Asbestos Awareness

The information in this blog post is high-level and general, and is not sufficient for OSHA compliance. Please go to SafetyInstruction.com for OSHA compliant training options.

Asbestos is a serious health hazard commonly found in our environment today. It is important for employees who may work in buildings that contain asbestos to know where it is and how to avoid exposure.

What Is Asbestos?
Asbestos is the name applied to six naturally occurring minerals that are mined from the earth. The different types of asbestos are as follows (the top three are most commonly used):

• Amosite (brown/off-white)
  
• Chrysotile (white) is the most common, but it is not unusual to encounter
  
• Crocidolite (blue) as well
  
• Tremolite
  
• Actinolite
  
• Anthophyllite
  

All types of asbestos tend to break into very tiny fibers. Individual fibers are so fine they must be identified using a microscope. Some fibers may be up to 700 times smaller than a human hair.
Because asbestos fibers are so small, once released into the air, they may stay suspended for hours or even days.

Usually asbestos is mixed with other materials to form the products. Floor tiles, for example, may contain a small percentage of asbestos. Depending on what the product is, the amount of asbestos may vary from 1%-100%.

Where is Asbestos Found?
Asbestos may be found in many different products and places, such as:

• Ceiling tiles
  
• Siding shingles on old residential buildings
  
• Wall and ceiling texture in older buildings and homes
  
• Floor tiles
  
• Putties, caulks, and cements (such as in chemical carrying cement pipes)
  
• Sprayed-on fire proofing and insulation in buildings
  
• Insulation for pipes and boilers
  
• Wall and ceiling insulation
  
• Roofing shingles
  
• Joint compound in older buildings and homes
  
• Brake linings and clutch pads
  

Dangers of Asbestos
The most common way for asbestos fibers to enter the body is through breathing.

Asbestos is most hazardous when it is friable. The term "friable" means the asbestos is easily crumbled by hand, releasing fibers into the air. Sprayed on asbestos insulation is highly friable. Asbestos floor tile is not.

Pipe and boiler insulation does not present a hazard unless the protective canvas covering is cut or damaged and the asbestos underneath is exposed to the air.

Health Effects
The body cannot break them down or remove them once they are lodged in lung or body tissues, therefore they remain in place where they can cause disease.

There are three primary diseases associated with asbestos exposure:

• Asbestosis
  
• Lung Cancer
  
• Mesothelioma
  

Asbestosis
Asbestosis is a serious, chronic, non-cancerous respiratory disease. Inhaled asbestos fibers aggravate lung tissues, which cause them to scar.

Symptoms of asbestosis include shortness of breath and a dry crackling sound in the lungs while inhaling. In its advanced stages the disease may cause cardiac failure.

There is no effective treatment for asbestosis; the disease is usually disabling or fatal. The risk of asbestosis is minimal for those who do not work with asbestos; the disease is rarely caused by neighborhood or family exposure.

Those who renovate or demolish buildings that contain asbestos may be at significant risk, depending on the nature of the exposure and precautions taken.

Lung Cancer
Lung cancer causes the largest number of deaths related to asbestos exposure. The incidence of lung cancer in people who are directly involved in the mining, milling, manufacturing and use of asbestos and its products is much higher than in the general population.

The most common symptoms of lung cancer are coughing and a change in breathing. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, persistent chest pains, hoarseness, and anemia.

People who have been exposed to asbestos and are also exposed to some other carcinogen, such as cigarette smoke, have a significantly greater risk of developing lung cancer than people who have only been exposed to asbestos.

One study found that asbestos workers who smoke are about 90 times more likely to develop lung cancer than people who neither smoke nor have been exposed to asbestos.

Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that most often occurs in the thin membrane lining of the lungs, chest, abdomen, and (rarely) heart. About 200 cases are diagnosed each year in the United States. Virtually all cases of mesothelioma are linked with asbestos exposure.

Approximately 2 percent of all miners and textile workers who work with asbestos, and 10 percent of all workers who were involved in the manufacture of asbestos-containing gas masks, contract mesothelioma.

People who work in asbestos mines, asbestos mills and factories, and shipyards that use asbestos, as well as people who manufacture and install asbestos insulation, have an increased risk of mesothelioma.

So do people who live with asbestos workers, near asbestos mining areas, near asbestos product factories or near shipyards where use of asbestos has produced large quantities of airborne asbestos fibers.

OSHA Compliant Asbestos Training

Asbestos Is Still Out There

As Baby boomers leave and retire, they take with them experience, and knowledge leaving a void. That void can harbor old problems, thought to have disappeared. One of those problems is the presence of Asbestos in buildings and building materials. When not dealt with properly, this is what can happen. Please refer to an OSHA News release dated February 25, 2009. “

OSHA proposes $273,000 in Fines against a Jamestown NY Employer”

So what can you do when it’s in your space?

Basic Asbestos Debris Cleanup Advice

In most cases, where the asbestos is not damaged, it is safest (and least costly) to leave the asbestos-containing materials alone.

Friable, damaged asbestos materials in a living space, work area or located where the asbestos is likely to be carried to an occupied space, need professional asbestos remediation.

If you are cleaning-up in a building area where asbestos products may have been dislodged, such as a basement where asbestos pipe insulation has fallen to the floor, the US EPA recommends avoiding causing airborne dust and debris - a condition that could be harmful.

• If hiring a contractor to remove asbestos, the US EPA guidelines for asbestos removal requires protection of the rest of the building, proper asbestos waste disposal, and any other local or state environmental regulations be followed. In most areas contractors must be specially licensed to test or remove asbestos from buildings. In some areas it may be legal for a building owner or another contractor to remove asbestos, though it still must be disposed-of legally.


• Do not vacuum clean or dry-sweep up asbestos debris that has fallen to the floor - you'll simply cause it to become airborne – which can cause potentially dangerous medical conditions. Professional asbestos abatement contractors use a combination of wet mopping and HEPA vacuuming to clean up asbestos from building surfaces.


• Do not disturb asbestos or asbestos-suspect material if you do not absolutely have to do so.


• Seal the work area off from the rest of the building if asbestos material has to be disturbed. Poly plastic sheeting and duct tape may suffice, but be sure the duct tape is adhered continuously to the plastic edges and that it binds securely to the wall surface. It may be necessary to secure the plastic using nailed-furring strips. You don't want your containment barrier to fall down in the middle of a cleanup project. Use an air-lock and change footwear and protective clothing or take similar precautions so that you do not bring asbestos debris into other building areas.


• Wear an approved respirator, protective clothing, gloves, hat, goggles that can be disposed-of after the cleanup.


• Wet the asbestos with a hand sprayer when moving it;


• Drill or cut only if it is absolutely necessary, then do it outside (and having wet the material)


• Demolition of asbestos materials during removal should keep the asbestos in the largest feasible pieces, not in many small pieces.


• Bag the removed asbestos in sealed plastic bags and (according to the EPA) dispose of it in an approved land-fill (check with your community building department and your state environmental regulatory association)


• Perform a final cleanup of the work area using wet mops, sponges, disposable rags/ wipes. Do not track wet asbestos-contaminated water into other building areas.

Need a simple and easy OSHA compliance solution? Train your employees quickly and easily! Our easy to follow Asbestos Awareness Training Program will ensure your employees are trained to OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.1001 and 1926.1101, and 29 CFR 1910.1028. You will also need a complete written plan as well to be in compliance.

VIEW ALL OF OUR ASBESTOS SAFETY PLANS AND TRAINING PROGRAMS