Thread: Asbestos

Originally Posted by Homestar

Hi mate, yes it's very possible they could still contain asbestos. Nothing to be too scared by - just don't use compressed air or anything to clean out the brake dust - get an asbestos rated dusk mask

When I was involved in the service station game back in the 60's/70's we used compressed air as a matter of course every time a brake drum came off a car - no masks.

I also recall sanding down a laundry room ceiling and walls by hand in an old house - all was asbestos cement sheet- no masks.

in both instances it was normal practice in the day with the danger of asbestos still unknown.

The risk is way over rated.
My family had a automotive business which as a side line rebonded
brake shoes.
After rebonding the shoes would be placed in a radius grinder to get the shoes to the correct size.
The rebonding room was inches thick on the floor with the dust from the radius machine.
The dust was on the walls and window sills.
I would play with the dust as a kid in that room.
The dust was cleaned away with compressed air.
No one has ever had a problem.
I also a !ittle bit later in life helped my dad build sheds with fibro walls and I would be manning the fibro cutter .
Again no problems.
Then in my early years of being a mechanic, blowing. Brake dust out of drums was the norm
Again no problems.
THE BIGGEST RISK FACTOR IS SMOKING or a history of smoking.
99% of people who die from asbestosis have a smoking history.
A smokers lungs cannot handle the asbestos fibres.
The other big risk factor is as previously mentioned is asbestos lagging of pipes especially on ships and boilers..
Yes water is a good risk reduction method.

The crap on importing vehicles and machinery which now at more cost than they are worth have to be disassembled and possible asbestos components removed and treated dock side is plan overreacting and stupid.
All for a clutch plate or brake shoe lining or head gasket.
I have seen the BS the National parks do over pulling down a fibro dunny.
So called experts inspect a old piece of machinery............ban it due to a asbestos sealing gasket on a steel hatch lid when a simple eye ball and look up in a parts book finds it is a leather seal.
The powers to be can not use common sense and yes use precautions and handling.
Asbestos is going to be with us for many years yet and it has many useful properties.
Asbestos doesn't rot.
BAND SMOKING..........not asbestos.............just treat asbestos with caution.

I think that part of the issue is 'what is asbestos?' There are about half a dozen minerals referred to as such, but for Australian purposes there are only two significant ones, Chrysotile and crocidolite. Both of these have been widely used in this country and marketed as asbestos, and are sometimes referred to as 'white asbestos' and 'blue asbestos'. Up until about the 1960s chrysotile was used almost exclusively in this country, but new mines then began to supply large quantities of crocidolite, and the two were used more or less interchangeably.

While both are rated as carcinogenic, crocidolite is considered to be much more dangerous, perhaps because the fibres are more brittle, so that they break more readily into particles small enough to reach the lungs when inhaled (most particles inhaled are trapped in the nose or bronchial system and eventually rejected (sneeze, nose blow or cough).

The only person I know who has died from asbestos related disease was a close friend whose exposure was attributed to RN National Service where he was exposed to deteriorating pipe lagging in ships fifty years earlier - he reported visibility being affected in some compartments by the haze of asbestos particles when under way. My brother in law died in his eighties, not from asbestos related disease, despite working in an asbestos factory for thirty years up to 1970 (less war service).

All the hype about asbestos has made many jobs particularly for council workers it seems. The performance not long ago when a couple of sheets of "asbestos" fencing fell off a truck on a small roundabout was amazing.
An army of white overall clad oafs with full face masks descended, traffic stopped and diverted while they stood around discussing tactics, then sheets covered in plastic. tightly bound with tape, gingerly lifted into the back of a truck which slowly trundled away with lights flashing to warn road users. No wonder fencing contractors etc. dump the stuff in the bush as the tip charges are exorbitant. ..... as they are for all dumping. But bureaucraps have to be paid.
I have met people with lung problems who worked with asbestos though and one was an ex pipe lagger from the RN and he smoked constantly before giving up "in case it killed him"!
I worked as a maintenance fitter in a factory which used a mix of asbestos and bitumen for covering iron sheeting for roofs and walls and the blokes there had tiny masks while working in the hammer mill section where the air was thick with dust.
Not sure if any of them died but they also all smoked. I always refused to work in that section though.
Many houses called 'pre-fabs" were built in Britain after the war and they were all made from asbestos sheeting for walls and rooves. Served many people well for many years before all this scare about the dust.
Take reasonable precautions like not grinding the stuff and you should be OK.
As others have said smoking is more likely to kill you than asbestos plus it makes you stink......
AlanH.

Asbestos cement sheeting was very widely used in Australia as a building material from about the end of WW1 into the 1980s, and there are probably hundreds of thousands of houses using it as the main cladding material in use today. Even more, probably, as it was a favourite material for DIY extensions and modifications. Generally speaking it is considered perfectly safe if left alone, but definitely don't use power tools on it that may result in dust. If you need to cut it or make holes in it, wet it and use hand tools.

"Mr Fluffy" spray in asbestos insulation is probably a lot more significant as a risk, since it is loose asbestos.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Asbestos cement sheeting was very widely used in Australia as a building material from about the end of WW1 into the 1980s, and there are probably hundreds of thousands of houses using it as the main cladding material in use today. Even more, probably, as it was a favourite material for DIY extensions and modifications. Generally speaking it is considered perfectly safe if left alone, but definitely don't use power tools on it that may result in dust. If you need to cut it or make holes in it, wet it and use hand tools.

"Mr Fluffy" spray in asbestos insulation is probably a lot more significant as a risk, since it is loose asbestos.

I have spray in insulation in the ceiling and have been up in the roof cavity, when I saw the segment on Mr Fluffy insulation many years ago I panicked. I rang CRISO regarding the testing of my insulation, I was advised not to waste my money as Mr Fluffy was not used in Victoria, it was Canberra and NSW homes affected. I was told I could test mine myself by setting a match to it and if it burned it was cellulose. I was very relived after.

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

The risk is way over rated.
My family had a automotive business which as a side line rebonded
brake shoes.
After rebonding the shoes would be placed in a radius grinder to get the shoes to the correct size.
The rebonding room was inches thick on the floor with the dust from the radius machine.
The dust was on the walls and window sills.
I would play with the dust as a kid in that room.
The dust was cleaned away with compressed air.
No one has ever had a problem.
I also a !ittle bit later in life helped my dad build sheds with fibro walls and I would be manning the fibro cutter .
Again no problems.
Then in my early years of being a mechanic, blowing. Brake dust out of drums was the norm
Again no problems.
THE BIGGEST RISK FACTOR IS SMOKING or a history of smoking.
99% of people who die from asbestosis have a smoking history.
A smokers lungs cannot handle the asbestos fibres.
The other big risk factor is as previously mentioned is asbestos lagging of pipes especially on ships and boilers..
Yes water is a good risk reduction method.

This is incredibly poor advice, Ron. Only about a quarter of lung cancer deaths are attributable to the interaction between smoking and asbestos. Yes, history of smoking is related to an increased risk of lung cancer, but the idea that smokers lungs "cannot handle asbestos" is just not based in fact.

Just because you and your family have not suffered any effects of asbestos exposure does not make asbestos risk "over rated" - there are many factors at play and you may well have scarring on the lungs from exposure without and noticeable effects. No exposure to asbestos fibres is safe.

I'm a qualified asbestos assessor, in case you wonder why I'm chiming in on this. I was also an apprentice mechanic when we used to blow brake linings with air, and then got told to stop and use water instead.