Asbestos

The Dangers

What is Asbestos?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that has been used in a range of building materials to make them more rigid and fire resistant. It has also been used in household products such as ironing boards and oven gloves.

Asbestos was used extensively as a building material in Great Britain from the 1950s through to the mid 1980s.

Some of areas in your home or work where you may find asbestos include:

At Home:-

eaves gutters and rainwater fall pipes
fire blankets
garage and shed roofs
linings for walls, ceilings and doors
insulation panels in some storage heaters
bath panels
central heating flues
loose asbestos packing between floors and in partition walls
floor tiles

At Work:-

Sprayed/loose packed asbestos - eg. as fire breaks in ceiling voids
Sprayed coatings and laggings - eg. insulation of pipework
Sprayed asbestos & cement mixture - fire protection
Insulating boards - fire protection, thermal insulation
Some ceiling tiles
Asbestos board/paper products in electrical equipment
Asbestos cement products - roofing & wall cladding
Certain textured coatings

Most people are exposed to low amounts of asbestos present in the atmosphere with no ill effects. Asbestos fibres and dust are potentially very dangerous if inhaled in higher concentrations over a period of time, when they can cause serious lung diseases including cancer. The symptoms of these diseases often do not appear for between 20 -30 years after exposure to asbestos.

There is no cure for asbestos-related diseases. Blue (crocidolite) and brown (amosite) asbestos are known to be more hazardous than white (chrysotile). In general the more asbestos dust inhaled, the greater the risk to health.

Last updated 17/12/2009