Greg Byrne from RB Asbestos Consultants explains what asbestos is, why it was used so widely in construction, its potential impact on health, and how you go about identifying and removing asbestos products.
Interview with Greg Byrne
Greg Byrne is the Managing Director of RB Asbestos Consultants, a company that provides specialist services relating to asbestos including surveys, testing and training.
In this interview Greg gives us a potted history of asbestos, explaining how it became so widely used in the construction industry and what led to it being banned in the UK in 1999. He also stresses the importance of getting an asbestos survey when buying or planning to retrofit a house that was built between the 1960s and 1990s.
One asbestos fibre under a microscope showing it’s actually a bundle of hundreds of thousands of smaller fibres each around a micron in width
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral
Asbestos is a natural mineral that occurs as veins in rock and is mined just like other minerals. Whereas minerals such as quartz have small angular crystals, asbestos is composed of long fibres, which when broken down become tiny fibres, invisible to the naked eye and easy to inhale.
After mining, asbestos is broken down into its fibrous state and added to other products, called Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs).
“We think around 4000 different materials have asbestos in them.
Asbestos has been used for thousands of years
There’s evidence that asbestos was used thousands of years ago to strengthen pots and that the Greeks knew how to spin and weave with it to make mats and other products. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that western chemists started to recognise its properties, with America then including asbestos in a range of products. For example, some Bakelite contains it. The American company Turners then came to the UK and set up a base in Manchester, so it could expand and supply products worldwide. The early 1900s saw the first use of asbestos in the construction industry, but this was interrupted by World War I and World War II. It wasn’t until the 1950s when rebuilding Britain that the use of asbestos took off in a big way. By the 1960s through to the mid 1980s asbestos was commonplace in new buildings. However, from this point its use started to decline and it was finally banned in 1999.
“There’s almost no part of a building [from that time] that’s not been touched by asbestos, right from the floor to the top of the house.”
Asbestos fibres on a human hair
Asbestos is the biggest killer in construction today
In the UK, the first recorded case of somebody dying due to asbestos exposure was in the early 1900s. It wasn’t until after World War II, with production in full swing, that the evidence starts to build as a number of people die from asbestos exposure in factories. Greg explains that even though a ‘Factories Act’ was introduced and ventilation of factories was brought in, it was not enough to turn things around.
Asbestos doesn’t impact health immediately
Breathing asbestos fibres won’t necessarily affect you straightaway, and some people may not be affected at all, while others will get ill 20-60 years later. One type of asbestos related illness, mesothelioma cancer has the lowest survival rate of any type of cancer. Even though asbestos was banned at the turn of the millennium this is not a problem that has gone away, with 5200 reported deaths from asbestos last year (the next biggest killer is falling from height, which is in the order of 20 deaths per year).
Document exposure to asbestos
Although there’s not much you can do if you’ve been exposed to asbestos, make a record of the incident. This might be useful at a later date if there is any legal action, etc.
AIB asbestos lining to an internal garage ceiling (high risk)
AIB asbestos lining to an internal garage ceiling
AIB asbestos soffits (high risk)
Before buying a property built between 1960 and 2000, get an asbestos survey
Greg explains that RB Asbestos Consultants don’t generally survey buildings for asbestos if built before 1960 or after 2000 as asbestos is less likely to be an issue.
An asbestos survey is similar to a standard building survey, but the surveyor will have been trained to look for signs of asbestos. They’ll go round the building, room by room, taking photos and describing the various construction materials they find. If there is anything they think could contain asbestos, they’ll take a sample and send it to a lab for testing. Your survey report will detail any asbestos found and advise you what kind of contractor you need to do any remedial or removal work. This type of report can then inform your decision on buying the property.
Corrugated asbestos roof
Artex textured coating
Floor tiles and bitumen adhesive are both asbestos
Get an asbestos management survey before refurbishment or demolition work
There are two different types of basic management surveys, one for refurbishment and one for demolition. In both cases you would supply the surveyor with your plans for the work to be carried out and they would target those areas of the building where invasive work is going to take place. In a renovation you might be making holes in walls, lifting floorboards and taking down ceilings. The surveyor will know where to look and be aware of asbestos that might be hidden. For example asbestos packers may have been used around window or door frames.
If you get a chance, remove the asbestos
Asbestos is actually safe when it’s not disturbed and has a reasonably well sealed or bonded surface. It’s only when we actively damage the asbestos, through sanding or drilling or through physical destruction that it becomes dangerous. Leaving it in situ may just store up problems for the future, so Greg recommends removing it when you have an opportunity.
Asbestos surveyor kitted up
When dealing with high-risk materials there is a need to work within an enclosure which is airtight with specialist air movement equipment and high efficiency filters. With lower risk materials there still is a need to deal with the materials carefully with appropriate PPE masks and suits. All the waste is double bagged, sealed and taken to a specialist waste site where it is placed in a clay lined cell. The EU are looking at stopping this method of disposal as they’ve seen evidence of water leaching the asbestos elements out of the landfill back into the wider environment. This may mean super heating the asbestos to over 1200 degrees to turn it into a non-fibrous substance. Greg knows of only one place in the UK that currently treats asbestos this way.
There needs to be better awareness around the dangers of asbestos
Asbestos regulations 2012 are the most up to date set of regulations, which led to approved codes of practice (ACOPS) and appropriate licences to work with asbestos. Greg outlines that at the lower risk end, a one-day training course will give someone the appropriate licence, but also stresses that there is much more awareness raising needed within the construction industry. The regulations allow for a tight control of the process, but Greg points out that enforcement is under resourced.
Greg predicts that his work will get busier with the push towards becoming carbon neutral by 2050. This will lead to more retrofit work on buildings and by default more asbestos surveys and so more asbestos will be found. And because it’s in so many different types of products, a lot of them low risk, it will keep turning up for the next 30-50 years.
Asbestos may not be the only problem material, so wear suitable PPE
Reseachers are already looking more closely at products like fibreglass, ceramic fibres and nano fibres. The HSE are also taking a wider approach and looking at protection from inhaling silica dusts, so it is not just asbestos, we should be protecting ourselves from all types of dust. Greg always advises wearing a mask when working in small spaces that may be old and dusty and you need to get a filter rating FFP 3 for it to offer any protection from asbestos.
Fireplace panel – ribbed pattern at rear
Old vinyl flooring with asbestos coating underneath
An asbestos survey is money well spent
Greg’s main advice is to get your building checked before you buy or sell and even more importantly, before you carry out any major work. A few hundred pounds spent on a survey could save you a lot of money and problems in the long run. And do your own research as you can’t necessarily rely on your builder to do that for you.
Find out more
Visit the website of RB Asbestos Consultants
Transcript
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