Asbestos 101:What is Asbestos, the Dangers of Asbestos, and How to Protect Yourself

For Global Asbestos Awareness Week, last week, got mold?? provided information on asbestos and its dangers along with tips on how to ensure your safety if asbestos containing materials are discovered on your property or job site.

Today's article focuses on the basics of asbestos, its history, how to protect yourself and safely remove asbestos.

A Brief Asbestos History

Although asbestos dates back to prehistoric times, the mineral came into popularity during the Industrial Age. The fire retardant properties of asbestos made it essential in the automobile and construction industries, as well as the military.

Asbestos has been used in well over 4000 building and construction products. In the last few decades, however, asbestos has been mostly known as a carcinogen that causes mesothelioma.

There are six types of Asbestos, all known to be carcinogenic. The two main types that we see here in Canada, are Chrysotile and Amosite. Chrysotile is what we see 95% of the time in home construction in North America and was primarily mined in Quebec up until 2011.

Why Asbestos Was Used

Asbestos was considered the ‘miracle mineral’ due to its many amazing properties. It was also cheap to mine and could be made into thousands of products.

Some of those properties include: sound absorption, above average tensile strength, affordability, resistance to fire, heat, and electricity.

Asbestos was used in applications such as electrical insulation for hotplate wiring and in building insulation.

Why Should I Care About Asbestos?

According to Stats Canada, the number of asbestos related deaths in Canada has risen 60% from 2000-2012. Deaths rose from 292 in 2000, to 467 in 2012, the last available year.

This number has risen further to 595 deaths from mesothelioma in 2013. This is due to the amount of time it takes from exposure to diagnosis, which usually takes 10-50 years.

The numbers are likely higher but most workers don’t or can’t recall being

exposed decades earlier. Therefore, they are not eligible for worker’s compensation benefits.

150,000 Canadians are being exposed every year to Asbestos Containing Materials. This exposure occurs mostly in the construction, renovation, and demolition industries.

Asbestos is now the top workplace killer in Canada, ranking ahead of motor vehicle accidents.

How Do I Protect Myself from Asbestos?

Education is the key, employees and employers need to know the risks associated with exposure to asbestos. Knowing the types of products that contain asbestos and the risks associated with those products.

Limiting your exposure once you have identified asbestos containing materials is also crucial. This is done by wearing the proper personal protective equipment for an asbestos job site as defined by Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) standards.

P100 filtered masks and a Tyvek suit are the minimum for PPE to protect yourself and your workers from asbestos when doing renovation, construction or demolition of a building with asbestos containing materials.

What Do Some Asbestos Containing Materials Look Like?

The two main types of asbestos are Serpentines (Chrysotile), and Amphibole (Amosite, Crocidolite, Tremolite, Anthophylite, and Actinolite).

Chrysotile is what we see 95% of the time, however, we do see Tremolite in ceiling insulation. The insulation is commonly referred to as Zonolite.

The government once funded a program to put Zonolite in to homes to help reduce heating costs as it has great insulating properties.

What do I do if I suspect Asbestos Containing Materials? (ACM)

If you suspect that a material might contain asbestos, stop work immediately.

If a sample can be safely taken, put into a ziplock bag, seal the bag, wipe off the bag with soap and water and double bag. Label the location and type of material.

Have an asbestos sample tested by an accredited lab. This will tell you the kind of asbestos, and the percentage of the material that contains asbestos. You can bring asbestos samples to us at our listed locations

Make the area safe. If it is not possible to safely remove the hazard, contain the area. Limit the contamination to as small an area as possible.

How do you get rid of Asbestos?

There are three levels of hazard when dealing with asbestos. Low, Medium, and High.

These hazard levels are gauged by the friability. Friability is the ability of the material to be broken down by hand pressure, releasing asbestos fibres.

All asbestos abatements require air scrubbing units with HEPA filters, that must be tested regularly to ensure proper function. All vacuums must have HEPA filters and be tested to ensure proper filtration.

All asbestos projects in Alberta must be reported 72 hours prior to commencement. In Saskatchewan, it is only a requirement to report HIGH risk asbestos abatement projects and those projects must be reported 14 days prior to work commencing.

All asbestos materials must be disposed of in accordance with local landfill regulations.

In Medicine Hat, we have to have an asbestos ticketed worker accompany the bin to the dump and be present with a spill kit until all materials are safely buried.

got mold?? Asbestos Services

At got mold?? we offer a full range of asbestos services to help ensure a safe renovation, construction, or demolition project.

got mold?? has won the 2018 Consumer Choice Award in the category of Asbestos Removal in Saskatoon and Regina, placing us as Saskatchewan's top asbestos company for the consumer. We also serve Alberta with locations in Medicine Hat and Calgary along with Western Manitoba.

got mold?? Asbestos Services:

• Asbestos Testing & Site Audits
• Asbestos Encapsulation & Abatement

If you suspect asbestos containing materials in your residential, commercial, industrial or institutional building contact the got mold?? team at 1.888.909.MOLD [6653] or via our website to protect yourself, your employees or your loved ones.