Asbestos exposure or not.

[alexander jackson]

Last week I had finished fitting a mains board inside a lighthouse and had started to clip the flex for a tubular heater.
First bash of the hammer on the cable clip produced a large cloud of dusty debris that came outfrom behind the wood pannels onto which the flex was going to be held.
I was coated with the stuss and breathed in a load to the extent that my voice was hoarse for the remainder of the day.
I followed procedure and phoned my findings into head office suspecting that it may be an asbestos containing substance.
To cut out all the intervening goings on air samples were taken by an analyst and found to contain NO fibres but solid samples were taken aswell and found to be positive for Crysotile.
I have been told that as no airborne fibres were foind I have not been exposed !!! Surely the massive lung fyll of the dust cloud proves otherwise.
Thoughts please.
A.

 

[telectrix]

Needs to be Class H hoover.

that's discriminating. what's wrong with henrys, makitas, and nilfisks?

 

[rhitey]

Ah yeh I'm 45 now and I know for certain I've been exposed over the years. Back in my apprentice days even though it was mostly banned it just wasn't seen as a big deal

 

[rapparee]

Needs to be someone trained & registered, don't it?

No.

There is different types of job.

If it is considered minor works, in theory you can do it yourself but once it is double bagged, you have to get a registered contractor to come and collect it and take it to a licensed premises to be disposed of.

 

[Spark attitude]

Theres all different licensing for asbestos removal. A one day course and your approved to carry out “non licensed non notifiable removal” and “non licensed notifiable removal”.
As stated above, an ffp3 paper filter is the minimum approved rating for asbestos work which can be a disposable filter for a half or full mask with pre- filters, class H vacuum and category 5/6 disposable paper overalls. Not every type of asbestos waste has to be double bagged. Just depends which category “type 1 or type 2” it is. Things like workin with chrysotile texture coating (artex) can be single bagged etc.