Library of Congress Receives
Asbestos Citation

By Kelly McCormack
The Hill

The Library of Congress (LoC) failed to initially monitor employees' exposure to airborne asbestos and did not keep work surfaces free from material containing asbestos, according to citations filed by the Office of Compliance (OoC).

In two citations filed on Dec. 13, 2006, the OoC said that floor tiles in the LoC's Jefferson Building, which were damaged by heavy book carts, contained "very high concentrations of chrysotile asbestos."

Although the Architect of the Capitol (AoC) was quick "to remove dust, debris and loose material and to cover the floor surfaces," the OoC citation says that "the extremely high concentrations of asbestos in the floor tile, the extensive damage of these tiles, and the volume of cart and people traffic through the area, it is reasonable to believe that exposure levels might have exceeded the permissible exposure limit."

The LoC violated asbestos-sampling requirements because it failed to initially monitor the air and did so only after actions had been taken, the citation states.

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