Asbestos asbestos

[Roverlord off road spares]

Were woken this morning by a power company worker knocking at our door. He explained he is here to remove the asbestos and fit a new Smart electricity meter. After 3 previous attempts and advising the power company that the backing board was a sheet of asbestos the other previous 3 workers turned the job and left as the couldn't do it.

We are talking about a 70 x 50 sheet. We heard the front door being taped up and the front bedroom and lounge room windows were taped up, plastic sheeting was then taped to the out side of the house. The truck was parked on our front lawn and from that and to points on the house a blanket hoarding was set up. 1/2 hour later after hearing some scratching noises they had installed the new meter.
They said they had 3 jobs today the last job was 300 kms away:eek:
As they were leaving we asked if they would do the roof as it's all asbestos corrigated sheeting. They declined
Good to see they were Definitely following correct procedures. A bit over kill, but they have to do what they have to do.

[Vern]

They don't do that down here, just bang the new meter or switchboard straight on.

[p38arover]

Did you want a new Smart meter?

[Vern]

You have no choice here, if you keep denying it, your electricity will go up dramatically and they may cut you supply eventually.:(

[Roverlord off road spares]

Did you want a new Smart meter?
No didn't want it, we have stalled them for a couple of years, but now they got me.

[justdrinkbeer]

We recently leased a factory unit which when inspected obviously needed a full rewire, we'e electrical contractors so offered to do it for a month free rent. Landlord declined and when we moved in there's a new domestic switchboard screwed to the original asbestos board with a brand new meter screwed next to it. They had to drill multiple holes in the asbestos to fit the meter, obviously in Sydney no one pays a lot of attention to the rules

[frantic]

We recently leased a factory unit which when inspected obviously needed a full rewire, we'e electrical contractors so offered to do it for a month free rent. Landlord declined and when we moved in there's a new domestic switchboard screwed to the original asbestos board with a brand new meter screwed next to it. They had to drill multiple holes in the asbestos to fit the meter, obviously in Sydney no one pays a lot of attention to the rules

Hope they cleaned up all the dust!
Afaik the rules are your not supposed to drill or cut/sand the stuff? Maybe talk to landlord about removal or workcover.

[PAT303]

You would think asbestos will kill you dead on sight considering how much people carry on over it,the stupidity of it boggles the mind. Pat

[jimr1]

It's amazing how in a few short years we have gone from , Fibro buildings , buildings with asbestos roofs , flues fire retardant's break shoes , pipe lagging , boiler lagging , I'm sure you can think of many others , The fact is It is truly horrible stuff for our health , but It is a great material . When I look at the way It is treated today , as to when I was a young Plumber , the pendulum has swung the other way . I wonder how many people still live with It , and how many work with It ? There work place !!..

[Meken]

You would think asbestos will kill you dead on sight considering how much people carry on over it,the stupidity of it boggles the mind. Pat


But just 1 fibre in your lungs may kill you 30 years later :(

- however it does seen overkill for one small piece that could be removed without the risk of breaking - in Queensland you don't need a licence to remove something like up to 10m2 - you still need to follow the recommendations (wet the board, protective gear breathing apparatus correct disposal (not just in skip) and keep people away from work area.

[Meken]

Oh ps it's perfectly safe if it's in a sheet product, unbroken & painted so the fibres cannot get airborne...
Well maybe not perfectly safe but minimal risk....

[PAT303]

But just 1 fibre in your lungs may kill you 30 years later :(

- however it does seen overkill for one small piece that could be removed without the risk of breaking - in Queensland you don't need a licence to remove something like up to 10m2 - you still need to follow the recommendations (wet the board, protective gear breathing apparatus correct disposal (not just in skip) and keep people away from work area.

Yep,like I said you'd think it would kill you on sight. Pat

[Sprint]

Well..... I can cheerfully say I've never **** myself after putting a holesaw through the ceiling in an older house while installing smoke detectors and discovering the plug of material left in the holesaw had the telltale heavily dimpled texture of asbestos sheet....

[Mick_Marsh]

You would think asbestos will kill you dead on sight considering how much people carry on over it,the stupidity of it boggles the mind. Pat
It is insidious stuff. You think it is ridiculous, until it gets you or someone close.

[boa]

A bit like the activity of Rolf and others. It hits you years later. The damage was done at the time.

[frantic]

Yep,like I said you'd think it would kill you on sight. Pat

Which would you prefer, being slowly strangled to death in front of your family for years, or being killed at work by a major gas leak? :mad:
Watched my mates grandfather who used to look after us as kids go from healthy mobile retired electrician , to being barely able to breathe. He used to work with the stuff in a power station.
Asbestos producers, and hardie knew from the 1950's that it was a toxic product, that's why the factory in sydney was known as the old mans factory. They had a policy of employing only older workers over 45 as the effects took in most cases 20-30 years, they could blame it on age.
The problem is some people react quicker than others, so you may be fine for 30+ years after drilling or cutting the stuff out of a power board, or roof cavity, but the child who walks through that dust could be hit by it in 5 to 20 years or as has happened in many cases your wife doing the washing could inhale the dust putting your gear in the wash.
As to " we used to use it" we also used to use DDT to weed, people used to use mercury as a medicine and women used to use ground up lead as part of their make up. ;)

[p38arover]

As to " we used to use it" we also used to use DDT to weed, people used to use mercury as a medicine and women used to use ground up lead as part of their make up. ;)

Or the "Radium Girls" Radium Girls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[RichardK]

My first job was as a junior hardware assistant in a general store in the southwest of WA, one of the jobs I had was helping unload asbestos sheeting from our truck (picked up from the goods rail) and sliding them into the racks, sheet by sheet, in 5 ton loads, in those days (late 50's) it was a normal thig to do.

I worked there for around 3 years.

The next job I had in Perth was similar but not as much exposure to asbestos. However I did numerous trips to James Hardie in Welshpool WA to pickup asbestos.

Following that, throughout my life until I became aware of the dangers
(around the 70's), I had some exposure through fences and some minimal house renovation.

3 years ago due to some throat and upper lung problems I visited the doctors and Xrays showed a thickening of the Bronchial tubes which may have been a precursor to Mesathelomia (think thats how it is spelt), so a visit to a lawyer who sent me to a specialist in those instances a further Xray revealed that I was clear.

I now believe my condition is genetic as my mother and sisters had/have bronchial problems.

Mesathelomia is a disease that when you become aware of it, it is too late

I am glad I gave up smoking over 40 years ago

[PAT303]

If asbestos is so dangerous why don't we have people dying in major cities from inhaling all the asbestos dust from all the cars driving around?,three years ago a test in Perth still found it floating around,you don't see all the street traders dying off,funny thing about it is people jump up and down about it yet quite happily smoke. Pat

[ATH]

I recall many homes being built in the UK after the war with asbestos sheeting for the walls and corrugated sheets for the roof. Totally inert if it was painted which it was and no scare mongering about it 40 years ago.
But since then I met a bloke while on a cruise who had mesothelioma and had to drag his battery powered oxygen pump around with him. He had been a fitter in the RN and lagged pipes with asbestos and I doubt if he's alive now.
And when I was at work, around 8 years ago a lady there, a fit full of life person suddenly fell ill and died......cause was determined to have been asbestos in her lungs from washing her husbands overalls.
Horrible stuff and the sickness it causes has been known since around the late 1940s I believe.
AlanH.

[amtravic1]

Asbestos is an evil product. I am a carpenter/builder and I am always concerned about the risk from it. I never used to be despite the warnings about the product. Then, my father got sick, no energy, could not breathe properly, constantly out of breath. The doctors did explorative surgery and found he had mesathealoma and there was nothing they could do. I helped nurse him at home for the 3 months he had left. It is an evil way to die and I would not wish it on my worst enemy.
It is wrong to think random people don't die from asbestos related diseases as they do. You just have to be in the wrong place and breath in a single microscopic fibre.
To those who think it is not that dangerous I hope you never have to find out that you or someone close to you has been exposed and has an asbestos related cancer.
What is really bad is from the research we did, James Hardie new of the dangers of the product from very early and deliberately only employed older people to work with it as they knew they would die before the 20-40 year delay for an asbestos related disease would show up.

[frantic]

If asbestos is so dangerous why don't we have people dying in major cities from inhaling all the asbestos dust from all the cars driving around?,three years ago a test in Perth still found it floating around,you don't see all the street traders dying off,funny thing about it is people jump up and down about it yet quite happily smoke. Pat

We do , that's why the claim fund is not expected to reach it's peak for over a decade. But if your unlucky enough to get the fibres from some wannabe Reno block rules hacking away at an old fibro wall, your not going to be at work by the time it hits.
Some of the problems are, it's started to decay, as the sheets have aged they are not holding together as well as new. Then you have house fires, as the stuff doesn't burn you'd think no worries, wrong. Once it gets hot enough it explodes into a cloud of dust, great for a fire fighter or any neghbours.
These are the reasons why any rainwater collected in cities, (NSW has had basix for a long time which legislated all new homes had to have water tanks) is not for drinking. Asbestos, combined with all the other industrial dust /motor vehicle fallout would quickly reduce the urban population.

Here's the stupid thing about smoking, from studies they found the heavy, chain smokers working in those industries had a lower rate of asbestos related illness, basically they where sucking their air through a filter!

[Meken]

We do , that's why the claim fund is not expected to reach it's peak for over a decade. But if your unlucky enough to get the fibres from some wannabe Reno block rules hacking away at an old fibro wall, your not going to be at work by the time it hits.

Some of the problems are, it's started to decay, as the sheets have aged they are not holding together as well as new. Then you have house fires, as the stuff doesn't burn you'd think no worries, wrong. Once it gets hot enough it explodes into a cloud of dust, great for a fire fighter or any neghbours.

These are the reasons why any rainwater collected in cities, (NSW has had basix for a long time which legislated all new homes had to have water tanks) is not for drinking. Asbestos, combined with all the other industrial dust /motor vehicle fallout would quickly reduce the urban population.



Here's the stupid thing about smoking, from studies they found the heavy, chain smokers working in those industries had a lower rate of asbestos related illness, basically they where sucking their air through a filter!


And the fibres that did get in got stuck in the tar and didn't get into tissue

[Discomark]

used to blow out brake drums in the late 70's and pretty sure brake linings were still made of asbestos back then :(
Seems to be quite a few mechanics who worked with asbestos brake linings getting asbestos related diseases.
Brake Mechanics | Turner Freeman WA (http://www.turnerfreeman.com.au/wa/asbestos-disease-claims/case-studies/other-workers/brake-mechanics)

[bob10]

I served on ships with asbestos steam pipe lagging. I was an ERA [ engine room articifer] We breathed the dust in, doing maintenance , it seems to be a random killer. A lot of my mates have died from asbestos related diseases, I have two plural plaques on my lungs, which I have been told is the bodies way of dealing with antibodies.[ asbestos] It forms a plaque over something it senses is a threat, and isolates it from the body, so to speak. I have been told my fitness level from playing rugby, helped my body to form the plaques. I love rugby. I hate asbestos, too many mates gone. And, I feel like a ticking bomb. Bob

[scarry]

I hate the stuff,we come across it everywhere,particularly in schools.

Mate of mines wife died from it,got it from his clothes.
Like many things,strange how it affects some,not others.
He was a carpenter,hasn't been affected by it,and recons some days they couldn't see from one end of the work shed to the other for the asbestos dust.

The other day,we had to screw a piece of hat section,four self tappers into an asbestos wall at a school,so had to do the job after hours...

Last week,the guy across the road replaced the liner in his pool,which is in his front yard,the old one had asbestos in it.They blocked the street off while they pulled it apart and put it in big sealed bags.Then they vacuumed everywhere and took the bags with them.

[scarry]

basically they where sucking their air through a filter!

Same with large A/C systems.

We get customers complaining the A/C is giving them this and that,bla,bla.

So we have the air inside tested,at their expense,and it is actually cleaner inside the building then the air outside.Even the fresh air makeup is always filtered as well.
Done this heaps of times at different sites,the result is always the same.

[d2dave]

But just 1 fibre in your lungs may kill you 30 years later :(

- however it does seen overkill for one small piece that could be removed without the risk of breaking - in Queensland you don't need a licence to remove something like up to 10m2 - you still need to follow the recommendations (wet the board, protective gear breathing apparatus correct disposal (not just in skip) and keep people away from work area.

Well I should have died 20 years ago. Being a retired spanner for years I used to on a daily basis put a car on the hoist, remove the brake drums(remember them) and fill the workshop with dust.

Now I know that only a percentage of this dust is asbestos. I have worked in places that were brake specialists, just did brakes all day long.

In 1990 I moved house and the one I purchased had an asbestos sheet garage that was not suitable so I demolished it. Back then there was no recycling, so we just had a full size wheelie bin. Guess where it all went. Back in the ground where it came from.

Now don't get me wrong, this is an evil stuff if you inhale enough of it and I have no problems with protecting workers that work with it on a regular basis. But what happened with the OP's case had me:Rolling:

In the mid 90's the school that my two children attended, who were at the time aged 7 & 9, did some major renovations. During this asbestos was found and the school was closed and the usual circus was put into place.

I had no issues with my two children being there had school continued. What really makes me laugh is that it can't be used in gaskets any more.

I can really see a head gasket giving me asbestos poisoning.

I reckon this stuff is viewed, incorrectly, to be worse the the ebola virus.

[isuzurover]

Asbestos is an evil product. .... ...You just have to be in the wrong place and breath in a single microscopic fibre. ...


Agree with the first part, and sorry to hear about your father. However most people in australia would have at least one asbestos fibre in their lungs.

[JDNSW]

I suspect that the danger is different for different forms of asbestos - the term covers multiple minerals, the most common being white and blue, the latter being the most dangerous apparently.

One interesting question - for about ninety years asbestos was the major component of all brake linings. What happens to them? they mostly turn to dust, which is dispersed into the air, mostly in our cities - which is where most of the cars are. Yet we do not see city wide epidemics of asbestos diseases, instead we see in almost all cases a distinct link to specific intense exposure.

The biggest home owner problem is probably since people started using power tools on fibro.

John

[d2dave]

I suspect that the danger is different for different forms of asbestos - the term covers multiple minerals, the most common being white and blue, the latter being the most dangerous apparently.

One interesting question - for about ninety years asbestos was the major component of all brake linings. What happens to them? they mostly turn to dust, which is dispersed into the air, mostly in our cities - which is where most of the cars are. Yet we do not see city wide epidemics of asbestos diseases, instead we see in almost all cases a distinct link to specific intense exposure.

The biggest home owner problem is probably since people started using power tools on fibro.

John

I did hear many years ago that when Melbourne's West gate bridge used to have tolls, there was concern for the staff that used to man the toll booths.

I grew up on a major arterial road that had set of traffic lights about 100 metres up the road. During the afternoon peak, for about two hours five days a week, cars were continually braking past my place.

Further up the road about two km where there are more lights there was a big tree in the front yard on the corner. This tree had a bit of historic value and was having some health issues.It was blamed on dust from cars brakes.

[isuzurover]

One interesting question - for about ninety years asbestos was the major component of all brake linings. What happens to them? they mostly turn to dust, which is dispersed into the air, mostly in our cities - which is where most of the cars are. Yet we do not see city wide epidemics of asbestos diseases, instead we see in almost all cases a distinct link to specific intense exposure.



Brake linings were white asbestos.
Also the heat and friction breaks the fibres up into spheroid-like particles, which are no more harmful than any other dust.
Asbestos is harmful because it is a mechanical irritant that cannot be clearanced from the lungs, not because of any chemical toxicity.

[PAT303]

I've been to a seminar on asbestos and the fibres from Perths CBD looked no different from the fibres they got from Tom Price,Paraburdoo and Newman.Whaleback was closed to mining for 2 weeks or so while I was there because they hit a seam of it,air samples pick it up all over the north of WA. Pat