N.J. Admin. Code § 5:23-8.15

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 24, December 18, 2024

Section 5:23-8.15 - Asbestos hazard abatement projects

(a) No asbestos hazard abatement work including preparation shall be performed or continued without having a certified asbestos safety technician at the work area.

(b) Protective clothing, equipment, and general procedures for asbestos abatement shall be subject to the following requirements:

1. Only authorized personnel shall be permitted in the work area. The contractor shall provide the required respirators and protective clothing to all who may inspect or visit the work area;

2. The protective clothing and equipment requirements set forth in this section shall be used to prevent the contamination by persons engaged in asbestos abatement projects of areas and buildings accessible to or used by the public;

3. All persons entering the work area shall wear protective clothing. All clothing worn during removal operations shall be disposed of as contaminated waste. The requirement that clothing be disposed of as contaminated waste shall not include rubber boots, respirators, eye protection, hard hats, and other protective clothing, which can be easily cleaned.

4. Polyethylene bags shall be six mil thick and of sufficient size for their intended use;

5. All tape, spray-on adhesives, glove bags, glue, and other materials used in the abatement process shall be of sufficiently high quality to serve their intended purpose;

6. The contractor shall have available sufficient inventory of protective clothing, respirators, filter cartridges, polyethylene sheeting, duck tape, spray-on adhesives, and air filters. Sufficient personal protective equipment shall be available for usage by authorized personnel;

7. The contractor shall have available shower stall(s) and sufficient plumbing for these showers including hot and cold running water and sufficient hose length and drain systems or an acceptable alternate such as a portable decontamination trailer with showers. Waste shower water shall be added to asbestos-contaminated waste material before disposal in a permitted asbestos waste landfill or it shall be solidified using an approved polymer to prevent leaks or accidental spills within a facility or during transport for disposal to a permitted asbestos waste landfill or it shall be filtered using a five [mu] filter and disposed of in the sanitary drain, if allowed by local treatment works by regulation or as allowed by permit;

8. The contractor shall have available adequate ladders and/or scaffolds and sufficient temporary lighting equipped with ground fault circuit interruptors for the asbestos safety technician and all others who may inspect the work;

9. The contractor shall have available HEPA filter equipped air filtering equipment capable of filtering asbestos fibers to 0.3 [mu] at 99.97 percent efficiency and of sufficient quantity and capacity to cause a complete air change or total air filtration within the work area at least once every 15 minutes. Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to limit the maximum exhaust capacity from the work area. If the situation warrants, the specifications for the abatement project may require additional air changes per hour. The exhaust capacity from the work area shall be sufficient to establish a pressure differential between the work area and all adjacent spaces greater than or equal to 0.03 inches w.c. for unoccupied buildings and greater than or equal to 0.05 inches w.c. for occupied buildings.

i. Pressure differential shall be monitored by digital manometers with continuous printout or other approved low pressure monitoring devices. The asbestos safety technician shall zero and level the gauges each time a reading is taken.

ii. One or more separate pressure monitoring systems shall be installed by the asbestos safety control monitor firm near the entrance(s) to the work area and between the work area and any interior spaces from which make-up air is drawn.

iii. In unoccupied buildings, if the pressure differential drops below 0.01 inches w.c., the asbestos safety technician and the contractor supervisor shall investigate and evaluate the engineering controls to determine the source of the pressure loss and the contractor shall institute corrective action as indicated.

iv. In occupied buildings, the procedures set forth in N.J.A.C. 5:23-8.19 shall be followed.

10. Air shall flow into the work area through all openings, including the decontamination chamber and waste exit ports, any areas in the work area where air leakage may occur, and other controlled makeup air inlets. Air shall exhaust through the air pressure differential filtration unit by means of flexible or solid duct leading outside the building. The air-filtering equipment should be positioned at a maximum distance from the decontamination chamber to maximize filtration of airborne fibers. Sufficient air shall be exhausted by an approved HEPA equipped vacuum truck or HEPA equipped air filtration units when necessary to provide air pressure differential. Air filtration units shall be in operation at all times;

11. Asbestos-containing material shall be disposed of as specified in N.J.A.C. 5:23-8.22.

(c) Decontamination procedures are as follows:

1. The contractor shall provide an adequate decontamination unit consisting of a serial arrangement of rooms or spaces adjoining the work area or a decontamination trailer. Each airlock shall be clearly identified and separated from the other by polyethylene crossover sheet doors designed to minimize fiber and air transfer as people pass between areas. A minimum of two layers of polyethylene sheeting shall be required for floors, walls, and the ceiling for on-site constructed decontamination units. Polyethylene crossover sheet doors shall have at least three layers of polyethylene sheeting and be weighted so as to fall into place when people pass through the area. Decontamination chamber doors shall be of sufficient height and width to enable replacement of equipment that may fail and to safely stretcher or carry an injured worker from the site without destruction of the chamber or unnecessary risk to the integrity of the work area. Such doors must be at least four feet wide, and the distance between sets of doors must be at least four feet.

i. As an alternative to the use of polyethylene crossover sheet doors, any other suitable method to accomplish this end shall be acceptable, if it is approved by the asbestos safety control monitor. Alternative doors shall provide for adequate exiting in accordance with the building subcode of the Uniform Construction Code.

2. The decontamination areas shall consist of the following:

i. Clean room: In this room persons remove and leave all street clothes and put on clean disposable coveralls. Appropriate NIOSH approved respiratory protection equipment is also picked up in this area. No asbestos contaminated items are permitted in this room.

ii. Shower room: This is a separate room used for transit by cleanly dressed people entering the work area from the clean room and for showering by them after they have undressed in the equipment room. This is a contaminated area.

iii. Equipment room: Work equipment, footwear, and all other contaminated work clothing shall be stored here. This is also a change and transit room for people. All areas between the shower room and work area shall be considered part of the equipment room. This is a contaminated area.

3. In order to prevent contamination of the environment, the contractor shall be responsible for controlling access at the work area and shall maintain a daily log of personnel entering the work area. A list of names of workers shall be posted with their start and stop times for each day. In addition, the contractor shall ensure that all persons who enter the work area shall observe the following work area entry and exit procedures:

i. Person enters clean room and removes street clothing, puts on protective clothing and a respirator, and passes through shower room into equipment room.

ii. Any additional required clothing and equipment previously deposited in the equipment room is put on.

iii. Person proceeds to work area.

iv. Before leaving the work area, the person shall remove all gross contamination and debris from the coveralls using a vacuum with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. In practice, this is usually carried out by one person assisting another.

v. The person then proceeds to equipment room and removes all clothing except approved respirators. Extra clothing may be stored in contaminated end of the unit. Disposable coveralls are placed in a bag for disposal with other material.

vi. The person then proceeds directly into the shower room. Respirators shall be taken off last to prevent inhalation of fibers during removal of contaminated clothing, and shall not be removed until they have been washed free of dust.

vii. After showering, the person moves to the clean room and dresses in street clothing prior to exiting.

viii. Respirators are picked up, washed thoroughly, and disinfected as required, wrapped and stored in the clean room.

4. The contractor shall ensure that filters in cartridge type respirators used during the preparation and abatement phase of the project are removed, wetted, and discarded as contaminated waste. All new filters shall be in place in the respirator prior to reuse. For powered air purifying respirators or supplied air respirators, the manufacturer's instructions shall be followed about the proper decontamination sequence.

5. There shall be no smoking, eating, or drinking in any contaminated areas (shower room, equipment room, and work area). Respirators shall be worn in all contaminated areas.

6. Nondisposable footwear shall remain inside the contaminated area until completion of the activity, and shall be thoroughly cleaned at that time.

(d) Preliminary preparations in the work area shall be conducted as follows:

1. The contractor shall provide and post in clearly visible locations, appropriate caution and/or danger signs indicating that asbestos work is being conducted and that unprotected persons should not enter;

2. Employees of the contractor permitted pursuant to N.J.A.C. 8:60 and N.J.A.C. 12:120 or persons employed by the building owner who have successfully completed a maintenance/custodial or worker training course approved by the New Jersey Department of Health shall clean with wet cloths and/or with HEPA vacuums as appropriate all objects that can be removed from the work area without disrupting the asbestos-containing material. Objects shall include, but not be limited to, furniture, equipment, drapes, and curtains. The cloths used for cleaning shall be disposed of as asbestos contaminated waste. If the room and objects within it are shown to be uncontaminated by asbestos, then other employees of the building owner or contractor may remove such objects;

3. The contractor shall install or build a decontamination facility in accordance with this section;

4. The contractor shall arrange for shutting down and sealing off all electrical, heating, cooling, and ventilating or other air handling systems. However, if approved by the asbestos safety control monitor, the lighting and the receptacles in the work area may be used if these are properly protected by ground fault circuit interruptors and can be adequately cleaned following abatement;

5. The contractor shall establish written emergency procedures to be posted within each work area. These procedures shall include plans for medical emergencies, fire evacuation, temporary loss of electrical power or water and procedures for repair and clean-up following temporary breach of containment barriers.

(e) Isolation and barrier construction in the work area shall be conducted as follows:

1. Before removing any asbestos from the work area, the contractor shall ensure that the outer perimeters of the work area have been securely sealed off from the rest of the building;

2. All vertical and horizontal surfaces except those of asbestos containing materials shall be sealed with watertight polyethylene sheeting except as provided in (e)3 below;

3. The only permissible exception to total enclosure shall be:

i. An entrance airlock with showers and a decontamination chamber;

ii. A debris removal airlock to permit cleaning and removing asbestos waste;

iii. Staircases; and

iv. Controlled makeup air inlets into the work area.

4. Polyethylene sheeting shall be used to isolate contaminated from uncontaminated areas. This polyethylene sheeting shall be replaced or repaired immediately if torn or damaged. One layer of polyethylene sheeting shall be required for walls and two layers of polyethylene sheeting shall be used to seal open space between work areas and non-contaminated areas and for all floors. In buildings required by the Uniform Construction Code to be of noncombustible construction, all materials used to construct separation barriers must meet the Uniform Construction Code, building subcode requirements for that building and all plastics used must be flame resistant.

(f) Initial activity in the work area shall be conducted in the following order:

1. Remove filters from all heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems. Wet the filters and place them in polyethylene bags, double bagged with visible labels, for disposal as asbestos-containing waste. Squeeze all excess air out of the bag before sealing to prevent puncture during disposal. Secure bags by twisting, taping, folding over, and sealing them with duct tape.

2. The contractor shall wet clean and/or HEPA vacuum all non-removable non-asbestos items such as radiators and suspended light fixtures in the work area, including built-in equipment; and shall cover with two layers of polyethylene sheeting taped securely in place;

3. The contractor shall detach and wet clean removable electrical, heating, and ventilating equipment and other items which may be connected to the asbestos surfaces. These items shall be removed from the work area and returned and reattached to their proper place when the work area has been decontaminated and final air testing has provided satisfactory results;

4. The contractor shall seal all floor, wall, and ceiling penetrations with suitable material such as expanding foam insulation before covering the surfaces with polyethylene sheeting. The contractor then shall seal all openings between the work area and uncontaminated areas including but not limited to, windows, doorways, elevator openings, skylights, corridor entrances, floor and sink drains, air ducts, grills, grates and diffusers with critical barriers consisting of two layers of polyethylene sheeting taped securely in place or stapled or fastened by spray-on adhesives, glue beads, or horizontal wood battens or the equivalent. Floor drains shall be sealed individually and then covered as all other floor surfaces with two layers of polyethylene sheeting. Separation barriers may be constructed to support the critical barriers. Separation barriers shall not block any required means of egress;

5. For floor covering two layers of polyethylene sheeting shall be used. The first layer of floor sheeting shall extend up the wall at least 12 inches. The second layer shall be extended up walls at least 24 inches. Sheeting shall be sized so as to minimize the number of seams necessary. No seams shall be located at the joints between walls and floors;

6. Wall sheeting shall consist of one layer of polyethylene sheeting. It shall be installed to minimize joints and shall overlap floor sheeting by at least 18 inches. No seams shall be located at the corners. Wall coverings shall be taped first to the upper most edge of the wall and shall hang straight down;

7. When a strippable coating is used in place of polyethylene sheeting, it must be manufactured for the specific application required for walls, floors, or windows.

i. When dry, the strippable coating must have a class A rating as a building material and must meet the following requirements when tested in accordance with ASTM E-84: flame spread no greater than 20, fuel contributed 0, and smoke developed no more than 110.

ii. The strippable coating shall be applied uniformly in such a manner as to achieve a minimum uniform final thickness of six mil for each layer required pursuant to this subchapter.

iii. Manufacturer's specifications shall be followed for the method of application and for the protection of the applicators and building occupants.

iv. Use of the product shall be authorized in advance by the asbestos safety control monitor firm. The material shall be delivered to the project site in unopened, factory-labeled containers.

8. As all existing ventilating systems in work area are to be sealed throughout the removal operation, an alternative system shall be utilized. Install approved HEPA equipped air filtration units with filters in place. HEPA equipped air filtration units shall be of sufficient number and capacity to ensure that total air volume is exchanged at least once every 15 minutes and an acceptable pressure differential is established and maintained. These units shall be rated by the manufacturer as to their actual working air capacity and field tested pursuant to N.J.A.C. 5:23-8.10(d)4.

(g) Sequence of asbestos removal activities shall be as follows:

1. The asbestos-containing material shall be sprayed with water containing an additive to enhance penetration (amended water) or removal encapsulant. All wetting agents shall be tested on a small area before use to ensure effectiveness. A fine low-pressure spray of this solution shall be applied to prevent fiber disturbance preceding removal. The removal encapsulant or amended water shall be sprayed on as many times and as often as necessary to ensure that the asbestos material is adequately wetted throughout (especially that asbestos nearest the substrate) to prevent dust emission.

2. As a method of organizing the asbestos removal work, workers shall begin working on the areas nearest to the decontamination unit and work towards the HEPA equipped air filtration units. If this is not feasible, the asbestos safety control monitor firm shall approve an alternative to this requirement.

3. The wet material from each section shall be packed and sealed into labeled six mil polyethylene bags and double bagged with visible labels or placed in labeled, leak-proof containers, prior to starting the next section. Water-soaked fallen material shall be picked up while wet.

4. Contaminated material containing sharp edged items shall be cut to manageable size while adequately wet, and then placed in suitable leak-tight and puncture-proof containers or wrapped individually in two separate polyethylene sheets and double bagged.

5. Bags and drums shall be marked with the label prescribed by 40 CFR Part 61, Subpart M of the US EPA, 29 CFR 1926 of OSHA, and 49 CFR--Parts 100-199 of the US DOT Hazardous Waste Hauling regulations. The outside of all containers shall be wet-cleaned or HEPA vacuumed before leaving the work area.

6. After completion of this removal phase (stripping), all surfaces from which asbestos has been removed shall be scrubbed using nylon or bristle brushes and wet sponged or cleaned by an equivalent method to remove visible asbestos-containing material. During this work, the surfaces being cleaned shall be kept wet using amended water or a removal encapsulant. All disposable equipment shall be packaged for disposal. Containers shall be washed with amended water or a removal encapsulant and shall have all exterior particulate matter removed prior to removal from the contaminated area.

7. All accessory equipment shall be moved to the equipment room and decontaminated for removal.

8. All free water (in contaminated areas) shall be retrieved and added to asbestos-contaminated waste and/or placed in plastic lined leak-tight drums and/or solidified with an acceptable polymer or it shall be filtered using a five [mu] filter and disposed of in the sanitary drain, if allowed by local treatment works by regulation or as allowed by permit.

9. Final clean-up of the work area may commence.

(h) Final clean-up of the work area shall be conducted as follows:

1. The contractor shall first clean all surfaces in the work area using a fine spray or mist of amended water or removal encapsulant applied to all surfaces followed by the wet-wiping procedure using disposable cloths. These cloths shall be disposed of or rinsed thoroughly on a frequency sufficient to eliminate visible accumulation of debris. The contractor shall allow all surfaces to dry before re-entering the work area and proceeding to (h)2 below.

i. The contractor shall notify the asbestos safety technician in writing that a pre-sealant inspection is requested.

2. After completion of cleaning all surfaces in the work area and upon receiving a satisfactory pre-sealant inspection, the contractor shall spray coat all dried exposed surfaces with a sealant. The color of this coat shall be separate and distinct from the underlying substrate. The surfaces to be coated shall include surfaces from which asbestos-containing materials have been removed (such as ceilings) and polyethylene which has been used to cover walls, floors and non-removable fixtures and equipment.

3. The polyethylene sheeting used to protect floors, walls, fixtures and equipment shall be carefully removed and rolled up, with the contaminated portion on the inside, and packaged for disposal. Tape and any other debris shall also be disposed of in sealed polyethylene bags labeled as asbestos-contaminated waste.

4. Wet clean with amended water or a removal encapsulant all walls, floors, woodwork, ceilings, electric light fixtures and other surfaces. Allow all surfaces to dry and repeat procedure. Cloths or sponges used in the cleaning operation shall be disposed of as contaminated waste.

5. The polyethylene sheeting used to maintain critical barriers between work areas and clean areas such as those in doorways, windows and air vents shall be sprayed with encapsulant, but not removed until air monitoring is completed and satisfactory results have been obtained.

6. After completion of the cleaning operations the contractor shall:

i. Notify the asbestos safety technician that a clean-up inspection can be performed to ensure all visible asbestos has been removed and the area is dust free;

ii. Request final air clearance monitoring of the work area.

7. After the work area is found to be in compliance with the acceptance criteria, the following tasks shall be performed by the contractor:

i. All critical barriers shall be removed and bagged in polyethylene bags for disposal;

ii. The inside of windows shall be washed;

iii. Any walls, floors, trim, doors, furniture or other items damaged during the work shall be repaired and refinished to match existing material;

8. Notice for a final inspection shall be made by the owner or contractor to the asbestos safety control monitor.

9. Upon receiving a satisfactory final inspection, application for a Certificate of Completion may be made.

(i) Special precautions shall be implemented, where appropriate, including, but not limited to, the following examples:

1. Asbestos abatement projects involving ceiling tile and T-grid components, elevators, carpet, contaminated soil and projects in tunnels, crawl spaces, plumbing access panels, and/or involving live electrical panels or live steam lines are likely to present unique conditions that will require special precautions in addition to the procedures described in this section. In instances where special precautions need to be instituted, they shall be described in plans and specifications approved by the asbestos safety control monitor firm.

N.J. Admin. Code § 5:23-8.15

Amended by R.1986 d.143, effective 5/5/1986.
See: 18 N.J.R. 378(a), 18 N.J.R. 949(a).
Substantially amended.
Amended by R.1987 d.525, effective 12/21/1987.
See: 19 N.J.R. 902(a), 19 N.J.R. 2389(a).
Substantially amended.
Amended by R.1989 d.342, effective 7/3/1989.
See: 20 N.J.R. 1130(b), 21 N.J.R. 1844(b).
Recodified old 8.10 to new 8.11, changing abatement "job" to "project" throughout with stylistic changes. Section 8.11 formerly was "Precautions and Procedures during a small hazard abatement job".
In (g): deleted old 7 regarding air monitoring results and recodified old 8 through 10 as new 7 through 9 with no change in text.
Recodified from 5:23-8.11 and amended by R.1993 d.198, effective 6/7/1993.
See: 24 N.J.R. 1422(a), 25 N.J.R. 2519(b).
Prior text at section, "Disposal of asbestos waste", recodified as 5:23-8.22.