Asbestos

[Wendelspanswick]

I did the Asbestos Awareness course yesterday, a few eye opening points I thought I'd pass on.

Although products containing brown and blue asbestos were banned in 1985 white asbestos was not banned until 1999.

As a homeowner you may do DIY without any regard to asbestos but, according to the CDM Regulations, if your house was built before the year 2000 and you employ a contractor/builder/electrician/plumber you are required to have an asbestos survey done and if asbestos is found you need a maximum of a year between further condition inspections unless it is removed.

Tradesmen working where asbestos may be located are required to attend a half day asbestos awareness course every 4 years and an hour long refresher course on a yearly basis.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Asbestos can be found in the places we expect like:
Cement based sheeting and rainwater goods.
Artex.
Pipe lagging.
Insulation boards.
Sprayed insulation.

But also in.
Floor tiles and adhesives.
Acoustic ceiling tiles.
Cold water tanks.
Toilet seats.
Hand mixed plaster.
Water resistant plaster board.
Sink pads (those bitumen squares you find on stainless steel sinks).

 

[Kayos]

I get sick of asbestos courses, its part of my jobs sadly

Alltho domestically it was banned in 1999, it wasn't fully banned in the UK until about 2005

Add to that Canada still mine thousands of tons and send it to india, china etc etc every year......

 

[Dee J]

according to the CDM Regulations, if your house was built before the year 2000 and you employ a contractor/builder/electrician/plumber you are required to have an asbestos survey done and if asbestos is found you need a maximum of a year between further condition inspections unless it is removed

I've yet to see that happen. As a self employed electrician I regularly work on older buildings and frequently see white asbestos in service. I don't drill it, cut it or in any way disturb it. If I went the CDM route I don't think I'd get any work.

 

[DanielW]

I'm told that The Royal Liverpool hospital is riddled with Asbestos ie in the wards the panels under the windows are asbestos and the heating is generated behind these panels to which I can believe that as asbestos is a good radiant for heating.

I have to say though chairs legs and tables are banged against these boards constantly throughtout the day due to visiting times and I believe the lower ground floor is also awash with the stuff ie in the heating piping area.
This hospital is to become a building of the past in a couple of years as a new hospital is being built as of now......I do hope they are not going to demolish it via normal means as it needs to be carefully have the asbestos panels? removed.

It was was founded in 1938 and opened in 1978 so this is about the years asbestos was prolific in use.

 

[colnerov]

I've yet to see that happen. As a self employed electrician I regularly work on older buildings and frequently see white asbestos in service. I don't drill it, cut it or in any way disturb it. If I went the CDM route I don't think I'd get any work.

Hi, I used to work in a large public building which was built in the 50s and expanded over the years. As they were going round the building refurbishing and upgrading they were removing the asbestos which was mainly the fire proof cladding on the steelwork. We were talking to the project site manager one day and he said it was catch 22 dealing with it. So the asbestos people could get to it, the suspended ceilings had to be taken down by a separate team of people who wanted all the illuminated signs, of which there were many, disconnected. He couldn't ask an electrician to go up there because of the asbestos. But he did have one who was prepared to do it when no one else was on site to avoid any trouble.

Colin

 

[Paul G]

I had a mate die of asbestosis.

It took 3 days to cremate him.

 

[captain-destructo]

I had a mate die of asbestosis.

It took 3 days to cremate him.

where's the groan button

 

[Pete.]

I had a surveyor at my site today. Broke a hole through a brick wall into a cavity gap and found part of a sheet of AIB that someone had just thrown into the cavity years ago. Now I have to wait for analysis (which will certainly be positive) and probably have to have the entire section of wall demolished under full conditions.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I had a surveyor at my site today. Broke a hole through a brick wall into a cavity gap and found part of a sheet of AIB that someone had just thrown into the cavity years ago. Now I have to wait for analysis (which will certainly be positive) and probably have to have the entire section of wall demolished under full conditions.

Ouch!

 

[brightspark]

shoulda just chucked it away before anyone saw it .

 

[DanielW]

I had a mate die of asbestosis.

It took 3 days to cremate him.

I'm always intrigued as to who has been killed in the vatican.

 

[brightspark]

I'm always intrigued as to who has been killed in the vatican.

why did an asbestos sheet fall down and land on someones head like

 

[rikrobson]

I had a mate die of asbestosis.

It took 3 days to cremate him.

There is a whacky australian film called welcome to whoop whoop. Where a guy gets married to a lass from a weird out back community which is on hard times since the asbestos mine caught fire.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

@ Pete.
How we have dealt with it, eg you "lost sheet in a wall. We get a company in an they fill the void with a sealant what binds the asbestos and the fibres with out risk.

 

[colnerov]

They could have called it 'death valley'

 

[ronan]

Don't forget asbestos was also used in brake pads and shoes in older cars. Something to watch out for as many of use mess around with older cars and bikes on here. They reckon it was this that started Steve Mc Queens illness, as he worked in Bud Ekin's motorcycle shop in California for a while.

 

[Turbo]

I had a mate die of asbestosis.

It took 3 days to cremate him.

My Uncle died from asbestosis, a very slow and incredibly painful death so I find that 'joke' in very poor taste indeed.

 

[Pete.]

Don't forget asbestos was also used in brake pads and shoes in older cars. Something to watch out for as many of use mess around with older cars and bikes on here. They reckon it was this that started Steve Mc Queens illness, as he worked in Bud Ekin's motorcycle shop in California for a while.

Too true I just demolished an abandoned car spares shop. Loads of NOS brake pads and gaskets for Citroen ax/bx/cx and similar-era cars all with warning stickers. The whole lot went in the asbestos bin. Fortunately they were safe enough, still in their new packaging.

 

[Paul G]

My Uncle died from asbestosis, a very slow and incredibly painful death so I find that 'joke' in very poor taste indeed.

Deeply sorry for your loss.
I do know where you have been, and probably still are as I have a dear friend who this time last year I would be in the pub with,
and now is spending his last days in a palliative care home. An ex RAF winch man who has himself saved many lives had the nickname
of Bra Buster, gained from a rescue of a couple (no pun intended) from a cliff face on the south west coast stranded by an incoming tide.
Her bikini top caught in the lift harness and you can imagine the rest.
The name of the place where he is spending his last days begins l, a, x, so being predominately older people there we refer to it as
Laxative House.

We shouldn't joke, but even in our darkest hour I believe we should hang onto our sense of humour.

I apologise if I offended.

Paul G