Asbestos Awareness
The name "asbestos"
comes from the Greek
meaning
"inextinguishable".
CPD Seminar
Date: 06/03/2014
By: Andy Jobling
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Introduction
Asbestos Related Diseases:
• 4700 deaths in 2011 (the latest year with published data)
• 2291 people died from mesothelioma in 2011 and a similar number from
asbestos related lung cancer and 429 from asbestosis.
• Typically, there can be a 15–60 years gap between first exposure and
diagnosis
• Deaths are still rising and not expected to peak until 2016
• Asbestos was used in hundreds of different products and buildings
from the 1950’s to the mid 1990’s.
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Deaths still rising…..
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Deaths still rising…..
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Who’s at Risk ?
The ‘top 20’ mortality rate occupations, in descending order of rate, are:
1.
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3.
4.
5.
6.
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8.
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10.
11.
12.
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14.
15.
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17.
18.
19.
20.
Carpenters and joiners
Plumbers; heating and ventilating engineers
Electricians; electrical fitters
Labourers in other construction trades
Metal plate workers; shipwrights; riveters
Pipe fitters
Construction operatives
Managers in construction
Construction trades
Energy plant operatives
Fire service officers (leading fire officer and below)
Painters and decorators
Sheet metal workers
Metal working production and maintenance fitters
Managers and proprietors in other services
Metal working machine operatives
Stevedores; dockers and slingers
Draughtspersons
Electrical/electronics engineers
Welding trades
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As can be seen
Construction trades
constitute almost half of
those who suffer the
highest risks.
What is Asbestos ?
• Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous material and has been used for
about 150 years on a large scale. It is versatile, plentiful and ideal as a
fire-proofing and insulation material. But it can be deadly!
There are many types
of asbestos but only
three main types are
used commercially,
other types are less
abundant.
Chrysotile (white)
Amosite
(brown)
Crocidolite (blue)
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Types of Asbestos
Chrysotile
(White)
This is a white
fibre asbestos
and accounts for
90% of asbestos
in products.
It is a member of
the serpentine
group.
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Types of Asbestos
Amosite
(Brown or Grey)
This is brown/grey
in colour and is
straight, unlike
Chrysotile which
is curly.
It belongs to the
amphibole group.
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Types of Asbestos
Crocidolite
(Blue)
This is blue, and
the fibres are
also straight.
It is also a
member of the
amphilbole
group.
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Types of Asbestos
Important…..
All are dangerous…..
blue and brown asbestos are known to be more pernicious than
white…….
however, as you will need a laboratory to properly identify the different
types of asbestos, treat all with equal caution.
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Why is it dangerous ?
• If you inhale asbestos fibres (which are long and thin) they can become
lodged in the tissue of your chest and your body’s natural defences may
not be able to easily break them down. This can lead to lung diseases
(mainly cancers), particularly if you are repeatedly exposed to fibres over
a number of years.
• If ingested the fibre can cause cancers of the stomach and/or colon.
• Generally, asbestos is only a risk if you disturb or damage it and cause
fibres to be released into the air. If asbestos containing materials are in
good condition and in a position where they are not going to be
disturbed or damaged then it is safer to leave them where they are and
ensure that the risks are managed.
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Asbestos Related Diseases
Exposure to asbestos has been shown to cause
four main diseases:
Asbestosis:
irreversible scarring of the lungs;
Diffuse Pleural Thickening:
thickening of the lung lining;
Lung cancer:
increased incidence of cancer,
particularly if you smoke;
Mesothelioma:
cancer of the lining of the lungs
or stomach.
Typically, there can be a 15–60 years gap between
first exposure and diagnosis.
None of these illnesses can be cured –
mesothelioma and lung cancer are fatal diseases,
often within one year of diagnosis.
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Where is it normally found ?
Asbestos was used in hundreds of different products and buildings from
the 1950’s to the late 1990’s.
Asbestos cement was used up until 1999 in a variety of different premises
and materials.
Any building that was constructed or had major refurbishment between
the 1950’s and mid 1980’s is likely to contain some type of asbestos
containing material.
Use of asbestos peaked in the 1960’s and early 1970’s – premises built or
refurbished during this time are the most likely to contain some form of
asbestos.
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Asbestos in Buildings
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Extract from MDHS 100 –
now replaced by HSG 264
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Asbestos in Buildings
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Extract from
HSG 264
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Asbestos in Buildings
Sprayed
Coatings
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Asbestos in Buildings
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AIB’s - Asbestos
Insulating Boards
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Asbestos in Buildings
Artex Coating
‘Artex’ produced by Artex Blue Hawk Limited and a range of similar decorative wall
and ceiling finishes from other manufacturers used asbestos in their formulations
until the late 1980’s.
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Asbestos in Buildings
Asbestos Cement
Sheeting
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Asbestos in Buildings
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ACM’s - Asbestos
Containing Materials
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Asbestos in Buildings
Pipe
Lagging
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Asbestos in Buildings
Video – Asbestos in Buildings
Speakers:
Ross Udall
Particle Analysis
Malcolm Darvill
HSE
Tony Dicker
Corporation of London
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Asbestos Surveys
This HSE document identifies two types of asbestos survey
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Asbestos Survey Types
• Management: continued use of the building:
– normal occupancy/activities and
– associated maintenance/installation etc
– involve minor intrusive work
• Refurbishment/demolition:
– includes “minor” refurbishment
Surveys can involve combination of sampling and presuming ACMs present
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The Purpose of the Asbestos Survey
SURVEY
Refurbishment or
Demolition
Survey
Management
Survey
Asbestos Register
plan/drawing
Risk assessment
Management plan
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‘Management’ Survey
Survey all accessible areas (sfarp):
– Walls, ceilings, pipes, boilers, cladding
– Lift shafts, inside risers, service ducts, above false
ceilings, tunnels etc
Areas not inspected must be presumed to contain asbestos
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Asbestos:
Managing
Maintenance
Work
Train all staff who may
disturb fabric of building
Awareness training
Before ANY work starts
contact coordinator
Check Register/plan
No further
action
NO
Are ACMs involved?
Asbestos Essentials
YES
Trained staff
Control of work
Clean up
Plan work
Inform early
Check asbestos trained
Monitor work
Check clean up
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Licensed
Contractor?
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‘Refurbisment & Demolition’ Survey
• Used to locate ALL ACMs in ALL area
– Structural locations
– Break thro walls, ceilings, cladding, partitions etc
– Inside cavity walls, ducts and tunnels; under floor
tiles
• Refurbishment surveys can be small
scale/localised
– Needed for home improvement programmes
– eg new kitchens, bathrooms, electrics, plumbing,
windows, roofs etc
•
•
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involves destructive/aggressive inspection
All work which disturbs fabric of building in areas
where Management Survey has not been intrusive
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‘Refurbisment & Demolition’ Survey
•
•
•
•
Will be necessary where refurbishment work is to be carried out
Will vary in size
Can be “localised”
Necessary for home improvement schemes
– Management survey is NOT sufficient
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No Survey
What happens if:
No Survey
Poor Survey
Wrong Survey Type
Good Survey but not used
Contamination
Public anxiety
Building closure
Clean-up costs
Enforcement action
Disease
Civil action
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Asbestos Surveys
Note this document was replaced in November 2010.
This former HSE document identified 3 types of asbestos survey
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Asbestos Surveys
Type 1. Presumptive ‘walk-through’ Asbestos Surveys
No longer applicable from Nov 2010, but you may still come across
previously prepared surveys.
Walk-through asbestos surveys are a rapid, visual assessment of the
suspected asbestos installations present on a site. The survey
technique relies on the ability of the surveyor to visually identify asbestos and
does not include the taking of samples to confirm the presence of asbestos.
Hence the surveyor has presumed the presence of asbestos using his / her
experience and knowledge of asbestos in buildings. Moreover, all installations
and all inaccessible areas shall be assumed to contain asbestos, until it can
be proven otherwise by a Type 2 or Type 3 survey.
The benefits of this survey technique are that it is very quick and less
expensive than other survey types.
The disadvantages are that the accuracy of the survey is heavily dependent
on the experience and expertise of the surveyor and that the survey will only
highlight areas of probable asbestos. The duty is on the surveyor to assume
materials contain asbestos, unless he is categorically sure that they do not.
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Asbestos Surveys
Type 2. Standard Sampling Asbestos Survey
No longer applicable from Nov 2010, but you may still come across
previously prepared surveys.
Standard sampling asbestos surveys are the most common form of asbestos
survey undertaken. This requires the surveyor, again, to identify any
installations on a site that she/he suspects may contain asbestos. These
installations are then sampled (may require several samples
depending on size and complexity of the suspect installation) and
analysis carried out at an UKAS-accredited laboratory.
The benefits of this survey technique are that a much more accurate result
than the survey is achieved, by confirming where asbestos is present. It will
also give additional information on asbestos types / concentrations on which
to base an assessment of risk.
The disadvantages are that the survey technique requires more time and is
therefore more expensive. The survey does not include for breaking into voids
or inaccessible areas, and as such the surveyor may miss any asbestos
present in such areas.
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Asbestos Surveys
Type 3. Full access Intrusive Asbestos Survey
No longer applicable from Nov 2010, but you may still come across
previously prepared surveys.
Full access intrusive asbestos surveys extend the Type 2 survey to include
investigations into reasonably accessible sealed voids and the fabric
of the building. This will include breaking through partition walls, ceilings etc.
to confirm the presence or absence of asbestos and, normally, this is carried
out prior to demolition or major refurbishment works where significant
damage to the building will not be a problem.
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Licensed Removal
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Licensed Removal
14 Day Notice
to HSE before
works
commence
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Licensed Removal
Airtight
enclosure
with
airlock
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Asbestos Timeline
1st Century AD Slaves working in asbestos mines died young.
1857 First asbestos production in the United Kingdom
1880 First asbestos plants set up in the United Kingdom
1898 Asbestos first found to be "evil" by Her Majesties Medical Inspector. A
microscope examination showed "glass-lake" and "jagged" particles.
1906 Dr Montague Murray, British physician, diagnoses death of a worker
from asbestos disease.
1918 Prudential refuses to sell personal life insurance to asbestos workers .
1930 Merewether and Price, medical and engineering inspectors of factories,
place before Parliament a report confirming the epidemic of asbestos disease
among British asbestos workers.
1931 The Asbestos Industry Regulations established. These set a "safe" level
that allowed one worker in three to get asbestosis after 15-19 years exposure.
1955 Richard Doll publishes evidence that asbestos causes lung cancer, 20
years after the first reports of high levels of lung cancer in asbestos workers.
Doll's paper convinces the scientists.
Cont’d…..
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Asbestos Timeline
1960 Professor Chris Wagner produces evidence of the link between
asbestos and mesothelioma among South African miners and people living
near the mines.
1960 The UK adopts the American "safe" standard of 1938 based on a
biased sample in North Carolina. This level allows exposures 15 times the 1969
levels. Up to 1960 63 papers on the hazards of asbestos had been published
in the US, the UK and Canada. The 52 independent papers showed asbestos
to be a dangerous source of asbestosis and lung cancer; they were largely
ignored. The 11 sponsored by industry presented virtually the opposite
conclusions.
1968 The British Occupational Hygiene Society offers a safety standard for
white asbestos 0.2 fibres/ml. The asbestos industry conducted a single survey
at Turner and Newall's Rochdale plant and came up with this level which was
incorporated into the 1969 Asbestos Regulations.
1970 The 1969 Asbestos Regulations were introduced.
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Cont’d…….
Asbestos Timeline
1976 The Ombudsman, Sir Alan Marre, revealed the horrors of the massacre
at Hebden Bridge. 12% of employees had crippling asbestos diseases.
1982 Yorkshire TV's documentary Alice - a fight for Life was first shown.
Richard Peto, then Reader in Cancer Studies, University of Oxford, predicts a
total of about 50,000 asbestos-induced deaths in the UK in the next 30 years
or so.
1983 The Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations are enacted.
1985 The Asbestos (Prohibition) Regulations were introduced and later
amended in 1992.
1987 The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations are introduced and later
amended in 1992.
1999 24th November - last date for installation of asbestos materials.
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Current Regulations
2006 The Control of Asbestos Regulations consolidate all previous
Regulations into one Act.
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Duty to Manage
If you own, occupy, manage or have
responsibilities for premises which may
contain asbestos, you will either have:
■ a legal duty to manage the risk from
this material; or
■ a duty to co-operate with whoever
manages that risk.
Regulation 4 became law 21 May 2004.
Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002
created a then new legal duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic
premises. (now Reg 4 of 2006 Regulations)
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Manage
maintenance
work
immediate
NO
Record
Asbestos: Duty to
Manage Overview
Appointed Person
(and deputy)
Find out if ACMs present
Check plans/drawings
Survey
Record:
Asbestos Register
plan/drawing
YES
No further
action
Check condition
Is it liable to be disturbed?
Who can be exposed?
Prioritise
Risk assessment
Management plan
Monitor
Damaged
ACMs
Repair/remove
Manage
- training
- management of contractors;
- any work checked against
plan/register;
- control of work itself:
- ‘asbestos essentials’
- compliance with CAR
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Duty to Manage
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Format for Asbestos Register
ADDRESS:
DATE:
Location
Product Type
Extent
Accessibility
Condition
Surface Treatment
Asbestos Type
Sample No
Sampled/
Presumed/
Strongly Presumed
Material
Assessment Score
and
ACTION
Priority Score
ACTION
Room 4
1st floor
Ceiling
AIB
Whole ceiling
120 sq m
Medium
Good
Painted one face only
Amosite
1
Sampled
4 samples
5
12
Room 4
1st floor
Fire door
Asbestos board on
door carcass (AIB)
21 sq m
Medium
Good
Encapsulated by
wood in door
Amosite
2
Sampled
1 sample
5
12
Room 5
Store ceiling
Asbestos ceiling tiles
(AIB)
5 sq m
Medium
Good
Painted one face only
Amosite
3
Sampled
1 sample
5
13
Room 5
Store lino on floor
Cushion floor
(paper)
5 sq m
Easy
Good damage to
edge
Covered by vinyl
Chrysotile
4
Sampled
1 sample
4
11
Room 5
Store
Electrical switch
box
Woven cloth
Possibly 4
items
Medium
Medium
Unsealed
Chrysotile
5
Strongly presumed
8
14 remove during
next campaign
Lift Motor room
Roof
Brake shoes
2 items
Difficult
Medium
Unsealed
Chrysotile
6
Strongly presumed
4
10 ‘H’ Vac dust
Plant room
Roof
Pipe lagging
Pipe insulation
24 linear
meters
Easy
Good
Sealed and labelled
Crocidolit
Amosite
Chrysotile
7
Sampled
6 samples
8
14 remove during
next campaign
Plant room
Roof
Wall panels
Asbestos panels (AIB)
43 sq m
Easy
Good
1 face sealed and
labelled
Chrysotile
8
Sampled
4 samples
5
14 monitor
weekly
Material Scores above 10 have high potential to release fibres
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Duty to Manage
i.e. Asbestos Register
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Duty to Manage
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Duty to Manage
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Duty to Manage
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Treat Asbestos with Respect
Remember:
•
4700 deaths in 2011 (the latest year with published data)
•
Typically, there can be a 15–60 years gap between first exposure and
diagnosis
•
Deaths are still rising and not expected to peak until 2016
•
Asbestos was used in hundreds of different products and buildings
from the 1950’s to the mid 1990’s.
•
Carry out a Risk Assessment before visiting any site/building.
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What to do if you find asbestos
• Stop work immediately.
• Do a risk assessment to
decide who must do the work
- you may need a licensed
contractor.
• Minimise the spread of
contamination to other areas.
• Keep exposures as low as you
can.
• Clean up any contamination.
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So, now who will open the box ???
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