Working With and Around Asbestos by EMI
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Working With and Around Asbestos
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Working With and Around Asbestos by EMI
- 1. Working With and Around AsbestosWorking With and Around Asbestos Prepared by Jack E. Leonard, Ph.D., PresidentPrepared by Jack E. Leonard, Ph.D., President Environmental Management InstituteEnvironmental Management Institute
- 2. You are here today because this year you will almost surely work around asbestos.
- 3. You are here to learn to work safely – for your sake and for that of the home you are working in.
- 4. You will encounter asbestos in older homes certainly, but even in some newer construction.
- 5. Change how you see the household environment to work smarter and safer.
- 6. Asbestos has been widely used.Asbestos has been widely used.
- 7. Fire-resistant asbestos fiber cloth hasFire-resistant asbestos fiber cloth has been used for millennia.been used for millennia.
- 8. Asbestos is a Greek word, but the fiber-yielding rocks were known even earlier.
- 9. Asbestos is mined from the earth, the fiber often visible and easily separated from the rock.
- 10. Fiber technology is very sophisticated, so it is no surprise that asbestos was highly prized.
- 11. A 19A 19thth century need for heat-stable boilercentury need for heat-stable boiler insulation opened new and larger mines.insulation opened new and larger mines.
- 12. By letting boilers run hotter and safer, asbestos insulation improved safety and reduced coal use.
- 13. Mines were opened around the world.
- 14. Despite its relatively high cost its high temperature durability hasn’t been beat.
- 15. In the 20th century its strength andIn the 20th century its strength and durability greatly increased its of uses.durability greatly increased its of uses.
- 16. Combining asbestos with other materials produced a wide range of useful products
- 17. Heat proofing steel structures and reducing corrosion added to its appeal.
- 18. The U.S. EPA identified over 3000 products containing asbestos in the 1970s.
- 19. Asbestos dust can cause serious – even life-Asbestos dust can cause serious – even life- threatening ailments.threatening ailments.
- 20. The hazard is due to the small size andThe hazard is due to the small size and long durability of asbestos fibers.long durability of asbestos fibers.
- 21. Asbestos naturally breaks up into fibers which are small enough to enter the lungs.
- 22. Once in the lungs, these fibers are removed only slowly, if at all, by the body’s defenders.
- 23. In the lung these fibers make scars which can cause breathing difficulty and even cancer.
- 24. All Americans have some fiber in their lungs,All Americans have some fiber in their lungs, but asbestosbut asbestos workersworkers have much more.have much more.
- 25. The larger your lifetime fiber dose, the greater the longterm risk.
- 26. You inhale fiber because material in your vicinity is disturbed and releases fiber.
- 27. Workers disturbing asbestos need training above and beyond this course.
- 28. Three major lung diseases can resultThree major lung diseases can result from breathing asbestos dust.from breathing asbestos dust.
- 29. Asbestosis is simple scarring of the lungs leading to breathing difficulties.
- 30. Mesothelioma and lung cancer are forms of cancer with unusually high probability of death.
- 31. These three diseases have killed tens of thousands of Americans over the decades.
- 32. By not creating dust, you can workBy not creating dust, you can work without danger around asbestos withoutwithout danger around asbestos without endangering yourself or your clients.endangering yourself or your clients.
- 33. Identify possible asbestos-containingIdentify possible asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in work areas.materials (ACM) in work areas.
- 34. Six materials need not be identified as ACM: wood, metal, glass, stone, brick, and concrete
- 35. Use facility inspections (if any) to identify possible ACM at the site
- 36. If a material will release dust (become friable) when you work on it, Don’t!
- 37. Avoid disturbing asbestos fibers.Avoid disturbing asbestos fibers.
- 38. Additional training, procedures and PPE my be required if you disturb any ACM.
- 39. Working on materials in a way that does not produce dust or make it airborne is allowed.
- 40. Protect yourself and the area to avoid creating or spreading dust.
- 41. Use three simple work practices to cleanUse three simple work practices to clean up debris without making it airborne.up debris without making it airborne.
- 42. Seal wetted ACM waste in leaktight containers to avoid releasing asbestos into the home.
- 43. Wet materials with a detergent solution to keep fibers from getting airborne.
- 44. Use HEPA vacuums (special seals and filters) to avoid spreading asbestos during cleanup.
Editor's Notes
- Welcome. Before we start, there are a few fundamentals we should review together. [Schedule and Facilities and Recycling] [Emergency Plan] Basic Ground Rules: There is no such thing as a stupid question. We want you to be comfortable. We expect you to participate. [Introductions] Who, What, With Whom Previous Training or Experience Expectations for the day
- A few decades ago most people associated asbestos with death and debilitation, but memory fades and the mistaken belief that asbestos has been banned and removed from the environment can make us careless. You will encounter asbestos this year as you go about the work of weatherization, and some of the homes you might work in can have more than one type of asbestos-containing material. It is not simply the insulation on the building’s structure and energy systems that are of concern, it is also the siding, flooring, caulking, sealing, and roofing materials that can be involved.
- As we will see, asbestos has been a serious threat to the health of American workers and their families. It is an insidious enemy, and residues from improperly performed and cleaned projects can linger for weeks, months, or even years. To overcome this threat, standardized work procedures and specialized equipment have been developed. Appropriate training levels and careful selection of work practices are required. In today’s training you will be come to know the first level of this set of competencies.
- One of the most useful properties of Asbestos is its durability. Asbestos building materials can withstand chemicals, high and low temperatures, and even mechanical stresses will often leave it unfazed. Thus, asbestos installed in a building 10, 20, 40, 60, or 100 years ago may still be present in the building. And, since asbestos has not been banned, even new building materials can contain asbestos. [Beware “mineral fibers.”]
- Today, then, we are going to see how you can protect yourself and others by Becoming aware of potentially asbestos-containing materials in the homes you assess and improve; Utilizing safe work practices around such materials, and Protecting and cleaning areas before and after working there to minimize the creation of airborne asbestos fiber.
- The first asbestos building material sold was roofing shingles in England in the 1850s. Although there had been considerable use of asbestos in industries – steam systems and engines, furnaces and boilers, acid processing, and such – building materials introduced a whole new market segment. In the 20th century a wide variety of consumer and automotive uses would also appear. According to the U.S. EPA, there were over 3000 products being sold in the United States in the 1970s. Because of their usefulness, these products may still be in place today.
- After sticks and stones, string, rope, and fabrics were probably the third major human industries, probably predating pottery and certainly predating the Bronze Age, although few evidences of the early cloth industry remain. Once people knew how to weave with hair and vegetable fibers, a fiber on a rock would not pose any fundamentally new problems, and once it was discovered that the cloth was fire resistant, the fortunes of asbestos mines were begun. Today people can – and do – make almost any product out of asbestos that is made from any other fiber, but especially cloth, paper, and insulating products.
- We don’t know who first used asbestos. The minerals occur throughout the mountainous areas of the world. But from the first century AD we have an account of the entire process, from ore extraction to fiber separation to fiber blending to cloth weaving from a Roman encyclopedist, Pliny the Elder. Incidhentally, Pliny also noted that the slaves whose job it was to extract the fiber had breathing problems.
- There is no such “thing” as asbestos: asbestos is the name for a group of magnesium silicate minerals. Although there are over a dozen such minerals, only six are regulated and only one constitutes the bulk of remaining materials. This mineral (known as chrysotile [kris’-uh-till]) or white asbestos has been mined in many countries, including the U.S. Chrysotile levels in the soil are so high in parts of California and Virginia that there are health advisories for workers performing soil excavation. To identify the fiber type, analysts use the Polarized Light Microscopic method.
- Some of the more exotic uses of asbestos fiber are asphalt coated string and rope products for high temperature valve packings and a corrugated cardboard type steam line insulation called air cell. Ironing board covers and flatiron pads were also made from asbestos. Because asbestos is also an electrical insulator, it was used as wiring insulation on hot items such as toasters, waffle irons, and stage lighting. The asbestos yarn was braided in a fashion resembling the “Chinese finger traps” and installed over the two inches or so where the power supply wire joined the hot wire materials.
- At mid-19th century, engineers realized that the secret to an efficient steam engine was a higher boiler temperature. Unfortunately, the insulating materials of the age (such as animal hair or burying the boiler in the dirt), were not up to the task. Asbestos, then, was seen as a major new resource for a continuing Industrial Revolution. And asbestos cloth could be put between the boiler’s inner and outer steel jackets, so even a steam locomotive could have an insulated covering.
- As the railroads and steam driven manufacturing uses grew throughout the 19th Century, new mines opened all over the world to meet the demand for the “Magic Mineral.” It was this availability that lead to the exploration of other uses, such as the roofing shingles mentioned earlier.
- As production around the world ramped up in the 20th Century, Russia and Canada became the main producers. Russia produced primarily for its domestic markets, leaving Canada the main exporter. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the peak world production was about 9 billion pounds in 1980, declining to only 4 billion pounds in 1990. About 50 countries have banned most or all uses of asbestos, but significantly not China, Mexico, the U.S. or Canada. Mines continue to close, including the flagship Johns-Mansville chrysotile mine located in the town of Asbestos, Quebec.
- As the health hazards of asbestos became more widely known and its production declined, the most important remaining uses were in making asbestos-cement (for strength) and asbestos friction products (for heat resistance). Even during its heyday, asbestos was only occasionally used as insulation on cold water systems (it was too expensive) or as general building insulation. However, when strength and heat resistance is required, asbestos is hard to beat. A sizeable fraction of truck and heavy equipment brakes still have asbestos shoes.
- While its fibrous nature led to the discovery of asbestos minerals and heat resistance to their popularity, the 20th century exploited other properties. Strength: Asbestos cement is relatively strong and light. If you remove the asbestos from the mix and replace it with any other fiber, natural or synthetic, you will cut the strength by at least 15%. Chemical and Biological Resistance: Asbestos is stable even under acid and base attack and even when heated, so the growing chemical and oil refining industries used lots of it. And asbestos siding can last a century. Electrical Resistance: As high voltage power systems multiplied, the ability of asbestos to provide electrical insulation and to resist destruction by electric arcs was invaluable.
- With the invention of the steel structure skyscraper, the need for steel girder insulation became apparent (its “failure” contributed to the Twin Towers disaster of 9/11/2001). Fire code was amended to require a 2-hour coating on all structural members, and sprayed-on asbestos fiber coating was considered the ultimate in such coatings. Asphaltic asbestos coatings on steel pipes and asbestos cement water pipes snake through underground America for thousands of miles. As many of these are decommissioned, they are simply left in place as a memorial to 20th century America’s infrasystem growth.
- By the 1930s asbestos was marketed as the magic material, and by midcentury theatre newsreels were showcasing the latest developments in asbestos technology (including the space age products of the 60s and 70s). Alongside its more traditional properties, its use as a flow enhancer caused it to be added to plaster, roofing cements, flooring mastic, drywall joint compound, and even sometimes to paints.
- But there was a dark side. For over a century the industry had carefully hidden information about the terrible health toll asbestos fibers took on worker health, especially in the asbestos mills. Later investigations would later reveal, for example, that at one New Jersey Johns-Mansville plant making asbestos cloth products, almost 90% of the workforce eventually developed asbestos – a debilitating lung ailment specifically related to breathing the fibers. But independent medical investigators began to piece together the evidence.
- Asbestos fibers are in fact made up of invisible fibrils, too small in diameter for the human eye (and even the light microscope in some cases!) to see. Research tends to show that fibers 10-25 micrometers in length are most likely to be dangerous, but such particles are shorter than distance across a human hair. Furthermore, the chemical and biological resistance means that if you breathe a fiber in your lungs today and it lodges there, you will probably still have it on the day you die. So the fibers can keep on doing damage for decades.
- The amosite fiber bundle above illustrates this point. You can clearly see the bundle, but you can see that it is composed of smaller, sharper fibrils. Friction or chemical change can free these fibrils, and once free, they can do their damage.
- The body has many natural defenses, from the shape of the respiratory tract, to the mass of hairs in the nose, to the mucous-secreting cells lining the lines, throat, and upper lung area, to the macrophages depicted above. This macrophage, magnified thousands of times!, is a specialized white blood cell which roams the body seeking out and destroying foreign objects. Unfortunately, though, it is incapable of isolating and destroying those 10-25 micrometer asbestos fibers which can cause so much damage.
- As this short video illustrates, particles of the right (or should we say wrong?) size can get through these defenses, enter the lungs, and lodge there for decades.
- In the late 1970s, the EPA found that the average American was walking around with 10-30 thousand asbestos fibers per gram of dry lung tissue! Now, since you have a thousand or so grams of dry lung tissue, that means millions of total fibers. Why so much? Probably from brake shoes (which can still have asbestos). However, asbestos mill workers and installers could have 100 thousand to a million fibers per gram of dry lung tissue. And the more asbestos in the lungs, the more likely that worker was to develop an asbestos-related disease.
- Although there are subtleties related to type of fiber and the presence of other factors, the bottom line is clear: if you keep your excess exposure to a minimum, you are unlikely to develop one of the nasty three.
- Disturbance means that asbestos gets in the air for whatever reason. For some materials, this is not difficult at all. Think of rubbing your hand across dry but water-damaged plaster or pipe insulation, or the edge of a drywall sheet, or the surface of spray-applied fireproofing or acoustical finish, or even just lifting a ceiling tie of the T-bar support. Such materials are called friable. A material can be friable as installed, but more often it has become friable by damage. And, you can make a material friable by how you work on it. To avoid exposure, then, don’t make nonfriable materials friable, and don’t disturb materials that are already friable.
- OSHA, EPA, and most states have strict regulations on who can perform work on friable materials, but work on nonfriable is regulated depending on whether it is likely to become friable. Completing this two-hour asbestos awareness course allows you to do maintenance and repair on nonfriable materials that remain nonfriable throughout the job, such as painting an undamaged plaster surface. You can also clean up in areas where asbestos is present in nonfriable condition or as a minor contaminants if you follow the prescribed work practices. For other work you need more training and perhaps a license.
- Asbestos workers in the so-called First Wave occupational illness, those in the factories, were often exposed to extraordinarily high levels of fiber, and multiple diseases appeared affecting a variety of organ systems. In the Second Wave of workers – those installing or maintaining asbestos materials – the diseases were more likely to be concentrated in the lungs. Thus, it is these lung diseases that we focus on as we attempt to ward off a possible Third Wave, people now maintaining or removing asbestos materials.
- Far and away the most common disease in the factories was asbestosis. As the fibrous scarring builds up, the body’s ability to collect and distribute oxygen to the body weakens, leading eventually to a dependence on an oxygen bottle and perennial low activity. This disease often appeared within a decade, and while it seldom killed outright, it did make the body more vulnerable to disease.
- Cancer results when a cell forgets how to stop growing. As it rampages, it draws essential nutrients away from other parts of the body and may even cause death as it slowly weakens other organs. A cancer can either form a focal tumor (like lung cancer) or not (mesothelioma). A cancer can be influenced by your smoking behavior (like lung cancer) or not (mesothelioma). And it may kill fast (like mesothelioma, once diagnosed) or you might even survive it (although your odds of doing so are only about 1 in 7).
- In the mid-20th century, a quarter of all member deaths the Western Insulators Union resulted from these three asbestos-related diseases. About 6% of the deaths were from Asbestosis, About 10% were from Lung Cancer, and About 9% were from Mesothelioma. This, one in four members of the union who died during the 20+ year study period died from asbestos-related disease.
- If breathing asbestos dust causes deadly disease, the message is simple: Don’t Make Dust! Of course, like any other simple message, there are often subtexts. For this one the minor message is: If there is dust, Don’t Breathe It! So, how do we manage this?
- Pay attention to existing information. If materials are marked or labeled as asbestos or as mineral fibers on the material itself or on the Material Safety Data sheet, then treat it as asbestos. But “asbestos-free” on earlier products (pre-1985) are often not trustworthy. Ask whether any asbestos inspection or microscopic testing has ever been performed. If so, get ahold of the written results and see whether it really applies to the materials currently present.
- Rule out the obvious. The U.S. EPA states that work done on the listed six materials is not asbestos work. There may be other hazards of course: hardwood dust can cause cancer, dry cutting cement, stone or brick can cause silicosis, etc.
- Nothing is more definitive than a properly performed asbestos inspection, complete with sample collection and analysis. Of course, weatherization homes aren’t very likely to have ever had one (but you can dream!).
- US DOE regulations do not allow you to disturb known or suspected ACM as a part of a weatherization process. Some materials (such as ceiling tiles and popcorn acoustical plaster) are friable even when they are in good condition as installed, but most ACM building materials were installed in a nonfriable condition. Your job is to minimize disturbance (getting fiber loose in the air) and carefully cleaning up areas where there might be some asbestos debris contaminating the building areas in which you are working.
- Settled dust and nonfriable materials are your friends. So long as they stay in that condition, you need have no worries. But can they stay that way when you have to disturb them? It depends, of course, on what you have to do. Small amounts of settled dust can be collected by wet cleaning with detergent solution or by using a HEPA vacuum to pick up the fibers. If you use liquid nails on a plaster wall to add a new surface, there will be a lot less exposure than if you nail, screw, or drill into the plaster.
- We have provided you with a chart showing you the OSHA training requirements for various types of asbestos work. Notice that the 2-hour training is suitable only for limited types of maintenance and cleanup work. With the Class III training you would also be allowed to do more kinds of work (such as drilling holes into asbestos siding, plaster walls, or vinyl asbestos floor tiles), but additional training hours would be required. Minor patching and removal of HVAC insulation can also be done with Class III training, but it would also require the use of respirators.
- So, ask yourself three questions: Could this be asbestos (the six materials or not)? Is the material friable or nonfriable? Can I do my weatherization work without getting dust in the air?
- Establish a clear route of travel. Laying down a plastic or treated paper surface can simplify later cleanup. If you could contaminate your shoes, clothing, or body, use suitable disposable gear (booties, suit, hat, gloves) to speed up cleaning Use HEPA vacuums to clean the material or mist it and then damp-mop or damp-wipe the area until it no longer shows loose debris. Allow the area to dry and use the HEPA vacuum again. Post signs or control access to prevent entry or kibitzing.
- OSHA requires that work done on asbestos materials must use, as applicable, three work practices: Keep the Material Wet using a suitable detergent solution. Use a HEPA Vacuum for any dry cleanup (and pre-misting can still be helpful. Promptly Dispose of Your Wastes in sealed, leaktight containers (such as strong plastic bags).
- Three important concepts: OSHA does not mandate plastic thickness requirements for Class IV waste disposal, but you don’t want the bags to fail. The wastes from a Class IV project are not considered asbestos wastes or hazardous wastes. If properly closed they can be disposed of as ordinary waste. OSHA requires a warning label on asbestos in the work area, but not after disposal.
- I recommend just using a commercial cleaner like Formula 409, Mr. Clean, Target Up’n’Up, etc . Just be sure it has a mist (fanshaped stream) setting and not just a sharp spray pattern. You can mix your own, but exercise care to get the materials wet. Mist the inside of your HEPA vac after lifting the lid but before you removed the contents. Remember the hazards of dry asbestos dust. And use a plastic dropcloth under it while removing the filter. (An ounce of prevention…)
- HEPA Vacuums have HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters. they also should have well-designed and maintained seals. Asbestos fibers are so small that they will go through the filters of ordinary vacuum cleaners. Neither the U.S. EPA nor OSHA has tested the use of water extraction vacuums, although there are reasons to believe that they could be suitable.