEAM PIPES, BOILERS, and FURNACE DUCTS insulated with an asbestos blanket or asbestos paper tape. These materials may release asbestos fibers if damaged, repaired, or removed improperly.
RESILIENT FLOOR TILES (vinyl asbestos, asphalt, and rubber), the backing on VINYL SHEET FLOORING, and ADHESIVES used for installing floor tile. Sanding tiles can release fibers. So may scraping or sanding the backing of sheet flooring during removal.
CEMENT SHEET, MILLBOARD, and PAPER used as insulation around furnaces and woodburning stoves. Repairing or removing appliances may release asbestos fibers. So may cutting, tearing, sanding, drilling, or sawing insulation.
DOOR GASKETS in furnaces, wood stoves, and coal stoves. Worn seals can release asbestos fibers during use.
SOUNDPROOFING OR DECORATIVE MATERIAL sprayed on walls and ceilings. Loose, crumbly, or water-damaged material may release fibers. So will sanding, drilling, or scraping the material.
PATCHING AND JOINT COMPOUNDS for walls and ceilings, and TEXTURED PAINTS. Sanding, scraping, or drilling these surfaces may release asbestos.
ASBESTOS CEMENT ROOFING, SHINGLES, and SIDING. These products are not likely to release asbestos fibers unless sawed, dilled, or cut.
ARTIFICIAL ASHES AND EMBERS sold for use in gas-fired fireplaces. Also, other older household products such as FIREPROOF GLOVES, STOVE-TOP PADS, IRONING BOARD COVERS, and certain HAIRDRYERS.
AUTOMOBILE BRAKE PADS AND LININGS, CLUTCH FACINGS, and GASKETS.

Older homes built before 1977 are especially likely to contain asbestos containing materials. Any project that involves drilling, cutting, sanding, or scraping should not be started until you have determined whether or not the material you will be working on contains asbestos. Although not recommended because of the potential of releasing asbestos fibers, you can take samples of any material yourself and have them analyzed at a qualified asbestos laboratory (click here for a list of EPA approved laboratories). Instructions on how to take your own samples are posted on the EPA's website. Click here to read them.

A much better solution is to have a licensed asbestos professional perform a survey of your home. A professional knows what to look for, can evaluate the condition of any asbestos containing materials, can perform sampling in a manner that does not create a release of fibers, and can outline various options. In Texas, all asbestos professionals must be licensed by the Texas Department of Health (TDH). Although a private residence is exempt from TDH regulations, it's still a good idea to use a TDH-licensed professional. You can get a list of TDH-licensed professionals from the TDH website at http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/beh/asbestos/survey.htm.

Here are a few, final points to remember:

Carefully check the label of any building material you plan to install to see if it contains asbestos.
Asbestos is a hazard ONLY if it is disturbed and the fibers become airborne.
Asbestos can be managed in place and does not need to be removed AS LONG AS it is in good condition and in an area where it will not be disturbed.
Asbestos is tightly regulated and the techniques for dealing with it are straightforward and readily available. If you have questions, please ask or visit the websites referenced above.
Although homes are exempt from any regulations, using TDH-licensed professionals and laboratories is highly recommended.

CAM Environmental is licensed by the Texas Department of Health to perform asbestos sampling and surveys. We are also a TDH licensed asbestos laboratory. For more information on our asbestos services, please contact us at info@cam-enviro.com.

ARSENIC IN TREATED WOOD

Most of us have some sort of treated wood structure in our backyards. It can be a fence, a storage shed, a swing set, a bench, a deck, or any one of a number of items we either bought or made ourselves. In the US and Canada, over 90% of outdoor structures use lumber treated with Chromated Copper Arsenate or "CCA." Wood is treated with CCA to protect it from rotting, to prevent mold growth, and to protect it from insects. However, CCA-treated wood can also be a source of arsenic exposure to humans.

Arsenic is a natural part of our environment and is already present in most soil, food, and water in very minute quantities. Although the effects of low levels of arsenic have not been studied, it has been shown that high levels of arsenic in water cause lung and bladder cancer. Because of these findings, there is concern about the levels of arsenic that children may be exposed to by playing on playground or backyard structures constructed with CCA-treated wood. Although children may receive a significantly higher percentage of arsenic exposure from natural sources (food, water, or air), the amount of arsenic they receive from CCA-treated wood may be enough to increase their risk of getting some form of cancer later in life.

In February 2003, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a Factsheet providing specific recommendations designed to manage the risk of arsenic exposure from CCA-treated wood. These recommendations include:

Wash your hands after being in contact with CCA-treated wood. Parents and caregivers should be aware that children are exposed to arsenic through their hand-to-mouth activity while playing on CCA-treated wood (playsets, decks, picnic tables, etc). To minimize the risk of exposure to arsenic, parents and caregivers should thoroughly wash the child’s hands with soap and water immediately after outdoor play, especially before eating.
Painting CCA-Treated wood may reduce exposure. Based on limited data, some groups suggest that applying certain penetrating coatings such as oil-based, semi-transparent stains on a regular basis (once a year or every other year depending upon wear and weathering) may reduce the amount of arsenic that comes out of the wood.
Conduct all Maintenance that will create dust or debris at a time that children are not present. Use appropriate personal protective equipment when handling treated wood to avoid exposing yourself as well as to avoid bringing dust into the living areas of the house.
Never burn CCA-treated wood. Burning CCA-treated wood will release toxic chemicals into the air so it should never be burned in open fires, stoves, or fireplaces.
Use non-CCA treated products when available. CCA-treated wood is being phased out beginning in December 2003 but it will take as long as 6 months for stores to deplete their current stock and replace it with non-CCA treated wood.

Additional information can be found in the CPSC Factsheet. Click here to see the entire Factsheet.

CAM Environmental Services can perform a full range of environmental sampling including sampling for arsenic as well as other environmental chemicals. For more information, please contact us at info@cam-enviro.com

THIS MONTH'S SAFETY FACT - THE COST OF WORKPLACE INJURIES

In April of last year, the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company issued its third annual Workplace Safety Index. Produced by Liberty Mutual's Research Institute for Safety, the study helps companies identify areas of highest risk and minimize their accidents and injuries on the job. Among the findings:

Employee injuries cost US businesses nearly $1 BILLION per WEEK.
The top 3 injuries were responsible for 51% of the direct costs.
A small percentage of worker's compensation claims continue to be responsible for the bulk of direct costs ("direct costs" are medical and lost-wage payments to injured workers).

The study found that the following types of injuries are responsible for 89% of all workplace accidents:

Injury Cause:	Cost:	% Total Cost:
Overexertion¹	$12.5B	27.3%
Falls on Same Level	$5.7B	12.6%
Bodily Reaction²	$4.7B	10.2%
Falls To Lower Level	$4.1B	9.0%
Struck by Object³	$3.9B	8.6%
Repetitive Motion⁴	$6.3B	6.3%
Highway Incident	$2.3B	5.1%
Struck Against Object⁵	$1.9B	4.1%
Caught in, Compressed by	$1.7B	3.7%
Assaults & Violent Acts	$0.4B	1.0%

Key:

1. Overexertion injuries are caused by excessive lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying or throwing of an object.

2. Bodily Reaction injuries are caused by bending, climbing, slipping, or tripping without falling.

3. Being struck by an object includes incidents such as a tool falling on a worker from above.

4. Repetitive motion injuries are due to repetitive stress or strain.

5. Being struck against an object includes incidents such as a worker walking into a door frame.

You can find the entire study at Liberty Mutual's website. Click here to see the Workplace Safety Index (may take some time to load).

CAM Environmental performs a variety of Program Safety services including personnel and area auditing for existing and potential safety hazards. We can also perform mock OHSA audits, root cause analysis of accidents and near misses as well as perform accident investigations and provide risk management recommendations. For more information, contact us at info@cam-enviro.com.

ABOUT CAM ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Since 1986, CAM Environmental offers a variety of field sampling, testing, and consulting services including:

- Asbestos Surveys & Air Monitoring                              - Industrial Hygiene Monitoring

- Abatement Design Specifications                                    - Program & Contract Safety Services
- Project Management                                                           - Environmental Site Assessments (ESA's)
- Lab Analysis of Asbestos, Lead, & Mold                      - Data Management
- Field Sampling (Air, Soil, or Water)                                  - Contract & Staff Augmentation
- Hazardous Waste Sampling & Characterization             - TDH, OSHA & HAZWOPER Training
- Indoor Air Quality Investigations                                     - Mold Investigations, Clearances, & Analysis

CAM maintains a technical staff of over 75 people operating from 6 locations in 4 cities. For additional information on these services, please contact your nearest CAM office or visit our website at www.cam-enviro.com.