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Uses and Abuses of Asbestos

Asbestos is a mineral, mined from the earth in much the same way as any other mineral, for example, copper, iron or coal. It has been known for thousands of years. Finnish potters used it to strengthen their clay over 4000 years ago. The Egyptians made funeral shrouds from it and the Romans used it to make napkins which could be cleaned by throwing into the fire. Asbestos is made up of strong silky fibres which can be separated out and spun into 'cloth'. Generally speaking asbestos resists heat, acid and alkali. These properties account for its wide use.

In the UK the use of asbestos peaked first in 1965, when 180,000 tonnes were imported and then again in 1973, with over 195,000 tonnes. It fell to 40,000 tonnes in 1984, and 25,000 tonnes in 1989. The UK has imported approximately 6 million tonnes of all types of asbestos since the turn of the century.

World production and consumption

Although million tons of asbestos are still being mined and made into products every year, world asbestos consumption is declining. World consumption ranged from 4.1 to 4.4 million tonnes per year throughout the 1980s, but by 1993 world consumption was down to 2.8 million tonnes. The former Soviet Union leads in production with 58% of world-wide asbestos, although 90% asbestos is used locally. Canada is the leading exporter of asbestos. Zimbabwe, Brazil, China and South Africa are also asbestos producers and exporters. While demand for asbestos products is declining in North America and Europe, consumption is increasing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, according to the Swedish group Working Environment.

Asbestos is used primarily in buildings. As late as 1976, however, the asbestos industry was advertising the fact that it was present in over 3,000 products. Many of these are still around because the laws prohibiting the use of asbestos did not apply to existing products.

Types of asbestos

There are six different types of asbestos split into two groups. Both groups have the same hazards and occur as fibres. They are different in their chemistry and in the way they formed millions of years ago.

Amphibole group

Crocidolite (blue asbestos), amosite (brown asbestos), anthophyllite, tremolite (can occur with talc and white asbestos), actinolite

Serpentine group

Chrysotile (white asbestos)

Only chrysotile (white), crocidolite (blue), amosite (brown) and anthophyllite have been in common industrial use. The colours are obvious when freshly mined, but ageing and heat turns all asbestos a similar colour and only by scientific tests can asbestos be identified and classified by type. By the end of the 1970s, 95% of all asbestos mined was chrysotile and it is the only type still being exploited.

Uses of asbestos: cheapness not fire resistance

Much has been made by the asbestos industry of the fire proofing or enhanced safety properties of the mineral. The 1970 Fire Precautions Act encouraged heavy use of asbestos insulation board. The main use, however, had nothing to do with fire protection: 70% of asbestos in Western Europe has been used for reinforcing asbestos cement in construction.

Cement mixed with about 15% asbestos fibre makes a rigid sheet less than five millimetres thick. If iron was used instead, the sheet would have to be three centimetres thick in order to have the same strength. Without asbestos, rigid cement pipes need to be three centimetres thick and only one metre long to avoid breaking. With asbestos, pipes can be produced at a thickness of only one centimetre. For construction companies, asbestos saves on the amount of cement used and on transport costs. Its lightness make it easier to handle - always providing that the health risks are discounted.

Main uses of asbestos in buildings

Sprayed coatings on steel work, concrete walls and ceilings, for fire protection and insulation

Lagging: insulation on pipework, boilers and ducts

Insulation boards: in partitions, fire doors, and ceiling tiles. Common brand names are Asbestolux, Turnabestos, LDR, and Marinite

Asbestos cement products: sheeting on walls and roofs, tiles, cold water tanks, gutters, pipes and in decorative plaster finishes

Sprayed coatings and lagging

 Sprayed coatings are probably the most lethal way in which asbestos is used. It was common for many sprayed asbestos products to contain up to 85% asbestos, much of it the blue form. Between 1935 and 1971, it was used extensively in public buildings for acoustic and thermal insulation and fire protection of structural steel work. It was common in system-built council housing; in boiler houses and ceilings to balconies and walkways. It is not unusual to find this material to be soft, friable and therefore extremely dangerous.

Lagging is frequently just as deadly. It was used around heating pipes and boilers especially in factories, hospitals, and other public buildings. It has been found to give very high dust levels in service ducts where it is easily disturbed during maintenance activities.

Insulation boards

During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s amosite (brown) was the main type in insulation boards which were used in stairways, curtain walling, partitions, and fire proof panels. They are found in system-built council housing, hotels and schools. Other uses include heating ducts, linings to doors and meter cupboards, and in heating units. Insulation boards from this period typically contain 16-25% asbestos. Often they have a soft greyish appearance.

Asbestos cement products

These have been extensively used in buildings and mainly contain white asbestos in concentrations of about 10%. Asbestos slates, tiles and linings behind fires are of similar composition. Fibres are released from such materials with age, when the material is damaged, and during routine maintenance activities such as drilling, sanding, wire brushing, machine sawing. All these activities can produce dangerous concentrations of asbestos dust.

Airborne fibre levels expected close to operator's breathing zone for different processes

Process Concentration (fibres/ml)

Dry stripping of crocidolite 100-1000

Dry stripping, except crocidolite >20

Stripping with water sprays 5-40

Controlled wet stripping 1-5

Breaking and ripping out 5-20

Abrasive disc cutting 15-25

Hand sawing with ventilation <1

Hand sawing without ventilation 5-10

Rough handling of insulating >15

Taken from HSE Guidance Note EH 35. These figures are generally for work carried out to a high standard; in other cases these levels may be exceeded

Asbestos in public buildings

Asbestos is still present in vast quantities in buildings. A major problem for caretakers, maintenance workers, and also for safety representatives is that it can be difficult to obtain information on its whereabouts and condition. Sarah Copsey, UNISON National Health and Safety Officer says, "In the public sector we have had over a decade of changes including compulsory competitive tendering, local management of schools, the transfer of hospitals from health authorities to Trusts. As each change has occurred information has effectively been lost, if it existed at all. Budget cuts in all service sectors have added to the problems". "Asbestos management programmes" require that all the asbestos in every building is located and listed. Tenants should be told where it is and what to do in order to be safe. Any maintenance or building work should be checked for asbestos risk and controlled by a permit-to-work system. The condition of the asbestos should be checked every six months. Potential buyers should be informed of the presence of asbestos. The theory is fine but breaks down in the real world.

There are many reasons why asbestos management fails. Tenant populations change. Information may be badly presented or incomprehensible. In emergencies such as burst pipes, asbestos procedures get overlooked. Fibre releases from children's play, fire, vandalism or break-ins are beyond Councils' control.

Local authorities

In 1985 the Association of Metropolitan Authorities (AMA) conducted a survey of member authorities to assess the revenue and capital costs associated with asbestos in its properties. AMA authorities had then between them over 2.2 million council houses when the total local authority stock of houses was about 4.5 million. It was estimated that 1.9 million AMA properties could contain asbestos, implying that overall 4 million council houses could be contaminated. However, metropolitan areas were likely to have proportionately more properties at risk because they have more industrialised and system built-dwellings, which relied, purely for cheapness, on lightweight materials such as asbestos.

The AMA produced a policy statement which it proposed local authorities adopt. Some of the main points were:

prohibiting asbestos use in local authority premises

surveying properties and creating registers of the location of asbestos.

informing users, occupiers, and managers of buildings of the location of asbestos

informing the emergency services and Direct Labour Organisations of the location of asbestos in all buildings

adopting a policy of progressive removal of asbestos (the AMA did not advocate the immediate removal of all asbestos, because of costs: it said, however, "Nevertheless, progressive removal is thought to be both the safest and most cost effective solution....Further, asbestos will have to be removed separately at some stage, even if this is immediately prior to demolition")

maximum scrutiny and supervision of contractors and the greatest use of direct labour teams.

Unfortunately, the survey has not been reviewed and updated so it is not possible to say how much asbestos located in local authority property in 1985 has actually been removed. But some of the costs identified by AMA are worth repeating to give an idea of the scale of the problem. Overall the report identified the need for at least £1.5 billion to be spent on housing, and a further £460 million on other properties, in the metropolitan areas of England and Wales. These figures could be doubled to cover all local authorities, including those that did not participate in the survey.

To put the figures in context, in the period 1979-1990, especially after the 1980 Housing Act was introduced, 1.5 million council homes were sold (many containing asbestos), with capital receipts of £18,616 million. Financial discounts to purchasers were around £16 million. Mortgage tax relief rose five-fold in the 1980s and cost the Treasury about £40 billion.

Rate capping introduced with the 1984 Rates Act, strictly controls the ability of Councils to raise money above levels set by the Department of the Environment. It does not mean that money for safe removal is not available. Councillors must be persuaded that removal is a high priority. Money can be provided from existing budgets or can be voted from reserve council funds. Local authorities may also apply for grant aid from central government for large-scale asbestos removal on council estates and other property.

 The case of Southwark

The Heygate estate

This typical 1960s council estate in Southwark is riddled with asbestos. In April and May 1995 Adamson Laboratory Services, a NAMAS accredited firm, surveyed three different types of property. They found asbestos everywhere. Products containing asbestos included artex, cement-based products, asbestos insulation board, floor tiles, bitumen products and rope packing.

The asbestos varied in condition: some was painted or papered over, some was raw. Asbestos debris was found. The Adamson report recommended immediate remedial or removal action by an approved contractor.

The report said that although some asbestos could remain in place if maintained in its present condition, consideration must be given to any future activity, especially plumbing, rewiring or decoration, which would release fibres. Even rubbing down the surfaces for painting is dangerous. Tenants must be informed how to "manage" the asbestos.

This highlights an immediate problem which unfortunately is not unique to Heygate. Tenants have lived in these properties for 30 years and in that time have decorated and carried out other maintenance activities without protection.

Scaremongering

The Heygate Tenants Association did not see the Adamson report until the middle of June and were then extremely alarmed. They sought advice from London Hazards Centre who involved Alan Dalton in a public meeting. Southwark Council's response was to issue a statement saying, "scaremongering like this can only worry the tenants unnecessarily".

Alan accused Southwark Council of gross negligence for suppressing the report and said that "unless the council risked scaring the tenants with a warning, residents would carry on with the home improvements that put them most at risk. Even minor jobs like knocking in a nail are dangerous".

Tenants' victory

In response to pressure from the Heygate Tenants' Association, Southwark Council surveyed 10% of the homes on the estate and agreed to remove asbestos from some high risk areas at a cost of £250,000.

The HSE's Asbestos Alert leaflets were circulated to all dwellings on the estate; these leaflets clearly advise against DIY where asbestos is present. The Council agreed to tell tenants where asbestos is located in their properties.

Council found negligent

Southwark Council was criticised by the Local Ombudsman in 1989 for, amongst other things, failing to inform tenants adequately about the asbestos risks in their homes. This followed a complaint by a single mother of two young sons about damaged asbestos in her flat. Some was found in warm air heating ducts which were in use the first two years they lived in the property. She was extremely concerned that asbestos had actually been blown into their living areas. The Ombudsman ordered that Southwark apologise and pay her money for the unnecessary anxiety she suffered over an eight-month period waiting for asbestos in her flat to be dealt with.

The judgement added, "The Council have not been able to trace the Committee minute formally adopting their Asbestos Policy (of 1983). This lack of basic information on an issue of such importance is a matter of great concern and casts doubt on the seriousness with which the Council deals with problems caused by asbestos...it is clear that the measures set out are not being implemented, particularly the programmed survey of Council-owned property to assess the extent and condition of asbestos products and the labelling and monitoring of asbestos found....I do not consider the Council's agreement to write only to new tenants (on one particular estate) to be an adequate response to this problem."

Southwark DLO and asbestos removal team

Southwark Council owns the largest number of council properties in London, 55,000 dwellings. It is the sixth largest owner of council property in England. The manner in which it now deals with asbestos removal is illuminating. It still has a direct labour asbestos removal team set up because of pressure from the building worker trade unions. It is the only DLO in the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA) but it is very small and only able to carry out emergency removals. Three people were employed in 1995 when formerly there were 15. Large scale asbestos removal jobs are contracted out to commercial organisations.

In the 1989 Ombudsman report it states that a Senior Technical Officer told them that the asbestos team had never had sufficient staff to undertake the programmed survey proposed in the Council's asbestos policy. There were only three out of seven officers actually in post.

The problem of inadequate in-house resources to identify asbestos and supervise its removal is likely to be repeated across the country, especially where direct labour asbestos removal units have never been set up.

Schools 

Shirley Gibson died from mesothelioma in October 1993. She was only 37, a single parent, and had taught home economics for 10 years at Plumstead Manor School, in the London Borough of Greenwich. The inquest into her death ruled that she had been exposed to asbestos in the classroom.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT), who will sue for damages on behalf of Shirley Gibson's estate, is demanding that the asbestos is surveyed in all 26,000 schools in England and Wales, and all the asbestos that is vulnerable to damage be removed as a matter of priority. Like all public buildings, schools contain tonnes of asbestos. In 1995, 385 of the 6,473 schools responding (5.9%) to the NUT's Crumbling Schools survey reported buildings had been shut because of asbestos.

In Greenwich alone the cost of removing all asbestos in the borough's schools has been estimated to be £60 million. Greenwich Council's total budget for 1994 is £213 million. Greenwich Council applied for £8 million to cover structural repairs in schools, but only received a £300,000 grant for all building works, including asbestos removal.

Another factor is that ILEA, abolished by the Conservatives in the late 1980s, had already surveyed the majority of schools in London. The London Hazards Centre worked closely with the staff side of the ILEA asbestos joint working party, although it did not carry out the technical work. Eddie Rowe, staff side representative on the ILEA working party, visited hundreds of London schools and said virtually every one contained damaged asbestos "In almost all cases staff, children and parents were unaware of even the presence of asbestos."

Now the schools have been handed over to the London boroughs, all that work appears to have been lost. No records remain and local authorities are having to do the work again. Greenwich is now undertaking a new comprehensive survey, and it has taken a tragedy for it to do so. The rest continue to remove asbestos, but often in a piecemeal fashion.

Although ILEA devoted greater resources to its asbestos problem than many other local education authorities, there were still problems and cost saving exercises led to dangerous economies. At Hague Primary School in Tower Hamlets badly damaged lagging material was sealed rather than removed. The seal failed within two days. Ten 3-5 year olds were present in a room when the sealing was checked with smoke tests. Later that day tests showed up to 0.32 fibres/ml, well above the clearance limit of 0.01 respirable fibres/ml of air.

In one asbestos removal job in a Birmingham school in 1994, asbestos that had fallen off pipes under a wooden stage had simply accumulated. Terry Jago, ARCA secretary, said that his company was originally called in to encapsulate some pipework. When they actually inspected the job there was so much loose asbestos debris that a full decontamination job was necessary. He commented, "We took away more asbestos from that school than we do from most factories. It was particularly worrying because props and other items were stored beneath the stage and people were regularly going down there. Also performances would generate a considerable level of vibration. Almost every ARCA member would have a story like that."

The experience in the UK compares badly with that in the US. In 1986, the federal government recognised the special hazards of asbestos in schools and made funding available to states for identification, repair, management programmes, education and removal. A very detailed 1991 US report, Asbestos in Public and Commercial Buildings, prepared by 17 world experts on asbestos, including Julian Peto, concluded "measurements in school buildings show that, on average, there are higher airborne concentrations than found in public buildings. This is probably due, in part, to the much higher levels of activity, which will wear and resuspend asbestos containing materials."

Writing in Occupational Health Review, Alan Dalton describes how over 20 years he has visited over 50 schools and seen "the best and strongest asbestos cladding removed and seriously damaged." He also refers to recent US studies finding that one in three school caretakers had early signs of pleural plaques and to reports of more UK teachers suffering from mesothelioma, made by Dr Robin Rudd of the London Chest Hospital in a recent BBC TV programme.

Other council property

It is difficult to calculate the costs of asbestos removal from care facilities for the elderly and children but the 1985 report guessed that AMA members could face a total bill of around £60 million.

It is harder to estimate the total costs for other council buildings such as council offices, recreational facilities, stores, depots, boiler houses and so on. But AMA did think final costs would be close to those for educational premises. That would be another £400 million.

The Federation of Local Authority Librarians reported in 1995 that more than £600 million is needed to repair and update libraries around the country. Like schools, many were built in the 1960s when local authority services expanded rapidly. Many were of poor quality design and asbestos was used in large amounts. Now they have leaking roofs and crumbling walls. Librarians are up in arms that National Lottery money is not being used to fund libraries despite billions being earmarked for the performing arts.

The civil service

2000 civil servants were sent home from work for three days in May 1995 when asbestos was disturbed in a canteen fire at St Christopher House in central London. The building is shared by the Departments of Transport and Environment and the Ministry of Defence. The canteen was gutted. No-one was burnt, but initially it was not realised that asbestos was involved.

Contractors clearing the canteen noticed it two days later. It had been bagged up with other damaged waste and placed in a skip in the car park.

At this point bags, the skip and the canteen were sealed. Air monitoring and safe removal began. This took three days when the building was closed to staff.

Water used to put the fire out entered the electricity service ducts and asbestos fibres could have been washed out and then blown all over the building by the fans used to dry out the electrical system.

Fortunately monitoring indicates this did not happen. The fire broke out early on a Friday, the damaged asbestos was found and begun to be dealt with safely on a Sunday. There is an obvious gap during which time some people were at risk.

The incident reveals the potential dangers of leaving asbestos undisturbed in a building.

Asbestos registers

The worst fears of civil service unions, that asbestos registers are incomplete, where they exist at all, were confirmed. The asbestos at St Christopher House had not been identified in the Register drawn up in 1993. The building is typical of a large number of Civil Service properties built during the 1960s.

An issue of great concern to Institution of Professional Managers and Scientists (IPMS) and its partners in the civil service unions has been the accuracy of asbestos registers held for crown premises.

Since the 1990-91 financial year civil service departments and agencies have had to assume responsibility for their buildings. Before this the Property Services Agency (PSA) had responsibility for management and maintenance of asbestos registers. The civil service unions have pressed the Central Advice Unit of Property Holdings (set up after the privatisation of the PSA) and the Civil Service Occupational Health and Safety Agency to take steps to alert all government departments about the St Christopher House incident and to ensure the asbestos registers are complete and up to date. IPMS have been assured that guidance will be issued to departments shortly.

One of the ironies is that the Department of the Environment, which is responsible for issuing guidance on asbestos in buildings, is the civil service property with the biggest asbestos problem of all. It will cost £1 million to put it right. Asbestos needs to be removed from the Marsham Street HQ before it is demolished in 1997. Department of Transport staff will be moved into parts of the building which have been decontaminated.

The answer to asbestos in buildings

The essential steps are:

• identify the asbestos. This will need bulk sampling by a reputable asbestos analysis company
• record where the asbestos is and its condition. This should be a public document.
• make safe all the asbestos identified by removal or in the short term by enclosure;
• label asbestos and institute a management control programme so asbestos is not disturbed during maintenance or refurbishment or damaged (e.g. by vandalism, wind, fire or water)

New legislation for building owners

New regulations are needed that require all building owners or long-term lease holders to identify, record, make good, label and manage the asbestos hazard in their buildings. In the US, this is already a requirement for many buildings, e.g. schools.

Asbestos substitutes

Substitutes exist for all uses of asbestos but themselves present health hazards in almost all cases. There are, broadly speaking, three types of substitutes:

As with asbestos, the toxic properties of these materials can be related to the dimensions of the fibres. Even for non-fibrous materials, dust inhalation may lead to bronchitis or emphysema. It can never be assumed that any of these materials is safe. Any uncontrolled dust is potentially hazardous and exposure must be prevented. Many of these products are also mixed or contaminated with other dangerous chemicals.

Manufactured mineral fibres are made from glass, rock, slag or clay and are widely employed as insulation materials in addition to other uses. There has been a long running controversy on whether manufactured mineral fibres cause respiratory cancer. This is denied by most mainstream authorities but evidence continually emerges which reinforces the possibility of a link. There is also a tie-in with other cancers and non-malignant respiratory illnesses. There is no doubt that manufactured mineral fibres cause skin irritation and eye damage.

Aramids are the main plastic fibrous substitutes for asbestos and find application where resistance to fire and friction is important. Non-fibrous plastics used for insulation purposes are polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride. These materials are inert in use but dust exposure should be avoided. They will produce toxic degradation products upon combustion.

Cellulose, from wood or other natural sources, is used to enhance friction resistance. The dust may have a variety of toxic properties depending on the source. Dry cellulose is highly flammable.

Non-asbestos substitutes are subject to completely different control procedures than asbestos. They are covered by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) and Chemical Hazards (Information and Packaging) (CHIP) Regulations. Under COSHH employers must:

• assess the risks arising from materials used at work before work commences; this may also extend to carrying out measurements of dust levels
• eliminate hazardous materials or processes, control exposures, e.g. by enclosing processes or by providing appropriate ventilation equipment or when every thing else has been tried, provide suitable personal protective equipment
• provide workers with information and training on the hazards of materials and processes and on safe working methods
• in some circumstances, survey the health of workers to find out if there are any health effects caused by the job

Under the CHIP Regulations, manufacturers and suppliers of materials sold for use at work must provide a safety data sheet. This should come in a standard format and identify the chemicals in the product, possible health effects, safe methods for use and disposal and the action to be taken in the event of an accident or emergency. Workers and their representatives are entitled to receive the information in data sheets.

Contractors are obliged under the Health and Safety at Work Act to safeguard anyone affected by their operations. They should inform members of the public in advance of works starting and be prepared to provide information on materials and methods. Members of the public are entitled to obtain information on these from the Health and Safety Executive and in some cases from the local council under the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.

Action points

• Find out what materials are being used as substitutes for asbestos - get hold of safety data sheets
• Find out if the materials or methods are hazardous - don't rely completely on the employer/contractor for this, seek independent advice and evaluation of the information you obtain
• Involve your safety representative/trade union if you think the job is unsafe
• Complain to the Health and Safety Executive or the local Environment Health Department if you have reason to believe a job is endangering members of the public

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