Evidence Discipline · Negative Measurement
How should the H&S Resource Center handle a historical asbestos survey that found no hazardous airborne concentration?
NIOSH’s 1976 evaluation of 919 Third Garage in Manhattan is useful precisely because it demonstrates how negative evidence should be bounded by the conditions actually sampled.
How to use this record. Read the documented evidence first, then open the evidence boundary for the limits of the specific source and period.
Documented evidence
- NIOSH evaluated environmental air samples, ventilation and work procedures at 919 Third Garage Company in New York City.
- The report concluded that workers were not exposed to hazardous airborne concentrations of asbestos during the evaluated conditions.
- The same evaluation identified a potential carbon-monoxide hazard, illustrating that a workplace survey can produce different findings for different hazards.
What we can investigate from here
If you or a family member worked here, details such as the approximate years, job, department, building or type of work may help us investigate the history further. You do not need to know the asbestos product or how the exposure occurred.
Primary source
Primary source record Primary / authoritative source