ASBESTOS

What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that has been mined from the earth. It is a microscopic fiber that has been used to help strengthen and protect building materials from ancient Greece to common day. It is resistant to heat and chemicals which makes it an excellent fire protective material, insulator and general purpose additive. It was also cheap and readily available which made it attractive to industrial nations.

Why is it dangerous?
Due to the small size of the fibers, they can get into the smallest part of the lungs where the body can not get rid of them. Due to their chemical resistant nature they also cannot be broken down by our bodies natural defenses. To protect the rest of the body from the foreign body in the lung, our defense systems start to build scar tissue over the fiber. After many years, 10 to 40, this scar tissue could develop into a lung cancer, asbestosis, or mesothelomia. There are also various types of plaque or hardening of the lung or stomach lining.

Didn't the government ban the use of asbestos?
Yes and No. The EPA created a phase and ban out rule for asbestos to remove it from products being manufactured, but this was overturned by the court system. It also did not fully protect from the importing of materials made in foreign countries. Currently there is no regulation to stop companies from manufacturing asbestos containing building products, but litigation and safety concerns keep most companies from starting back. However, most home improvement stores do carry some products, especially roofing, that contain asbestos. And it continues to contaminate other materials being mined from the earth. In Libby, Montana there has been evidence that the vermiculite mines there were contaminated by asbestos. They produced a variety of products used in our homes today.

In 1999, it was discovered that gypsum wall board being imported for Korea had asbestos in it. These materials were distributed throughout the US.

What regulations are there concerning asbestos?
The EPA, OSHA, DOT and various states have regulations concerning asbestos. State regulations are required to be at least as stringent as the federal regulations, but in many cases are more stringent. The main regulations concerning asbestos include:

AHERA-Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act
This is an EPA regulation that requires individuals who perform asbestos work in schools (K-12) to be trained in certified training courses (in some states licensed), for schools to perform inspections of their facilities and reinspect every three years, for schools to implement operations and maintenance plans that deal with damaged asbestos and help reduce future damage.

ASHARA-Asbestos in Schools Hazard Abatement Reauthorization Act
This is an EPA regulation that required non-school entities that were not private residences to have personnel performing asbestos work to be trained as they are under AHERA with the exception of the Management Planner. This regulation did not require inspections.

NESHAP-National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants
This is an EPA regulation that requires inspections of any facility about to be demolished or renovated in which suspect materials may be disturbed. It requires the removal or protection of asbestos containing materials during a renovation/demolition project with certain exceptions. This regulation does not have a "built after" date for exemptions, so it does not matter when your building was built this regulation applies.

OSHA in Construction and General Industry
The safety regulations for asbestos require that any building covered by OSHA (at least one employee) inspect for asbestos if the building was built prior to 1980 you must inspect insulating, surfacing and floor tile suspect materials prior to disturbing them in any way or consider them Presumed Asbestos Containing Materials and you must label materials that are accessible and can be disturbed by employees. The standards also include training requirements for people who do actual removal as well as maintenance staff. Basically anyone who performs removal must comply with AHERA training standards, but O&M staff that remove materials for maintenance purposes only and the quantity is less than one glovebag shall have 16 hour O&M training. If maintenance employees come into contact with but do not disturb asbestos they must have 2 hour Asbestos Awareness training.