Asbestos claims following exposure while restoring heritage stock

[simonw]

I recall there were working parties to Barry in the late 1960's to remove the Asbestos before new regulations came in!

I recall seeing blue asbestos on locos there in the 1970s

 

[Magdalia]

Indeed, and I wonder how well the scrapping process was carried out back then. I can easily imagine some unwary workers diving into crushing, smashing, stripping, etc., without due care.

A lot of DMUs with asbestos were scrapped at Snailwell in what was called the burn tunnel. Basically they were incinerated not dismantled.

 

[JKF]

These materials have asbestos fibre bound in different paints/resins/mortars. It stays there and does its job of reinforcing an otherwise-brittle material. If you don't sand it, snap it or do things to abrade or release the fibres it's OK. Also white asbestos is the least harmful in terms of the diseases it causes and its potency.

if you want to demolish a building it has to come out and that costs big time. Years back I was contract administrator for the demolition of a very large 1930s cinema that had been divided up into three screens in the 1950s (then later 5 screens in the 70s). The 50s refurb had artex everywhere, a low percentage of white but it couldn’t just be smashed up and landfilled. More stuff was found as various later walls were removed and new wall coverings peeled back. Added a couple of hundred thousand to the demolition bill!

 

[AndrewE]

if you want to demolish a building it has to come out and that costs big time.

that is true...

Years back I was contract administrator for the demolition of a very large 1930s cinema that had been divided up into three screens in the 1950s (then later 5 screens in the 70s). The 50s refurb had artex everywhere, a low percentage of white but it couldn’t just be smashed up and landfilled. More stuff was found as various later walls were removed and new wall coverings peeled back. Added a couple of hundred thousand to the demolition bill!

and that is because it was on a major scale. In a house a) one ceiling isn't/shouldn't be a major incident and in either case (cinema and house) no health risk has been present since someone mixed the fibre into the paint - probably in a factory.

I remember my dad scraping all the artex icicles/stalactites off our 1950s lounge ceiling so he could repaint it after he had got it relatively flat. He survived into his 90s with no lung disease...