U.S. EPA Region 9 Headquarters Contracts Berkeley Analytical for VOC Analysis

Berkeley Analytical was mentioned on NBC Bay Area News. As reported, many workers in the U.S. EPA Region 9 Headquarters building at 75 Hawthorne Street in San Francisco have been complaining about indoor air quality concerns. EPA leases its space in the building, which was constructed in 1987 and was LEED-Gold certified in 2009. The EPA management has been investigating the complaints and is conducting an indoor air quality study as part of its investigation, which also includes an assessment of the building’s ventilation system. EPA has contracted Berkeley Analytical to provide volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis for the IAQ study. Berkeley Analytical reports on the indoor air concentrations of formaldehyde and caprolactam in the building were mentioned on the news item. Formaldehyde was analyzed by ASTM Standard Method D5197. Caprolactam was analyzed by thermal desorption GC/MS following U.S. EPA Method TO-17. Thermal desorption by TO-17 allows analysis of caprolactam in indoor air down to sub parts-per-billion concentrations. Health hazard assessments of formaldehyde and caprolactam were conducted recently by Cal/EPA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).