Asbestos awareness course!

[HappyHippyDad]

Afternoon all..

I booked myself onto an Asbestos awareness course and went to it today so i thought I'd give my thoughts on it.

Well run, the chap who took it knew what he was talking about and answered most of the questions thrown at him.

One of his main points was to make it very clear that we should not be disturbing the fabric of the building or indeed pretty much anything (asbestos seems to be everywhere!) without having an asbestos survey undertaken first, as it was impossible to tell just by looking if something has asbestos in it.

I had a few questions:
"So if I an installing 4 downlights I should be asking for an asbestos survey before?"
"If I am installing a vent into a soffit board should I be asking for an asbestos survey before?"
etc etc etc

He was a nice chap and said that of course that it wasn't practicable to have a survey undertaken and he then said there was not an answer to my question.

So overall I cant really see that the course was of any use at all and I am left none the wiser as to how to avoid asbestos!

Bit disappointed really.

What do you chaps do who work in houses to avoid exposure to asbestos?

 

[ImpededLoop]

If a material that's made of asbestos needs a hole cutting in it, I don't do it.

There's further information on the HSE website. It's not an area that really is appropriate for people to give opinions or misguided information about.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

If a material that's made of asbestos needs a hole cutting in it, I don't do it.

There's further information on the HSE website. It's not an area that really is appropriate for people to give opinions or misguided information about.

I think it is a very appropriate subject to give opinions on IL. We all work with asbestos within the electrics trade, but we just dont know when we are working with it! If I could say "thats got asbestos in it" then I would leave it alone, thats an easy decision to make. But as I said in the OP, you dont truly know if a plasterboard, soffit etc has asbestos without testing it, which isn't going to happen.

So, asking for opinions of what fellow tradesmen do makes sense to me as I can then make some intelligent decisions on which of those tradesmens responses I will take on board and which I will ignore. In addition i'll be looking at the HSE website.

 

[Deleted member 72666]

With training and experience you can usually tell by just looking if it's made from asbestos (or contains asbestos) but not when it's been boarded over or covered up, which really makes it a hidden danger.

 

[NDG Elecs]

It would be good if cheap disposable testing kits were available. This would make it more practical on a daily basis for us. Whether this is possible is another thing though. Also they would have to be very cheap indeed.

I guess the course showed pics of various building materials that contain asbestos, which if nothing else gives a good idea of how widespread its use was. I try to remember to wear a decent dust mask when drilling holes these days, but I often forget.

My wife bought me a HSE asbestos book a few years back and I have some free literature that I got at Wee&Poo a while back. I occasionally look through them to refresh my memory of what materials the stuff is in.

 

[Deleted member 72666]

There's good news on the horizon with a new gadget! :Asbestos Alert - The worlds 1st real-time airborne Asbestos test and monitor

 

[HappyHippyDad]

It would be good if cheap disposable testing kits were available. This would make it more practical on a daily basis for us. Whether this is possible is another thing though. Also they would have to be very cheap indeed.

I guess the course showed pics of various building materials that contain asbestos, which if nothing else gives a good idea of how widespread its use was. I try to remember to wear a decent dust mask when drilling holes these days, but I often forget.

My wife bought me a HSE asbestos book a few years back and I have some free literature that I got at Wee&Poo a while back. I occasionally look through them to refresh my memory of what materials the stuff is in.

I did ask the chap about on-site test kits and he said there was no such thing unfortunately!

There's good news on the horizon with a new gadget! :Asbestos Alert - The worlds 1st real-time airborne Asbestos test and monitor

That does look quite good Stan, although I suppose it would not detect the asbestos until it was airborne, so it may not detect which materials have asbestos in them unless they are disturbed.

 

[alanl]

Surely the Course was to inform you of which materials may contain asbestos, so you are better informed for when you encounter something that may contain it?
If you are not sure if something may contain asbestos, then you dont touch it - that is the mantra of any Asbestos talks I have been to - in fact you could be prosecuted if you do drill/hamer/remove asbestos, as it can now be shown that you were acting negligently, as you have done the course to show you are aware of the dangers.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

It's just like any other risk. Manage it carefully, focus on the major hazards and likely exposure routes, don't bust a gut trying to find every trivial possibility as being over-cautious can aggravate other risks and lead to ineffective management overall. Learn to recognise materials and situations with significant risk of exposure, have them tested, act on the results with diligence. Accept that some will slip through the net - there is no such thing as zero risk. To avoid all risk you would have to stop breathing.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

The point of the Asbestos awareness course is so you can produce the certificate if asked for when on site.
Really only needed for larger sites.

 

[Deleted member 72666]

Steve you might want to take a look here: Plastics Containing Asbestos - Brands & Products
Here: Where can asbestos be found: 'Bakelite' Toilet Cisterns and Furniture
And here: HSE: Asbestos - health and safety in the workplace

As Lucien has said, learn to recognise materials that may contain the substance and if undamaged these materials should pose little harm if left alone.
I think you'll be surprised at how many things contain some form of asbestos, bakelight switches, fuse boards, radios, toilet seat and cisterns etc. Where I work, one of the factory rooms has Canadian maple parquet flooring and over the years machinery installed which was fed from underneath, so holes had been drilled through the wooden floor and beyond, well what has this type of flooring got to with asbestos I hear you say! Well unbeknown to us was the floor was laid on top of a 'water proof felt that contains asbestos'. This was discovered when an old invoice (dating back to 1963) surfaced for the work to that room listing materials used.

 

[markc123]

Was the guy called Ralph? He does loads and loads of these, how shall we put it, pointless turd waste of a day, oxygen and life courses.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I was made to go on them in my old employement, worst day ever. Have a beer HHD you deserve it.

 

[markc123]

... and by that before anyone jumps on me - obviously asbestos should be taken seriously. These courses are so stupid, self-education is probably the best way to go about asbestos related problems. Google can be a useful tool.

 

[shanky887614]

... and by that before anyone jumps on me - obviously asbestos should be taken seriously. These courses are so stupid, self-education is probably the best way to go about asbestos related problems. Google can be a useful tool.

yeah thats true, we found some asbestos before when removing an old control panel (been there are 30 years) and found one behind, got the site hse bloke to come and check and he confirmed our suspitions and had it removed etc (some guys on site are registered to remove and transport/dispose of it)

im curious but what happens to it when it is removed? is it stored like nuclear waste or?

 

[Simlec]

Controlled landfill.