Asbestos risk scale

[i_am_fubar]

Having had my vinyl floor tiles and adhesive tested, I now know they contain asbestos. Got me researching into it properly.

Everything I read states that even the most minute exposure should be guarded against. And as a cumulative ailment, I agree with it and in no way underestimate the potential risks. But what I havn't read, is the risk associated with occasional, low level exposure.

What is the correlation between asbestos related diseases and contamination levels and frequency? At one end of the scale, there is putting your foot through an artex ceiling. At the other end is being in a room ripping out loose fiber insulation without a mask.

I can't imagine they both carry the same health risk, but how would they differ? Would it simply take longer for the disease to manifest, would the effects be reduced, or could they not occur at all?


Fubar.

 

[jeds]

Asbestos is everywhere. Floating about in the atmosphere. If you left an asbestos monitor in the high street is would pick up asbestos fibre.

There are different types of asbestos. The nasty ones are shaped like a sickle but have a barb at the end. So when the fibre gets in the lungs the barb latches on and it is very difficult to cough it out. It festers for 45 years and turns into a tumorous mess. If you've got a couple you might be ok. If you've got loads you will die. These types are usually found in insulation lagging and are very soft and floaty. So they are easily breathed in.

The other type of asbestos (the type you get in asbestos cement roof sheets etc.) is also sickle shaped but doesn't have the barb. So it is easier to cough it out or for it to migrate out in mucus. In hard asbestos products the fibre is only included in small quantities (typically 3, 5, 7%) and is also bound in the hard matrix, so it doesn't tend to float around - it falls to the ground. This type is no more harmless than the dust from many other building materials.

So; treat asbestos cement products with sensible caution - just the same as you should with almost any building dust and fibre. But do not go anywhere near soft fibrous asbestos - especially if it's wrapped around a heating pipe.

PS. If in doubt, know what you're dealing with. Have it tested.

 

[i_am_fubar]

Thanks Jeds, I knew there was a different asbestos types, but I didn't know how the shape varied. Nice to read a view that isn't 'once you breath fibers in, you will die'.

So, what your basically saying is that there is a threshold, below which tumors don't develop (as a direct result of exposure) and that is 'not harmful'. Above a certain point, it does cause tumors. Again, though, I'm not belittling the required PPE and procedures.

Thinking back to all the times I may have exposed myself...

The earliest was when I was a kid and lightly sanded the sharpest spots off my artex ceiling.

I used a 25mm hole saw to cut through the garage ceiling for heating pipes. But I did wet it down, stayed above the cutting and let the dust fall into wet rags that I disposed of.

The asbestos vinyl floor tiles in my living room are broken up in places and there was a reasonable about of dust generated when the laminate floor was taken up from on top (this was not dust from broken tiles, but just dirt dust from the underlay, however, I expect there to be some contamination.

I'm guessing the sanding artex would have been the biggest risk, and even then, reasonably low.

I always wondered what the risk would have been to the people caught in the cloud of dust when the world trade centers went down. I imagine the buildings were full of the stuff, including pipe lagging.

 

[footprints]

The world trade centre had sprayed on asbestos fireproofing which I understand to some extent caused the collapse as it was flaking off and failed to protect the structure.
No doubt a lot released at the time.

 

[i_am_fubar]

So in 20 - 30 years time, New York is going to see a surge in asbestos related health issues. Begger.

 

[jeds]

I saw a prog on the box a few years back. Believe it or not the export of asbestos from Canada is at an all time high. A lot of it goes to India. It showed a cutting shop in India where they cut the boards up on demand - a bit like the timber sheet cutting service in B&Q. Locals call in with a list of sizes and they pop a big sheet onto the saw and rip it down as needed. The place was caked in asbestos fibre. The extract fan had about 12 inches of fibre stuck to it. The old boy in the shop had worked there nearly all his life. He was about 90. When they asked them about health and safety and face masks etc. the shop boys looked a bit bemused. 'No problem sahib, how many do you want?'