Hidden Asbestos: Asbestos Cement

Here we will look at some of the places in which asbestos can turn up unexpectedly.

Asbestos was frequently incorporated into cement. The material was invented in America in 1905 and was used to coat such items as boilers and furnaces. The material was practically indestructible. Subsequent use was to repair leaking roofs and as a weatherproof sealant around chimneys and windows. It was also used as an insulation material. Soon it became possible to manufacture the material as a pre-form material, and its lightness and durability made it very popular. Roof and wall panels were fabricated from it; it found use in decorative mouldings, bathroom tiles, electrical panels, laboratory bench tops, water pipes, and many other items.

Nowadays the material is likely to turn up as corrugated roof panels typically on garages, sheds and farm buildings, flat sheet walls on similar buildings, guttering and downpipes on factory buildings, flues on factory heating and cooling systems, pipes and water-tanks, and fire surrounds.

If the asbestos remains fully bound to the cement, then it poses little danger if handled and disposed of properly. The problem comes when these structures are demolished or work is carried out on them. Fracturing asbestos cement can release particles of asbestos, and drilling into it or sawing it can produce lethal quantities of the carcinogenic dust.

Nobody knows the maximum amount of this dust that can be inhaled safely. Some scientists believe that thee is no such thing as a safe amount; that all amounts are potentially dangerous. Even if there is a safe quantity, it is likely to be very small. The dust contains tiny asbestos fibres and it is these that lodge in the lung and turn the cells of its lining cancerous. Every year more people will be exposed to this lethal dust, whist once asbestos cement was once considered a wonder material for the construction industry.

Asbestos compensation claims are still on the increase despite it being a banned material. One problem with the material is that it has been used in very many applications, and it lurks hidden in the background. If you have become ill following exposure to asbestos then you could be entitled to make a mesothelioma claim.