Asbestos sheets - removal

[skotl]

Hi all,

the Scottish Gas central heating engineer / inspector point out that we have asbestos sheets hanging on the doors of the cupboard where our central heating boiler is installed. To his credit, he said that it's fine where it is and that we shouldn't touch it.

Since then, however, presumably due to the heavy traffic thru the doors, one of the panels has fallen off its door. It looks as if each panel is/was attached by 4 wood screws to the louvre doors, and we now have one of the asbestos panels simply leaning on the c.h. boiler.
I have read, understood and agree that it's generally safer to leave these things alone but given that one of these panels is now a free member of society, I'm confused what to do.

To make matters worse, the central heating cupboard is in my baby son's room so I want to absolutely ensure that we make it as safe as possible. I'm also worried about latent dust/debris from where the panel parted contact with the four screws.

Advice gratefully appreciated.
Skot.

 

[sparkydude]

asbestos sheet is fine as long as it is not disturbed, in your case it has been disturbed and may have spread fibres throughout your sons room and house. I recommend that you seek professional advice from a registerd asbestos removal contractor ASAP. It is better to be safe than sorry when asbestos is involved
Sorry if this has shocked you , but you dont mess around with asbestos.

Nick

 

[^woody^]

The area of cracked sheet around a screw hole is so small as to be insignificant.

There are probably more asbestos fibres floating around your, and my house from years of past asbestos production anyway.

Pick up the board, and any pieces, (you can dampen it first if you like) bag and seal it and put it outside for now. If your local council does not collect it, then ask about taking it to the tip.
I am sure asbestos cement board has been de-listed by the HSE and is now acceptable in land fill, but check or google first.

Get a new fibre cement board fitted in its place

 

[oilman]

....but you dont mess around with asbestos.

This is usually the mantra of the asbestos disposal industry. If white asbestos was that bad we'd all be suffering or near death by now, as it is we just have earache from doom merchants. ITS MONEY WHAT MAKES IT DANGEROUS, you've got some, they want it.

 

[sparkydude]

i see your point of view oliman, but if it was you and the cupboard was in your baby sons room would you be leaving it to chance ??

 

[^woody^]

It's not about chance, its about looking at it with a bit of commone sense.

Exactly what life threatening danger is there from a bit of asbestos board with a crack of how much - 10, 20mm by 5mm thick? Not many fibres coming out of that.

It won't burn or instanly kill you if you touch it, all that needs to be done is unscrew it and take it outside. It's not really a big issue when you think about it.

 

[BigIan]

The board is Fine to deal with i know our local tip will accept it provided its properly bagged...

just be carefull with it.

 

[Cremeegg]

Depends what type of board it is as to what type and how much asbestos it will contain. If its asbestos cement (AC) - harder and thinner like the stuff used in corrugated sheets for garage shed roofs then it likely to be around 10% asbestos the rest is cement. It could be asbestos insulation board (AIB) - thicker lighter used extensively in the 60's and 70's as internal partitions and for lining doors - this is likely to be 30-45% asbestos. The rules are more stringent for AIB than for AC because its more of a danger as its got more asbestos in it and as its lighter and more breakable you will get more fibre release when broken or drilled.

Always worth remembereing that an asbestos analyst will pass as safe any room that contains less than 0.01 fibres per ml or 10,000 fibres per cubic metre of air. So your average lounge of say 4m x 4m x 2.5m is safe with 400,000 asbestos fibres floating around in it.

So yes as a one off exposure we've already had a hefty dose by walking past any building demolition site or going on the London Underground. The danger is for those sparks and others drilling through such boards on a daily basis getting continual low level exposure. I'd happily leave my kids in a room such as this - if we get too paranoid we'll all be living in concrete bunkers just in case a Jumbo Jet falls out the sky.