Abstract: Atmospheric contamination by residual hazardous particles remaining on a substrate following removal from the substrate of a layer of material containing such particles is substantially reduced by coating the substrate with certain aqueous coating compositions which produce tacky films on drying. For example, the health hazard from airborne asbestos fibers remaining attached to a substrate from which a layer of asbestos-containing material has been removed is substantially reduced by coating the substrate with an aqueous latex composition containing certain carboxylated butadiene styrene polymers.