Is this asbestos? Update! it is rockwool!
Is this asbestos? NW1 Camden October 2012.
We have been advised by Council Safety Officers that it was not asbestos; that it was rockwool & it has been dealt with.
You can’t tell if material is asbestos by looking.
We have advised the neighbour who is worried because she “recently returned home after several days absence to find several blocks of fibrous material, around 10cm thick, piled up outside our block of flats in an area where children play and separated only from a wrought-iron gate from the public street.
This material is totally exposed to the elements….It has a slight greenish cast.
One of the flats was recently sold and the new owners have gutted it (judging from the amount of rubble earlier dumped in the same place). Is it asbestos? “
Answer: It may have asbestos in it.
Our Advice:
- get in touch with the Council’s Environmental Health Department.
- & the Health and Safety Executive: London number 02075562100( we have no idea how hard they are to get hold of these days) as soon as possible.
- Find out more at the HSEs: Asbestos Essentials.
Anyone buying property which used to be owned by a local authority in London should arrange to have an asbestos survey before starting to gut it. Only workers who have been trained to work with asbestos safely should be allowed to carry out the removal.
Find out more from: Asbestos Removal Contractors Association.
Close up of damaged blocks left outside a block of flats in Camden.
