[Misc] Who remembers the Asbestos Mats we use to use in School Chemistry Lessons

[jakarta]

I suspect the families of the 43,000 mesothelioma deaths each year would disagree...

I presume you are talking about the UK and think you have a decimal point wrong, its around 2500 mesotheliomas plus HSE reckon around the same number of lung cancers are asbestos induced. Add in a few hundred asbestosis victims per year and you are still looking at over 5,000 deaths a year.

It would be totally unacceptable if these people died in industrial accidents but work-related ill health, especially with long time lapse from exposure to disease isn't as easy as getting people to wear hard hats and hi-vis...

Been working in and around the stuff for almost 30 years as a Consultant so hope I know a little about this topic.

 

[jakarta]

So did we (c.1973). Can't remember any queue organized for the tap afterwards in that school lab! Maybe being a solid, the fluid didn't leave a trace on the skin?

Mercury isn't well adsorbed by skin but your body temperature will help it vapourise. Once you start breathing in mercury vapour its not so good - see the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland for further details.

 

[AnotherArch]

Mercury isn't well adsorbed by skin but your body temperature will help it vapourise. Once you start breathing in mercury vapour its not so good - see the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland for further details.

Well my dad worked for Electrolux service, and gas fridges used a flame control device filled with mercury which he often used to replace.
So I spent many hours playing with and handling mercury.
It could explain a lot!

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

A word of warning.

I worked at Portslade Community College for the best part of thirty years - although not for the last few years since it became an ACADEMY
My Dad/Me & my Son were called out to service the two 1" ball-valves on the main cold water tanks in that long roof + other plumbing problems on a regular basis.
All the iron 2" x 3" pipe-work was insulated in asbestos which had started to fail years before due to various contractors standing on them.
We told the then County Surveyors that were based in Victoria Road/Boundary Road (above the Blockbuster shop ?)about this problem on numerous occasions.

When we went up into that long roof there was normally a force nine gale blowing through it.
You could see down into every classroom via the gaps in the light fittings.
How much asbestos dust had been sucked down into those classrooms - who knows?

Times have changed since then - but I can still remember having meetings with these so called County Surveyors who didn't have a clue in that era.
Most of them would be dead now anyway and to be honest we were not up to speed on all the information you can get nowadays.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

We get asbestosis claims regularly from people working in the 1960s who have only recently been diagnosed. It is not a good way to die.

 

[Iamapen15]

I suspect the families of the 43,000 mesothelioma deaths each year would disagree...

I suspect you made those figures up for affect!

There were around 2,800 deaths last year due to mesothelioma and about a further 2,000 other asbestos related deaths.

That's the problem, a lack of education on the subject.

I have been involved in various debates between the insurance industry and the government on various asbestos issues and would be happy to answer yours or anybody else's questions or concerns on the matter.

 

[jakarta]

I suspect you made those figures up for affect!

There were around 2,800 deaths last year due to mesothelioma and about a further 2,000 other asbestos related deaths.

That's the problem, a lack of education on the subject.

Which agrees with a previous post of mine - what's your involvement in all this?

I started as an Asbestos Analyst in 1986, then went onto Surveying and Remediation and now do Consultancy Work as well as being a BOHS Asbestos Examiner.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I suspect you made those figures up for affect!

There were around 2,800 deaths last year due to mesothelioma and about a further 2,000 other asbestos related deaths.

That's the problem, a lack of education on the subject.

I have been involved in various debates between the insurance industry and the government on various asbestos issues and would be happy to answer yours or anybody else's questions or concerns on the matter.

I used to work in a garage where we used to blow the asbestos dust off the brake pads or shoes before brake cleaner hit the scene, so how dangerous was this asbestos dust

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Which agrees with a previous post of mine - what's your involvement in all this?

I started as an Asbestos Analyst in 1986, then went onto Surveying and Remediation and now do Consultancy Work as well as being a BOHS Asbestos Examiner.

Can you explain to me why my Dads next door neighbour stores up to thirty pink bags of asbestos in his garden for weeks at a time.

The bloke is supposedly an accredited asbestos remover?

Ridge View - Coldean - Brighton

 

[Lindfield by the Pond]

And we used to roll mercury around in the palms of our hands thinking it was brilliant stuff!

I was going to say that as well, although not me, but my Chemistry teacher. She used to keep a ball of it in her lab coat pocket!!

 

[jakarta]

I used to work in a garage where we used to blow the asbestos dust off the brake pads or shoes before brake cleaner hit the scene, so how dangerous was this asbestos dust

My understanding is that the majority of the asbestos fibres (crystalline) in the brake shoes/pads denature (i.e. lose their hydration atoms) at the high temperature associated with braking and transform to an amorphous (non crystalline) form of the mineral.

Basically this dust will not be nearly as toxic if inhaled.

Love your avatar by the way, I had two Nortons in the past!

 

[Iamapen15]

I used to work in a garage where we used to blow the asbestos dust off the brake pads or shoes before brake cleaner hit the scene, so how dangerous was this asbestos dust

Very low risk.

The heat generated by braking process would turn the majority of any asbestos within the brake pad into a non carcinogenic dust. The more likely exposure could have come if you grinded the brake pad when fitting a replacement. However the small quanties of asbestos in pads were encased in resin.

Mesothelioma aside, most asbestos related conditions are dose related. So the greater the exposure the more likely or worse any condition would be. Asbestosis you need heavy and prolonged exposure and 'blowing out' brakes wouldn't be heavy or a prolonged exposure.

 

[jakarta]

Can you explain to me why my Dads next door neighbour stores up to thirty pink bags of asbestos in his garden for weeks at a time.

The bloke is supposedly an accredited asbestos remover?

Ridge View - Coldean - Brighton

Because a lot of the asbestos removal industry are scum?

He has probably told the HSE & Environmental Agency he has a Lockable Skip where he stores it but that costs money of course so easier not to bother.

 

[Iamapen15]

Which agrees with a previous post of mine - what's your involvement in all this?

I started as an Asbestos Analyst in 1986, then went onto Surveying and Remediation and now do Consultancy Work as well as being a BOHS Asbestos Examiner.

I'm in the insurance industry and part of the working party for insurers and the meso compensation scheme.

 

[AnotherArch]

Can you explain to me why my Dads next door neighbour stores up to thirty pink bags of asbestos in his garden for weeks at a time.

The bloke is supposedly an accredited asbestos remover?

Ridge View - Coldean - Brighton

WHY is he storing them? ANS: He is waiting either for a more economical larger load to take to a haz waste transfer station, or for a haz waste skip to turn up on his next job when he will sneak these bags into it.
Is it dangerous? ANS: It depends upon how likely the bags are to be punctured, and then after that, which way the wind blows or cats walk.(Does your dad throw sharp stones/knives/spears over the fence?)
Is it legal? ANS: No. If your dad does not like him, inform the HSE (construction). However, the short-term risk of a punch or at least a severed friendship, may well outweigh the longer term risk of exposure to asbestos.
Also bear in mind that these bags are bloody tough, and are often used wrongly for carrying rubble - and other items that are a completely different story!

 

[jakarta]

I'm in the insurance industry and part of the working party for insurers and the meso compensation scheme.

Ah well you will be kept busy for the next 20 years or so then!

Happily I do very little asbestos related work these days (mostly just giving advice to my Clients).

 

[Deleted member 2719]

My understanding is that the majority of the asbestos fibres (crystalline) in the brake shoes/pads denature (i.e. lose their hydration atoms) at the high temperature associated with braking and transform to an amorphous (non crystalline) form of the mineral.

Basically this dust will not be nearly as toxic if inhaled.

Love your avatar by the way, I had two Nortons in the past!

Thanks guys for your insurance, you have really very interesting jobs I love these technical science type things.

Jakarta, I would love a late 20's to early 30's AJS yum yum! What Norton's have you had?

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

I’ve worked on a lot of construction projects where buildings are being refurbished or demolished and the cost of asbestos abatement is extremely expensive. What surprised me is that as well as the obvious areas like ceilings, plasterwork, steel fireproofing, duct and pipe lagging it was also used in a lot of other building products like vinyl tiles, floor felt and sealing mastic. The rule of thumb seems to be that you treat any buildings constructed before 1980 as suspect and carry out a survey. What seems really wicked was that some of the major suppliers of building products containing asbestos continued to export these to third world countries after the hazards had been well documented and the UK, Europe and the USA had banned them.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I drille a hole in mine . . . . worried now

 

[jakarta]

Thanks guys for your insurance, you have really very interesting jobs I love these technical science type things.

Jakarta, I would love a late 20's to early 30's AJS yum yum! What Norton's have you had?

Owned two but had access to another:

My Brothers 1961 Slimline Featherbed 600cc Dominator 99

My own 1973 'Combat' 750cc Commando Café Racer

Finally I had a 'Hybrid' Slimline Framed 850cc Mk2A Commando Café Racer - it had to go a few years back as no suspension travel and a chronic bad back signalled that my café racing days were sadly over!

Still got the CBR 600F2 in my avatar - a much more comfortable ride but not quite the same...