What the province's data sheet shows: the air measurements for asbestos fibres in Burgenland

On the page of the Burgenland taskforce "Vorsorgeabklärung Luftqualität" (precautionary clarification of air quality), under the heading "Hier finden Sie die Ergebnisse aller Messpunkte" (here you will find the results of all sampling points), there is exactly one PDF: a data sheet titled "Taskforce Burgenland - Luftmessungen" (dated 7 July 2026 according to the file name, PDF creation date 11 July, server date 13 July 2026, retrieved by us on 2 September 2026). We read it out row by row and checked it against the PDF: the rows of the sheet are in this post, and the Burgenland page carries map, key figures, overview by place and the province's notes verbatim. This post is the reading of it.

The sheet contains 87 individual measurements at 29 places, taken between 27 January and 29 May 2026, 85 of them with a stationary device and 2 with a personal sampler. Each of the 87 rows carries coordinates. The series of measurements for the warmer season that the sheet holds out in its second note is not yet in it: the latest row is dated 29 May 2026, and that note only announces measurements "bei den klimatischen Bedingungen der wärmeren Jahreszeit" (under the climatic conditions of the warmer season). The PDF's text layer carries no date line; we therefore give the date from the file name, the two technical dates of the file and the retrieval date, and not a publication date.

The taskforce page reports, under the date 25 March 2026: "Erste Messreihe abgeschlossen: Asbestfaser-Konzentration an allen 66 Messpunkten in der üblichen Schwankungsbreite" (first series of measurements completed: asbestos-fibre concentration at all 66 sampling points within the usual range of variation). That the sheet's 66 winter rows (27 January to 5 March) are exactly that series is our conclusion from the match between the key figures and the province's press release as reported by ORF Burgenland on 25 March 2026: 66 rows, 58 points at which the result is below 400 fibres/m³, eight values between 548 and 829 fibres/m³, where the press release gives "im Durchschnitt zwischen 540 und 830" (on average between 540 and 830). The sheet itself names no series of measurements and gives no date for one.

All 87 sampling points of the sheet. Without JavaScript the map stays empty; the points are in the overview by place on the Burgenland page and row by row in the table below.

How the sheet is to be read

Each row has 18 columns: sample number, description of the sampling point, place, type of device, sampling date, coordinates, temperature at the start and at the end, wind speed, relative humidity at the start and at the end, use simulation, remarks, one column without a heading carrying the entry "Gesamt Asbestfasern" (total asbestos fibres) throughout, number of fibres counted, fibre concentration, upper Poisson value and fibre type.

The concentration column knows three kinds of entry. A numerical value stands in 70 rows. In 16 rows there is instead a detection limit in the form "< N", the highest of these being "< 157"; the fibre type there reads "nicht nachgewiesen" (not detected). One single row carries the entry "n.b." in the columns for fibre count, concentration and Poisson value (262968/06). The sheet does not explain this abbreviation; we reproduce it unresolved.

Two columns contain a fibre concentration: the fibre concentration in column P and the upper Poisson value in column Q. Which of the two the sheet itself uses for an assessment is stated in the last sentence of its first note: "Für eine Beurteilung der tatsächlichen Belastung entscheidend ist allerdings die Faseranzahlkonzentration (Spalte P)." (What is decisive for an assessment of the actual burden, however, is the fibre concentration, column P.) The upper Poisson value is not a second measured value but the upper bound of an interval.

Winter and spring

66 of the 87 rows come from the winter, 21 from the spring: six from 7 May, one from 19 May, two from 20 May and twelve from 29 May 2026. Six rows of the entire sheet lie above 1,000 fibres/m³ (13,387, 8,925, 1,903, 1,191, 1,190 and 1,105), all six from the spring. The highest winter value is 829 fibres/m³, measured in Oberwart on Dornburggasse.

The remarks column records the conditions. In winter it repeatedly reads "sehr hohe Feuchtigkeit" (very high humidity), on one day in Rechnitz "vereister Boden" (iced-over ground); in spring the Großpetersdorf row with the highest value reads "Fahrbahn staubt sehr stark" (the carriageway is dusting very strongly), and the two rows of 20 May read "Straße wurde gegen 8 Uhr bewässert. Gegen 12 Uhr hat es für 15 Min. lang geregnet." (the road was watered at around 8 o'clock; at around 12 o'clock it rained for 15 minutes).

The sheet itself draws a consequence from this in its second note, and it sets two opposing influences side by side. It records that the fibre contents were determined "teilweise bei hoher Luftfeuchtigkeit und teilweise gefrorenen Böden" (partly at high humidity and partly with frozen ground), but it also names that a "Splittstreuung" (spreading of grit) took place during the measurement period, "die durch Abrasion (Abrieb) Fasern freisetzen kann" (which can release fibres through abrasion). Taking both together, it assigns the spreading of grit to the "negativen (Faserfreisetzung erhöhenden) Einflüssen" (negative, fibre-release increasing, influences) and moisture and frost to the "'positiven' (Faserfreisetzung vermindernden) Einflüssen" ('positive', fibre-release reducing, influences), announces new measurements for the warmer season and closes with the sentence: "Die Werte über den erwarteten Hintergrundbelastungen geben Anlass zu Handeln aus vorsorgendem Gesundheitsschutz" (the values above the expected background levels give cause for action out of precautionary health protection). That is the province's reading; how strong the two influences are, the sheet does not say.

Großpetersdorf, eight coordinate pairs, three days

For Großpetersdorf the sheet contains 14 rows on three sampling days at eight coordinate pairs. Which rows concern the same point follows solely from the coordinates: the sampling-point numbers of the sheet do not consistently designate the same point across the days. All 14 rows are in the table at the end of this section.

On 10 February 2026 there are six rows, in ascending order 51, 52, 95, 149, 199 and 207 fibres/m³, all with the remark "sehr hohe Feuchtigkeit". On 7 May 2026 there are again six rows, and at exactly the same six coordinate pairs: 1,903, 1,191 and 1,190 fibres/m³ at the three points the sheet labels "Marktgemeinde", then 13,387 fibres/m³ at the point the sheet calls "MP4, Mühlschlog", 8,925 fibres/m³ at the neighbouring point MP5 and "n.b." at MP6. For the row with 13,387 fibres/m³ the sheet gives 18 fibres counted, an upper Poisson value of 21,158 fibres/m³, the fibre type "16x Amphibol + 2x Chrysotil", the use simulation "mit Kleinlastwagen Vorbeifahren" (driving past with a small truck) and the remark "Fahrbahn staubt sehr stark". On 20 May 2026 there are two rows at two coordinate pairs of their own, 37 and 15 metres from MP4, with 276 and 150 fibres/m³ and the remark about watering and rain.

The February value of 95 and the May value of 13,387 therefore come from the same point: same coordinates, same description. The February value was the third lowest of the six rows of its day.

An asterisk appears exactly once in the whole sheet, on the 13,387 fibres/m³. The associated footnote reads: "* Dieser Wert wurde gemessen bevor die Gemeinde Maßnahmen zur Minimierung der Staubemission gesetzt hat. Nach setzen von Maßnahmen wurden Werte weit unter 1000 Fasern /Kubikmeter gemessen." (This value was measured before the municipality took measures to minimise dust emission. After measures were taken, values far below 1,000 fibres per cubic metre were measured.) The second sentence is a statement by the province. In the sheet itself, 7 May is followed only by the two rows of 20 May, whose remark names watering and rain. The 8,925 fibres/m³ at the neighbouring point of the same day carry no asterisk.

On 16 May 2026 an elevated measured value became public. According to the ORF Burgenland report of the same day, the account came from the Landesmedienservice Burgenland: the taskforce had immediately contacted the municipality of Großpetersdorf after the trial measurement and issued recommendations for minimising dust. The report names no figure. Three values were named publicly only on 22 May 2026, when the province issued a release with 95 fibres/m³ from 10 February, roughly 13,000 fibres/m³ from 7 May and 300 fibres/m³ from 19 May; ORF Burgenland reproduced it the same day, including the labels "Worst-Case-Messung unter Extrembedingungen" (worst-case measurement under extreme conditions) for the middle value and "realen Bedingungen" (real conditions) for the last. Two of these three values are found again in the sheet. For 19 May the sheet contains no Großpetersdorf row; the only row in the entire data set with that date is a background measurement in Kleinpetersdorf. Which measurement the release means does not follow from either document, and we do not resolve this contradiction.

The background measurement

Exactly one row of the sheet carries the designation "Hintergrundmessung" (background measurement): on 19 May 2026 in Kleinpetersdorf, "auf Wiese" (on meadow), with no entry in the use-simulation column. Three fibres were counted, for which the sheet gives 352 fibres/m³ and an upper Poisson value of 1,029 fibres/m³.

A background determination has thereby not been achieved; that is not a criticism of the row but a statement about its scope. A background is a distribution, not a number: it requires several points at several distances from known sources, several days and seasons, plus the protocol details the sheet lacks. At three fibres counted, the random component is large, as the interval up to 1,029 fibres/m³ shows.

For placing them the taskforce names a reference point of its own. Its questions-and-answers page states: "Seitens der Taskforce wurde für die Luftmessungen der Referenzwert von 1.000 Fasern pro m³ (somit deutlich unterhalb des Grenzwertes des Arbeitnehmerschutzes) angenommen. Dies in Anlehnung an den vom österreichischen Umweltbundesamt festgelegten 'Referenzwert für Unbedenklichkeit gegenüber Dritten nach Asbestsanierungstätigkeiten/ Sanierungstätigkeiten', da es für die Außenluft außerhalb eines Arbeitsumfeldes im Zusammenhang mit asbesthaltigem Gestein derzeit keine gesetzlich festgelegten Grenzwerte gibt." (For the air measurements the taskforce assumed a reference value of 1,000 fibres per m³, thus clearly below the occupational-safety limit value. This in line with the reference value for harmlessness towards third parties after asbestos remediation work laid down by the Austrian Environment Agency, since for outdoor air outside a working environment in connection with asbestos-bearing rock there are currently no legally established limit values.) That agrees with our own finding: the Austrian Grenzwerteverordnung lists asbestos with a technical guide concentration of 10,000 fibres/m³, falling to 2,000 fibres/m³ from 21 December 2029, and that is a workplace value. An outdoor-air reference value for asbestos fibres is not available to us for Austria; for this we queried the Grenzwerteverordnung, the Immissionsschutzgesetz-Luft and the ArbeitnehmerInnenschutzgesetz in the federal legal information system on 2 September 2026.

Sampling points at public facilities

30 rows carry, in the description of the sampling point, one of the words Kindergarten, VS (for Volksschule, primary school), Sportplatz (sports ground), Friedhof (cemetery), Feuerwehr (fire brigade), Badesee (bathing lake), Wasserwerk (waterworks) or Bauhof (municipal works yard); "Schule" (school), "Spielplatz" (playground) and "Krankenhaus" (hospital) do not occur in the descriptions. The full table is in the fold-out at the end of this section.

On 16 February 2026, measurements were taken in Hornstein at six points, three at the kindergarten and three at the primary school, with the use simulation "Verwendung einer Bürste/ eines Besens" (use of a brush or broom) in each case; the results read 99, 149, 149, 149, 298 and 149 fibres/m³. On 29 May 2026 the sports ground of Kohfidisch carries the value 1,105 fibres/m³ with the remark "in der Nähe befindet sich eine Schotterstraße" (there is a gravel road nearby); in the sheet, Kohfidisch is a sampling place.

Alongside these stand the rows without detection, and they belong to the picture: in Schattendorf all three measurements; in Großhöflein four of the six rows at the cemetery and the works yard, the other two reading 100 and 50 fibres/m³; at the Rechnitz bathing lake two of three rows, the third reading 51 fibres/m³ with the remark "vereister Boden".

Fibre types

Amphibole dominates in the sheet. 21 of the 87 rows also name chrysotile in the fibre-type column; in three rows chrysotile stands without amphibole: at a box at the works yard in Oberschützen, at a sampling point in Oberpullendorf and at the cemetery in Kotezicken.

No origin follows from the fibre type alone. Why chrysotile and amphibole asbestos can form in the same rock is geology and is described in the post on serpentinite and asbestos. The fibre type of an air sample is a finding about the air at that point on that day, not proof of origin.

What the sheet does not contain

Of the eight details that we called for on 26 May 2026 as a complete measurement protocol, the sheet contains three: sampling point with coordinates, weather data without wind direction, and mechanical action. Five it does not contain: sampling duration, pump rate, air volume, fibre-counting standard and traffic volume. Four details we had not called for are in the sheet in addition: device type, number of fibres counted, upper Poisson value and fibre type. The comparison is set out in the table below. Without the air volume, the concentration in column P cannot be recalculated from the sheet alone.

Also open are the criteria behind the labels used in the release. For the "Worst-Case-Messung unter Extrembedingungen" (worst-case measurement under extreme conditions) the release does give an explanation, as reported by ORF Burgenland on 22 May 2026: the measurement was said to have been carried out deliberately under conditions meant to simulate the highest possible amount of dust, and the amount of dust thereby produced was said to have been well above that under usual everyday conditions. That names the intention, not a quantity against which the classification could be recalculated. For the "realen Bedingungen" (real conditions) of the other measurement neither document names a criterion, and neither label occurs in the sheet itself. Open are the measurements of the warmer season that the sheet itself announces, and a replication by a body independent of the taskforce; none is known to us. According to a report in the "Kronen Zeitung" of 29 August 2026, the ÖVP's requests under the Freedom of Information Act also ask about a lawyer's role in the taskforce and about a possible conflict of interest arising from his functions in the Granit group; that is the account given in that report, not a finding of our own (→ What happens next).

What we have corrected

Our methodological critique of the Großpetersdorf measurements dates from 26 May 2026 and predates the sheet. The sheet confirms part of it and refutes another part. Withdrawn is our formulation "N = 3", because 14 rows on three sampling days at eight coordinate pairs exist for Großpetersdorf; confirmed is that the two published values that can be found in the sheet come from the same sampling point. We have also corrected three errors of our own regarding TRGS 517: a wrong threshold value, a wrong paragraph number and, weighing more heavily, the application of its verification procedure to the values of the sheet, although that procedure presupposes consecutive workplace measurements and not spot samples of outdoor air. On top of that comes a wrong statement about how the taskforce arrived at its reference value.

All eleven changes are set out in the errata block of that section, together with the frozen version of 26 May 2026. We consider it right not to replace published sentences silently.

Sources

• Province of Burgenland, Taskforce Vorsorgeabklärung Luftqualität: data sheet "Taskforce Burgenland - Luftmessungen", dated 7 July 2026 according to the file name (PDF creation date 11 July, server date 13 July 2026), retrieved 2 September 2026. PDF on burgenland.at; copy and checked extraction: PDF, CSV.
• Province of Burgenland, Taskforce Vorsorgeabklärung Luftqualität: start page with the chronology of announcements and the questions and answers section, retrieved 2 September 2026. burgenland.at/themen/gesundheit/taskforce-vorsorgeabklaerung-luftqualitaet
• ORF Burgenland, "Asbest: Keine Ausreißer bei erster Messreihe", 25 March 2026, retrieved 3 September 2026. burgenland.orf.at/stories/3347409
• ORF Burgenland, "Asbest: Messwerte für Großpetersdorf veröffentlicht", 22 May 2026, retrieved 2 September 2026. burgenland.orf.at/stories/3355418
• ORF Burgenland, "Großpetersdorf: Erhöhter Messwert auf Schotterstraße", 16 May 2026, retrieved 2 September 2026. burgenland.orf.at/stories/3354408
• Kronen Zeitung, report on five requests by the ÖVP Burgenland under the Freedom of Information Act with 144 questions, 29 August 2026. krone.at/4273551
• Ausschuss für Gefahrstoffe: TRGS 517 "Tätigkeiten mit potenziell asbesthaltigen mineralischen Rohstoffen und daraus hergestellten Gemischen und Erzeugnissen", edition February 2013, amended 2015, Annex 3, paragraphs (1), (4), (7) and (10). Version opened via the Internet Archive on 2 September 2026 (baua.de answers the direct request with HTTP 403). PDF in the Internet Archive
• Grenzwerteverordnung, Annex I/2025 (list of substances), asbestos entry, retrieved on 2 September 2026 via the federal legal information system. ris.bka.gv.at
• Maulida, P. T.; Kim, J. W.; Jung, M. C.: Environmental Assessment of Friable Asbestos from Soil to Air Using the Releasable Asbestos Sampler (RAS). Toxics 2022, 10, 748. doi:10.3390/toxics10120748
• Ungiftig: Serpentinite, asbestos and the geology of the Rechnitz Window