Asbestos dust is a silent killer. Inhalation of its deadly fibers can cause Mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that sometimes doesn't present its symptoms until a full 50 years after the disease was contracted.
There are particular occupations that carry a higher risk of Mesothelioma than that of the general population, usually those jobs that involve dismantling of pipework in buildings constructed using Asbestos. Plumbers, electricians, power station workers and demolition operatives all have a higher chance of exposure to inhalation of asbestos dust than many other occupations, but just about anyone can unwittingly come into contact with asbestos. For example, schoolteachers have been known to die from Mesothelioma because they simply stood in rooms every day that carried asbestos-lagged piping in the suspended ceilings. Over years, the dust would fall down onto their hair and clothing, with predictable fatal consequences.
Even a member of the general public carrying out DIY work can be exposed to asbestos dust unless they take sensible precautions. Many concrete sectional garages popular in domestic households in the 1950's had asbestos cement roofing sheets, and whilst these sheets are regarded as lower risk than the more dangerous 'blue' asbestos heat-resistant lagging and sheet material, they still remain hazardous. A person who decides to demolish their old garage to put it in a skip, to be replaced with a more modern building, can easily breath in asbestos dust if they break the sheets while removing them.
Accordingly, whether you are an employer owning an industrial unit or an individual who has found asbestos present in your home or office, you need to arrange for a professional company to remove it safely.
Safe asbestos disposal is a complex job needing strict safety procedures to be followed. The area must be completely evacuated and quarantined from the public. Asbestos disposal operatives wear special over-suits that are removed in a safe manner whilst they are wearing respirators, and those suits themselves are disposed of along with the scrap asbestos itself.
Often a professional asbestos roofing disposal company will carry out a full survey of the site before commencing any work, and will give the client a fixed quotation to include the removal and disposal of any asbestos, together with a safe total clean of the site after the asbestos roofing material is removed.
Professional asbestos disposal companies must be licensed by the relevant governmental body in the UK to ensure that they follow safety procedures. After the asbestos has been removed, work can t commence on replacing whatever function the asbestos originally served.
In the case of asbestos roofing, one specialist company, Retain Limited - http://www.retainlimited.com/ - will safely remove any asbestos roofing or coat it so that the fibers can never escape, and will re-roof industrial or domestic premises to an extremely high standard, leaving the building's occupants safe from asbestos contamination for the future.
Tom IL Hill
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