ABSTRACT
Employees involved in asbestos removal projects should be provided with appropriate National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-approved respirators. Selection of the appropriate respirator should be based on the concentration of asbestos fibers in the work area. This chapter provides guidelines, including recommended specifications and operating procedures, for use of negative-pressure systems in removing asbestos-containing materials from buildings. A negative-pressure system is one in which static pressure in an enclosed work area is lower than that of the environment outside the containment barriers. The work practices of choice when working with amosite-containing material are to soak the material as much as possible and then to bag it for disposal immediately after removal, so that the material has no time to dry and be ground into smaller particles that are more likely to liberate airborne asbestos. Polyethylene sheets should be used to cover the floor in the work area.
