Asbestos removal

[Roverlord off road spares]

The neighbors have a licenced asbestos removal contractor on site to remove fibro cladding. A frame sign at front says warning asbestos removal , protective gear must be worn, do not enter site The guys are wearing blue overalls and breathing masks. The day is warming up so the overalls are dropped from the upper body and they are working in singlets with a breathing mask on.
They have a truck with plastic lining, the asbestos panels are too big, to fit so one gets into the truck and jumps up and down on the asbestos to break it up to fit. They were pulling the sheets of cladding off in large pieces earlier but not I see them smashing off the walls with a hammer and letting it drop onto the ground onto a plastic sheet , it then smashes into smaller pieces and dust and fragments splinter. Lots of scre mongering about asbestos and pricing to get it removed, but I just don't think these guys are doing it right?

[Chops]

I suspect your right Mario.
Theres a reason all the safety aspects were implemented. It's interesting that they are just loading it in the back of a truck,, a tipper maybe(?). As far as I'm aware from a mate that was close to this kind of work, was it had to be placed gently in drums and then sealed.
A lot of the 200Lt drums we discard at work end up with these guys.
It'd be interesting to see what the authorities would have to say about it,, I believe it's quite a hefty fine if the rules are not followed to the letter. I think this is one of the reasons you have to be licenced to do this work,, otherwise every man and his dog would be doing it privately, and we'd end up with a heap of very sick puppies.

[rangieman]

Take some happy snaps and or video and inform the EPA[wink11]
It is not just them that are at risk but all in the area[bighmmm]

[Chops]

I forgot too,, I think if their working on the outside of a house, they may actually have to cover the entire house. Rules may have been relaxed, but I don't think so.
Because this is such a big expensive job, my step daughter bought a newer house with no asbestos in it, as opposed to buying her Grandads old place.

[Roverlord off road spares]

I suspect your right Mario.
Theres a reason all the safety aspects were implemented. It's interesting that they are just loading it in the back of a truck,, a tipper maybe(?). As far as I'm aware from a mate that was close to this kind of work, was it had to be placed gently in drums and then sealed.
A lot of the 200Lt drums we discard at work end up with these guys.
It'd be interesting to see what the authorities would have to say about it,, I believe it's quite a hefty fine if the rules are not followed to the letter. I think this is one of the reasons you have to be licenced to do this work,, otherwise every man and his dog would be doing it privately, and we'd end up with a heap of very sick puppies.
Chops I think fibrous asbestos must be put into drums, but sheets go into a tipper lined in plastic.

The Rosebud tip will take small quanties of DYI home owners, but not commercial quantities.
They say the Asbestos must be wrapped in H/D plastic sheet and sealed, and labled asbestos, it must also be small enough for some one to be able to handle it. From what I read on the Vic g
asbestos.vic.gov.au
Licensed asbestos removalists Unlicensed removal of asbestos can be legally carried out by homeowners, however, some jobs are best left to the experts. If you are considering a renovation or demolition that involves disturbing large amounts of asbestos cement materials, removing friable asbestos products, or demolition of all or part of your property, you are strongly advised to engage a licensed asbestos removalist who knows how to manage this work safely, and without risk to you or your neighbours.

Generally, asbestos removal is required to be carried out by a removalist licensed by WorkSafe, or trained employees of a licence-holder. The licence-holder is usually required to notify WorkSafe in advance before any asbestos removal work is carried out.
There are two types of licenses for asbestos removalists:
Class B licence-holders are only permitted to remove non-friable asbestos and must comply with a number of requirements, including:


appointing a nominated supervisor to oversee the removal work
developing a control plan before the job
informing employers in the immediate and adjacent areas of proposed domestic removal work
using specific methods for removal, waste containment and waste disposal
using signs and barricades
providing decontamination facilities
providing their employees with information, training, personal protective clothing and equipment, and medical examinations

Only Class A licence-holders are permitted to remove friable asbestos. Class A licence-holders must comply with the same requirements outlined above for Class B licence holders, but must also implement a range of specific measures to carry out the work safely and control the risk, including using enclosures and always having the nominated supervisor on site.
You can use WorkSafe's Service Providers Directory to find a licensed asbestos removalist (http://www1.worksafe.vic.gov.au/vwa/ServiceProviderDirec.nsf/category?openForm&List=Asbestos%20-%20Licensed%20Removalists&ListType=Sub)

[Roverlord off road spares]

Take some happy snaps and or video and inform the EPA[wink11]
It is not just them that are at risk but all in the area[bighmmm]
Chris, My private investigator days ended over 30 years ago. Anyway it's almost all done now.

Cheers Mario

[Lemo]

Did they keep it wet or spray bondcrete before removal?
And you get what you pay for!! Recently had my bath room done and the price difference between reputable and the guy down the road were remarkable!! I payed to have it done correctly as I didn't want the kids or the wife getting asbestosis!!
They even vacuumed the internal walls after removal and also seal with bondcrete!

[Hall]

Not trying to any way lessen he dangers of asbestos. But Fibro sheet used to be 10% asbestos and 90% cement. So not a lot of asbestos in any sheet. So due care taken and proper procedures the risks are fairly low. At a place I worked they where ripping up old but still serviceable lino tiles that contained 1% asbestos.
Cheers Hall

[BMKal]

We're soon to have the entire roof replaced on my young bloke's house here in Kalgoorlie. It is currently fibro / asbestos sheet lined, with ridge capping in the same material. Some of the ridge capping was blown off in a recent storm, and you cannot purchase replacement in the same or similar materials - so the entire roof has to be replaced.

Currently waiting on advice from his insurers as two builders have quoted to replace roof. But - before we got insurance company / builders involved, we priced up doing the job ourselves as it is a pretty straight forward roof and could easily be sheeted in iron in a single day. We obtained a quote from the recommended "demolition" people in Kalgoorlie who are licenced to remove asbestos (about $3K to remove the entire roof and take it to the tip). They told us that everything had to be removed and placed into heavy duty plastic bags, sealed and labelled, and then delivered to the tip.

His house / property has been hit hard by three severe storms in the past few weeks. The first one was strong wind only, and was when the roof was damaged. The two subsequent storms resulted in flooding of his yard and sheds - luckily only a very small amount of water got into the house through the damaged section of the roof (even though we have a pretty good temporary patch on it). The last of the three storms saw his back fence and gate blown out into the laneway behind his property - we had to pull what was left of the fence down and re-build it in the following couple of days. This same storm flooded his back shed - where his Mazda RX7 was locked up. The Mazda is currently at one of the local panel beaters where it has been assessed, and has now been declared a write-off by the insurance company. To say that he and his neighbours are not happy with the local council's **** poor attempt at street drainage us an understatement. :censored:

[Roverlord off road spares]

BMKAL,. it the roof was damaged by storm wouldn't your insurance cover it, since Asbestos can't be repaired they would have to pay for a new roof.???

[Roverlord off road spares]

Did they keep it wet or spray bondcrete before removal?
And you get what you pay for!! Recently had my bath room done and the price difference between reputable and the guy down the road were remarkable!! I payed to have it done correctly as I didn't want the kids or the wife getting asbestosis!!

They even vacuumed the internal walls after removal and also seal with bondcrete!
I watched them when they finished they were bending over the lawn area picking up fragments (asbestos or nails couldn't ell, but what the did with this was amazing, they just turfed it all through the inspection door for under the house , and in between the wall plates and the joists! then packed up and dusted their clothes down near their vehicles in the street.

[BMKal]

BMKAL,. it the roof was damaged by storm wouldn't your insurance cover it, since Asbestos can't be repaired they would have to pay for a new roof.???

That is certainly what I would expect. Still waiting to hear whether insurance company will accept the claim. They had builders and an assessor up here last week from Perth looking at a number of damaged properties.

So far, the insurance company that he had the Mazda insured with has accepted the claim, and will pay out the write-off at agreed value. Hopefully, the insurer for the house will also do the right thing.

[Toxic_Avenger]

A relative of mine was a fitter and turner for a sand mining operation his entire life. One routine operation was turning asbestos pipes on a lathe to move sand slurry around the plant.
He died of old age.
[thumbsupbig]

Yes it's dangerous, but it's not an immediate or definite death sentence.

[Roverlord off road spares]

Remember years ago in Canberra a company called " Mr Fluffy" thry pumped asbestos into the home roofs as installation. I have cellulose insulation in my roof, after seeing that program I rang CSIRO to get mine tested, they replied to me and asked if I saw the TV program, and said I would have wasted my money if I had them test it. They said in Vic it wasn't used. They said get a match and burn it if it burns then its not asbestos.
Made me feel better as I had been up in the roof many times disturbing it.

[JDNSW]

One of the issues with asbestos is that there have been two types used in Australia, white asbestos and blue asbestos. Blue asbestos is far more dangerous than is white, probably because the fibres are more brittle and don't usually break into bits small enough to inhale.

Most Australian manufacture used white asbestos until the 1950s, when increasing production meant shortages of raw materials, and blue asbestos increasingly was added to the mix. There is no practical way of telling which is present in any particular case.

It seems to me that the risk is likely to be overstated in most cases - for example, until the 1980s, nearly all brake linings had large proportions of asbestos in their composition. And what happens to brake linings? They are converted to very fine dust, which ends up widely dispersed, so that it is a reasonable assumption that almost everyone, at least in the urban population, was exposed to asbestos for fifty years or more. Yet asbestos diseases remain rare in the general population.

I only know of two people who have had mesothelioma, and both of them were easily able to identify specific occupational exposure to gross levels of asbestos dust. One was during his National Service in the RN fifty years before he developed the disease, the other was able to attribute it to using an angle grinder on dry fibro sheeting. On the other hand, my brother-in-law worked in Hardies fibro factory in Sydney for over thirty years, and died in his late eighties from a heart attack attributed to his war service (smoking!). Despite his wife washing clothes covered in asbestos fibres for over twenty years, she is still going in her eighties, and while not in the best of health, none of her issues are asbestos related.

[ATH]

Horrid stuff and I worked at a place in the UK where they used it as part of cladding along with bitumen, of corrugated iron for the sheeting of walls and roofs of factories and housing.
In this place they had a section where the asbestos was pulverised was sheer hell with dust everywhere. I never worked there luckily.
Safety equipment back then was a little face mask worn by many these days for things much less dangerous than that stuff. I believe the company is one of those in the UK who have been targeted for the deaths of employees.
I do not know of how many from there have died as a result of working there.
But I have known 2 people who died of it... one was an RN fitter who lagged steam pipes with it and the other was a lady who washed hubby's overalls. I met the RN bloke on a cruise ship and he dragged his battery powered oxygen bottle with him everywhere, and the lady was a fellow worker in a TAFE here in Perth. Dead in her late 40s or early 50s. She died after washing hubby's overalls full of asbestos dust but he's still alive.
On the other hand they built many "prefabs" after the war in the UK to house people and I don't know of any that died of sickness bought on by living in them. Maybe because they were fully sealed with paint etc. with no dust in the air.
Asbestos sheeting is one of the most illegally dumped items in WA where it was used for fencing...... tip charges and complying with regulations are too expensive for many people.
AlanH.

[BMKal]

When I was a kid, my younger brother was a chronic asthmatic. We were living in Cobar in NSW and had to visit Sydney at least twice a year from memory for his medical treatment, usually staying at the Far West Home. The doctors recommended strongly that my father seek alternative employment, as they believed that something in the air around Cobar was making things worse for my brother. My father looked for another job, and was offered two positions (he was a metallurgist, working in the mining industry). One position was with "Australian Blue Asbestos" at Wittenoom in WA. The other was with a company called "United Uranium" in the NT - but was working in a Silver / Lead / Zinc processing operation at a place called Moline.

The doctors all recommended that he take the position in Wittenoom, as it had a much drier climate than could be expected at Moline, and they believed the humidity we would encounter at Moline would only make my brother's asthma worse.

For reasons known only to himself, my father went against that advice and accepted the job at Moline, where we spent a few years. Probably a good thing on two counts -

we never went to Wittenoom and never had any exposure to asbestos, and
a few years in the tropics actually cured my brother of chronic asthma. He has had no real issue with the illness since.