For maintenance, custodial, brake and clutch, and manufacturing workers who may contact asbestos outside construction: health effects, ACM and PACM, the PEL and excursion limit, monitoring, regulated areas, controls, brake and clutch methods, respirators and clothing, hygiene, housekeeping and floor care, medical surveillance, signs, labels and training.
Based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1001 · about 7 min read
Need proof of training? The full course (30 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.
Breathing asbestos fibers can cause asbestosis (scarring of the lungs), lung cancer, mesothelioma (a rare cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen) and cancers of the stomach and colon.
Fibers on contaminated clothing or skin can be breathed or swallowed too.
Symptoms generally do not appear for 20 or more years after initial exposure.
Smoking and asbestos together greatly raise lung cancer risk, which is why training covers smoking and quitting resources.
Friable material crumbles under hand pressure and releases fibers easily. Vinyl-asbestos floor tile and roofing felt generally do not release fibers unless sanded or sawed; asbestos-cement pipe or sheet can release fibers when cut or sawed, or broken during demolition.
Reference: 29 CFR 1910.1001 App. G · 29 CFR 1910.1001(j)(7) · 29 CFR 1910.1001 App. H · 29 CFR 1910.1001(j)(7)(iii)(I)
Hazards and limits
ACM, PACM and where you find them
ACM is material with more than 1% asbestos.
PACM (presumed ACM) is thermal system insulation (on pipes, boilers, tanks and ducts) and surfacing material (sprayed or troweled on, like acoustical plaster and fireproofing) in buildings built in 1980 or earlier.
Asphalt and vinyl flooring installed in 1980 or earlier is treated as asbestos-containing too.
These presumptions stand until an inspection or lab test shows no asbestos.
Building owners find and record ACM and PACM. If you do housekeeping where it is present, you must be told where it is, and mechanical rooms with ACM or PACM are posted at the entrance.
Exposure is measured from breathing zone samples, as if you were not wearing a respirator.
Where exposure may exceed a limit, sampling repeats at intervals no greater than six months, and monitoring is repeated whenever a change in production, process, control equipment, personnel or work practices may result in new or additional exposures above a limit.
You are told your results, in writing or by posting, within 15 working days after your employer receives them, and you or your representative may observe the monitoring.
Where airborne asbestos exceeds the TWA or excursion limit, the area is a regulated area, marked off to keep the number of people exposed down. Access is limited to authorized persons.
Each person entering wears a respirator.
No eating, drinking, smoking, chewing tobacco or gum, or applying cosmetics inside.
Signs at the area and its approaches read DANGER / ASBESTOS / MAY CAUSE CANCER / CAUSES DAMAGE TO LUNGS / AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY, plus WEAR RESPIRATORY PROTECTION AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING IN THIS AREA where required.
Brake and clutch linings may contain asbestos. Use an approved method:
Method
How it works
A. Negative pressure enclosure / HEPA vacuum
Seal and leak-check an enclosure with sleeves around the assembly. A HEPA vacuum keeps it under negative pressure and removes the dust.
B. Low pressure / wet cleaning
A catch basin goes under the assembly, which is gently flooded with water and a wetting agent before and after the drum comes off. No dry brushing.
D. Wet method (shops doing no more than 5 brake pairs or 5 clutches a week)
Mist the parts thoroughly with water from a spray bottle or low-pressure nozzle, then wipe with a cloth that is bagged or laundered safely. No dry brushing.
An equivalent method is allowed if it is written down and shown to work as well as Method A. Full filters are misted, bagged in impermeable containers and labeled. Do not blow out a brake drum with shop air.
Respirators are used while controls are installed, where controls are not feasible or not yet enough, and in emergencies.
No filtering facepiece respirators (disposable dust masks) for asbestos. Air-purifying respirators use HEPA filters.
If you choose a tight-fitting PAPR and it protects adequately, your employer provides it.
Protective clothing (coveralls, gloves, head and foot coverings, face shields or vented goggles) is provided at no cost above the limits or where eye irritation is possible.
Remove contaminated clothing only in change rooms, and store it in closed containers.
Clean clothing is provided at least weekly. Do not blow or shake asbestos off it. Bags going out for laundry or disposal are sealed and labeled.
Where exposure is above the TWA or excursion limit:
Change rooms have two separate lockers so street clothes stay clean.
Shower at the end of the shift, and do not leave wearing anything worn during the shift.
Lunchrooms have a positive pressure, filtered air supply. Wash hands and face before eating, drinking or smoking, and vacuum work clothing before entering.
No smoking in work areas where you are exposed to asbestos.
Reference: 29 CFR 1910.1001(i)
Housekeeping, medical and training
Housekeeping and floor care
Clean up spills and releases as soon as possible, with a HEPA vacuum or wet methods. Shoveling, dry sweeping and dry clean-up are used only where vacuuming and wet cleaning are not feasible. In an area with accessible ACM or PACM or visibly deteriorated ACM, waste, debris and dust must not be dusted or swept dry, or vacuumed without a HEPA filter.
No compressed air for cleaning asbestos-contaminated surfaces.
Floor care: do not sand. Strip finishes wet, with low abrasion pads, at under 300 rpm. Burnish or dry buff only where the finish is thick enough that the pad cannot reach the tile.
Waste and used PPE go in sealed impermeable bags labeled DANGER / CONTAINS ASBESTOS FIBERS / MAY CAUSE CANCER / CAUSES DAMAGE TO LUNGS / DO NOT BREATHE DUST / AVOID CREATING DUST.
Employees exposed at or above the TWA or excursion limit get free medical surveillance: a pre-placement exam that includes at least a medical and work history, a complete physical examination with emphasis on the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system and digestive tract, the respiratory disease questionnaire, a chest X-ray, pulmonary function tests and any additional tests the examining physician deems appropriate, then exams offered annually.
Employees exposed at or above the TWA or excursion limit are trained before or at initial assignment and at least annually, in a way they can understand, on: the health effects of asbestos; smoking and lung cancer; the quantity, location, manner of use, release and storage of asbestos and the operations that could expose you; the engineering controls and work practices for your job; the procedures that protect you, such as work practices, emergency and clean-up procedures and PPE; the purpose, proper use and limitations of respirators and protective clothing; the medical surveillance program; the standard and its appendices; public health organizations that help with quitting smoking; and the sign and label requirements and what the legends mean.
Custodial and housekeeping workers in areas with ACM or PACM get free asbestos awareness training each year, including where ACM is, how to recognize damage, and what to do if fibers are released.
Fact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1001. It is not an OSHA card or license, an asbestos abatement license, or AHERA or state accreditation, and it does not cover construction work (29 CFR 1926.1101) or shipyards (29 CFR 1915.1001). It does not by itself meet the training requirements of 29 CFR 1910.1001(j)(7), including the housekeeping awareness course in 1910.1001(j)(7)(iv). Your employer must still train each employee who is exposed to airborne concentrations of asbestos at or above the PEL and/or excursion limit, prior to or at the time of initial assignment and at least annually thereafter, in a manner the employee is able to understand, on the topics listed in 1910.1001(j)(7)(iii); and provide, at no cost, an asbestos awareness training course to employees who perform housekeeping work in areas where ACM and/or PACM is present, covering the health effects of asbestos, the locations of ACM and PACM in the building/facility, recognition of ACM and PACM damage and deterioration, the standard's housekeeping requirements, and proper response to fiber release episodes, at least once a year.
This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.