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The UK is currently experiencing an outbreak of deaths caused by exposure to asbestos. There are at this time more deaths per year caused by asbestos related illness than road traffic accidents. To combat this, health and safety legislation has been put in place to ensure that the current generation of British workers are not put at the same risks. The law now states that any workers who are at risk of exposure to asbestos throughout the achievement of their everyday work duties must undergo suitable and sufficient Asbestos Awareness Training that is intended to make them conscious of the risks presented by asbestos, and in addition, how they should react when asbestos is discovered in their workplace.

Whenever work is carried out on a building that was built prior to the year 2000 there is a risk that asbestos will be present. People most at risk from exposure are largely catagorised as trades people. Persons who work in the plumbing, carpentry, or electricians trades are especially at risk due to the fact that their work often involves using power tools on surfaces that may be made with asbestos.

As far as actually working on asbestos or removing ACM’s (asbestos containing materials) from a premises are concerned, there are two main classifications regarding the type of asbestos containing material that will establish if you can complete this work yourself, or if you will need to contract in a lisenced specialist. Textured coatings used on ceilings and asbestos cement can be worked on to a very limited degree by non-licensed personel although the tasks they can complete regarding these surfaces are limited to the drilling of holes, painting and repairing. Even non-lisenced personel should not undertake these tasks unless they are trained in working with asbestos, Asbestos Awareness Training is not enough. Below is a breif rundown on the different types of asbestos and where they are commonly found.

Blue Asbestos.
Sprayed pipe insulation and coatings, possibly the most dangerous method of use for asbestos of all, due to the high levels of asbestos used (upto eighty five percent). The friability of the fibres in the sprayed insulation is very high due to the loose bonding used to increase insulation. Blue asbestos is also found in preformed insulation and lagging. It is the most unsafe of all types of asbestos.

White Asbestos.
White asbestos was the most commonly used of all types of asbestos in the UK. There seems to be a common myth that white asbestos is safe to work on and that the firbres do not pose any real hazard to health, this is not the case and many deaths in the UK have been caused by white asbestos. Application for white asbestos included tile adhesives, soundproofing sheets and simulated coals or logs used in gas fires.

Brown Asbestos.
Thermal insulation boards and spraying applications, and ceiling boards. Brown asbestos is made from amosite, a type of asbestos that was mined from the asbestos mines of south africa, hence the accronym included in its name, (”amos” part of “amosite”). Mostly used for its fire retardent properties.

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If your company undertakes jobs whereby your employees are required to carry out any form of building work or DIY activity, then the people carrying out these tasks should be provided with Asbestos Awareness Training. It doesnt matter is they are demolishing a wall or just drilling a hole, the law states that any person at risk of contact with asbestos in their day by day activities must be provided with the appropriate training.

Roofers are also at risk of exposure to asbstos, and other trades which need to undertake Asbestos Awareness Training include gas fitters, decorators, plumbers, carpenters, networking and telecom engineers, heating engineers and airconditioning fitters. One of the things that makes asbestos so dangerous is the fact that it has no instant ill effects on the health, infact a person can be exposed to asbestos dust and sometimes may experience nothing more to begin with than a minor irritation of the lungs, this causes many people to simply disregard the threat it poses, but the damage is being done and once asbestos is inside your respiritory system the small needle like fibres cannot be expelled by the body. Once inhaled, asbestos will always remain in your lungs, and during its attempt to expel the fibres and heal from the constant irritation, your lungs will develop scar tissue. This prevents your lungs from being able to take up oxygen efficiently and leads to the shortness of breath, chest pains, and coughing fits known as asbestosis.

Asbestos, being a highly carcinogenic substance, can cause far more worrying effects than just asbestosis, mesolithioma is a form of cancer that has been irrefuteably linked to asbestos, normally this type of cancer is very rare, but it appears very commonly in persons who have been exposed to asbestos. People exposed to asbestos who smoke are thought to be 90 times more likely to develop mesolithioma. This form of cancer is thought to kill more people in the UK that road accidents, this figure is one of the central reasons that the health and safety executive is so commited to increasing the safety of those with the potential to be exposed to the substance.

There are three main types of asbestos, each type has its own characteristics and level of risk accosiated with it, the reason the level of danger varies is because of the friability of the fibres of each asbestos type and the shape of the fibres themselves. Below is a portrayal of each type and the level of danger associated with it.

White Asbestos
White asbestos, or chrysotile was commonly used in corrugated roofing, break linings and things like oven door seals where a heatproof and flexible seal was required. White asbestos was also commonly used as pipe insulation, It has silky curled fibres which are spring like. because of this it is not as perilous as other types of asbestos, although it is still, none the less, a critical health threat.

Brown Asbestos
Brown asbestos, or Amosite was used mainly in the making of fire retardent seals, Brown asbestos has straight and brittle fibres, and this makes it particlarly dangerous.

Blue Asbestos
Blue asbestos, or Crocidolite has straight fibres and was mainly used in the manufacture of cement products. The fact that it has straight fibres means it is one of the more unsafe types of asbestos, although maybe slightly less so than brown asbestos due to the fact that the fibres are slightly less brittle.

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