possible asbestos

[jamesboy678]

hi all,
recently been sent up to loft area in a block of flats in streatham and manor court, south london and all of the steel pipe up there has lagging around it which is not of the usual look/material.
i have not touched it but bits have fallen off and it looks very crumbly, white flaky. the same is with the material betweeen the joists.

i have only been plumbing for 6 months and have never seen what asbestos looks like, does this sound like this lagging stuff is? the flats were put up on the 1920s and nothing has been renovated yet.

am i in my right to refuse to work up there if no one has called someone in to see if it is abestos or not?

any help would be great, thanks

 

[shneld]

Im not a plumber but work in industry.

Of course you are, they need to get a sample sent off for analysis

 

[Barry98]

james boy would the council not come and confirm ?

 

[turnpin]

dont gamble with your health report it to your supervisor under health and safety law your company has a duty of care to you and only work there when you have it in writing that it is safe to work thereregards turnpin

 

[jamesboy678]

nice one, thanks people!

 

[WHPES]

Yes, do not do any work there. Report to your supervisor (be very professional about it - remember nobody reputable wants their staff to be exposed to it, and it is your legal duty to report it any case - should you fail to report it having noticed it and someone else is exposed you could be held liable!).

If it doesn't look like glass fibre, it almost certainly is asbestos. It will probably be blue asbestos which is one of the most harmful types so be VERY careful. My grandfather died from it at age 61.

I have a picture of such lagging I will post on the site at a later date for reference.

 

[Bernie2]

Yes!

Sounds like classic asbestos lagging degrading. Seen loads of it.

Highly dangerous!!!!

 

[Blackcatgas]

They used to mix it into a paste and mould it on with thier bare hands, a fantastic material shame that it can damage your health.

 

[WHPES]

As promised. This was in the loft of a domestic premises. Crocidolite (blue asbestos) mat lagging. The people who fitted the loft insulation had disturbed it and in places it was strewn around the loft.

 

[Bernie2]

They put wire mesh around pipe then mixed plaster with asbestos and stuck it on top. Then smoothed it down, looked good.

Take my advice don't go near it. Unfortunately I have got asbestoses probably from the days when you where allowed to handle it freely.

 

[WaterTight]

not wishing to make light of any of the people who have been affected by the condition but isn't it the case, as bernie alluded to, that you're only really likely to suffer from the asbestosis if you handle it freely, regularly and over a long period of time. i mean, i wonder what your chances of being harmed are if you mucked about with it fleetingly once a year? i don't actually know, just a hunch, willing to be corrected.

 

[moony]

ive grinded an asbestos soil pipes covered in the dust head to toe not knowing what the hell it was thinking it was cast until my grinder flew through it! that was 3 months into my time - orders of my then superior

so if anyones days are numbered its mine!

 

[GreenArmy]

Have a look here on the HSE website. Lots of info and free downloads. Could save your life and professional career.

 

[Bernie2]

Err!

Being interested in asbestos at one time when the scares first came out in the eighties, I looked up some recorded cases of people developing asbestoses.

What shocked me was the case of a guy who worked for the then Electricity Board as a surveyor. He had asbestoses but the only recorded incident of him being in contact with asbestos was one five minute visit to a sub station job where he looked inside to see the guys fitting it out.

The scary bit was, he seems to have got asbestoses after only one five minute exposure years before and the guy did not even work with it.

Incidentally the first recorded court case of asbestos being thought a danger was in about 1896!!!!

 

[moony]

mate we used to run across the roofs covered in asbestos as kids - we've all been in contact with it - and that bloke has probably been subjected to it more than that 5 minute period - that was the only period that they may be able to call back on records for.

its one of them things i only worry about if i see it - i will record it and get it dealt with accordingly - but if im gonna die from it its got me already - same as cancer - or heart disease or whatever else - when my numbers up its up.