The New York State Asbestos Laboratory’s primary responsibility is the manufacture and shipment of quality proficiency test samples (PTs) to environmental laboratories participating in the New York State Environmental Laboratory Approval Program (ELAP). Utilizing state-of-the-art instrumentation, such as the JEOL JEM1400 Flash Electron Microscope, the Asbestos laboratory is New York State’s primacy laboratory for analyzing asbestos in drinking water and the sole PT provider of this sample matrix worldwide. The Asbestos Laboratory also performs applied research as well as method development. In coordination with partners inside and outside the Department of Health, the laboratory analyzes unknown, possibly suspicious, materials often referred to as “white powders.” Wadsworth does not accept samples for analysis from the general public.
The types of asbestos analysis typically performed include:
• Bulk building material analysis by Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM)
• Non-organically bound (NOB) building material analysis by PLM
• NOB analysis by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)
• Airborne fiber analysis by Phase Contrast Microscopy (PCM)
• Airborne fiber analysis by TEM
• Potable and non-potable water analysis by TEM
• Material analysis by Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Microscope (FTIR)
• Special analysis incorporating multiple microscopic techniques
Accreditation
NY Items 198.1, 198.4, & 198.6; 40CFR 763 subpart E, App A; 40CFR 763 subpart E, App E; 40CFR 763 APX A No. III; EPA 600-M4-82-020/PLM; EPA 100.1; EPA 100.2; NIOSH 7400; NIOSH 7402; NELAP – E37911; NYS ELAP – 10762; EPA – NY00005
Proficiency Testing
The laboratory produces and sends 2 light microscopy and 2 electron microscopy PT shipments per year. The PT program is described on the ELAP web pages. The light microscopy PTs include bulk samples for analysis by ELAP Item #198.1 and/or EPA 600 as well as fiber analysis by NIOSH 7400. The electron microscopy PTs include samples for TEM analysis by AHERA and/or Yamate, Agarwile & Gibb, ELAP Item #198.6, NIOSH 7402, and EPA 100.1 and/or 100.2. Challenge samples for ELAP Item #198.8, for asbestos in vermiculite-containing surfacing materials, are also provided.
Standards Development
Members of the laboratory participate in both National and International committees to develop and refine practice standards which meet the needs of public health science and industry as well as for ISO and other relevant standards organizations.