Asbestos Management
For many years, asbestos was the material of choice in manufacturing and construction applications. It was cheap, resistant to common industrial chemicals, a fantastic insulating material, and essentially fireproof. It could easily be argued that asbestos was as important to the Industrial Revolution as the steam engines, boilers and piping it insulated.
Asbestos applications quickly spread from manufacturing to the construction industry, and it was used in roofing materials, floor coverings, ceiling panels, structural insulation, drywall joint compounds, wall coating materials and even in exterior siding materials. It could be found in nearly every component of a residential or commercial structure. A reference to asbestos management during that time period likely meant marketing new uses for asbestos materials.
Medical professionals, occupational safety specialists and most workers now know better. Exposure to airborne asbestos materials may result in the inhalation of asbestos fibres. These fibres become embedded in lung tissue and cause serious, long-term health problems. Lung tissue can become scarred by asbestosis. Exposure can result in general lung cancer, or in a specific kind of cancer called mesothelioma.
The largest asbestos industry today is the safe removal of old asbestos products from buildings, and a reference to asbestos management is understood to mean safe procedures for the removal and disposal of these materials. Asbestos is hazardous if the material can easily be crushed by hand to produce a dust that contains asbestos fibres. Such material is called “friable”, and the point of asbestos management is to eliminate exposure to the dust produced by friable materials.
The keystone of asbestos management is the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and respiratory protective equipment (RPE). Proper PPE and RPE are described in Health and Safety Executive guidance EM6: Asbestos Essentials, which was published in March of 2011. Earlier task guidance sheets describe the asbestos management procedures to be followed to avoid the release of asbestos fibres into the air; EM6 describes how to protect workers when airborne fibres are already present at a site or when expose may occur as a result of work being performed.
Disposable overalls, single-use gloves and non-laced boots are basic PPE for asbestos management. The non-laced boots are readily cleaned and the overalls and gloves are disposed of to prevent workers from taking asbestos fibres home at the end of a workday. The overalls and gloves must be disposed of as asbestos waste.
Properly fitted half mask respirators or semi-disposable respirators with P3 filters provide the necessary asbestos management RPE for many tasks. Type FFP3 or FMP3 disposable respirators are also acceptable. Some tasks will require non-disposable RPE. Paper or cloth “dust masks” provide no protection against airborne asbestos fibres and should never be used.