What is asbestos?

Asbestos is the commercial term referring to a group of six naturally occurring fibrous minerals. An asbestos rock is made up of minute fibres, which are invisible to the human eye and can only be properly counted under light or electron microscopes. It has been said that 2 million such fibres can fit on a single pin head.

Asbestos use

Asbestos is versatile and plentiful, remarkably durable and has a very high resistance to heat. For this reason it has been used extensively since ancient times. Since the industrial revolution, it has been found to be ideal for many purposes including sound and heat insulation, fire-proofing, brake pads, roofing (particularly corrugated roofs), pipes and pipe insulation, shipbuilding and construction. Some six million tonnes of asbestos material have been imported into the UK since the mid-1800s.

The most frequent type of asbestos fibre mined and used for these purposes was the serpentine rock (chrysotile or white asbestos), which is common throughout the world. This type accounts for around 90% of the asbestos installed in residential and commercial properties. The remaining applications were served by amphibole rock from Africa and Australia (crocidolite or blue and amosite or brown asbestos). These are the main types, but there are other forms of asbestos minerals that have been applied industrially such as actinolite, anthophyllite and tremolite which may also be linked to illness and disease.

“Did you know that every week on average… 4 plumbers die; 20 tradesmen die; 6 electricians die; 8 joiners die… all from this hidden killer?” HSE

Use of asbestos in the UK peaked in the 1960s – 1970s, but asbestos cement was used in manufacturing and building until 1999, when white asbestos was banned. A ban on the use of all types of asbestos has been in force in the European Union since 2005. Today, the mineral is present in an estimated 500,000 non-domestic properties in the UK. In order to carry out work on existing asbestos, the employer responsible for the project will usually be required to obtain a permit. They will also be under common law and statutory obligations to ensure that their employees are adequately trained and protected in order to deal with the asbestos in such a way as to minimise any possible risks to their health.

Sensible precautions when dealing with asbestos include:

• Avoiding the use of power tools
• Keeping the asbestos damp
• Wearing a suitable face mask (an ordinary dust mask is not suitable)
• Never smoking, eating or drinking around asbestos
• Securely packaging and labelling asbestos waste
• Cleaning up fibres with an asbestos vacuum cleaner
• Wearing disposable overalls and boot covers
• Never carrying asbestos off-site in a car

Asbestos and airborne fibres

Individual asbestos fibres have an unfortunate physical characteristic which makes their extensive use in construction and manufacturing deeply regrettable; because of their size and shape, they can become lodged in the lungs and the pleura, many are able to resist the body’s natural defence mechanisms (macrophages) and so remain in place. As the body tries in vain to remove the fibres, scarring (fibrosis) can occur, and the pleura can become thickened by calcification.

This is particularly true of blue and brown asbestos, although one should not be under any illusion as to the significant fibrogenic potential of white asbestos. In any case, the fact that it is impossible to rule out cross-contamination between the different forms of asbestos without laboratory testing means that an equal level of caution should be applied to each.

“Asbestos fibres and dust are potentially very dangerous if inhaled in higher concentrations over a period of time, when they can cause serious lung diseases including cancer.” Directgov

The structural make-up of asbestos makes it highly prone to fracture. Although the minerals share the basic fibrous lattice structure seen on many other naturally occurring minerals and gemstones, theirs suffers from weakness across two of its three planes. If enough force is applied to the mineral then it will break along these weakened planes and release fibres, which inherit the weakness. As the released fibres are broken, they too will produce ever smaller fibres that require increasingly tiny amounts of pressure to cause a fracture. Once broken and released into the atmosphere, the smallest asbestos fibres are very easily inhaled, giving rise to fibrosis and other significant health risks.

This means that the tendency in asbestos production to use short fibres (which are already some way along this fracturing process), and the presence of asbestos-based materials, such as building insulation, that are already so weak that they can be fractured with the pressure of a single finger is a cause for concern. Airborne fibres which could potentially be inhaled are also likely to be present in construction and shipbuilding settings where materials tend to be sawed, shaped and sanded. Indeed, for some processes in these industries, the asbestos comes in a powder form ready to be mixed with other ingredients (such as concrete) making the inhalation of fibres particularly likely.

“Providing the asbestos is well maintained and preferably covered by an impermeable layer of paint or other material so that it is not releasing dust, it does not present any hazard to health. It is only the inhalation of loose asbestos fibres which causes disease.” British Lung Foundation

This is a confident statement, but caution needs to be exercised. In some cases, the pressure needed to cause a break and put human health at risk is much higher (for example, asbestos has been used previously in astronautical engineering, where it helped to ensure the integrity of space craft during take-off and landing). Also, where asbestos has been installed as, for example, wall insulation and then painted over to form a seal, the fibres will be trapped in place making the risk to human health minimal, until over time they become fragile and damaged.

The risks to human health

Exposure to airborne asbestos fibres can lead to a wide range of serious and fatal health conditions including asbestosis, asbestos-related lung cancer, pleural thickening and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma in particular is known for its close association with asbestos (it is almost always caused by the presence of airborne fibres), which means that the extent of current asbestos-related risk to human health is usually measured by reference to the number of fatalities from this condition. There is currently no cure for any of these conditions.

“The ten occupations found to have the highest risk of mesothelioma for males were Carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians, Labourers in Other Construction Trades, Metal Plate Workers, Pipe Fitters, Construction Operatives, Managers in Construction, Construction Trades and Energy Plant Operatives.” HSE

As the latency period (the time between initial inhalation of asbestos fibres and the development of symptoms) for asbestos-related diseases can be 60 years or more, the use of the material continued unabated until relatively recently. The first major study carried out into the risks posed by asbestos in the UK was the Merewether and Price report in 1930. It found that around a quarter of the 360 asbestos textile workers examined suffered from pulmonary fibrosis. Since this time, the scale of the risk has become apparent in studies carried out on other groups including asbestos miners and shipbuilders, leading to a total ban.

Groups of people at risk

There is no known safe level of exposure to airborne asbestos fibres. Those that become ill have usually been exposed regularly. On the other hand, disease is possible from a single heavy dose exposure, or from a small number of low volume exposures. Smoking in combination with asbestos exposure can greatly increase the risk of developing asbestos-related lung cancer.

People have become ill from exposure to asbestos at various stages in its use. Those responsible for mining and transporting the minerals were obviously put at risk. In the UK, this applies to dock workers in particular. Equally, those working in shipbuilding, construction and manufacturing that were involved in dealing with asbestos are likely to have been exposed to dangerous levels of airborne fibres.

Not only were those people working directly with the material exposed however. For example, once asbestos had been installed in non-residential properties it would inevitably deteriorate if not properly maintained, releasing fibres into the atmosphere. This has lead to cases of asbestos related illness in teachers, doctors, clerical workers and so on. Secondary exposure occurs for example to wives and children who were cleaning the working clothes of men who were occupationally exposed to asbestos, or to children who were playing on sites making use of asbestos, or on ground where the material had been illegally dumped.

Asbestos in the future and next steps

Asbestos is thankfully now much less common in construction and manufacturing throughout the world and where it is still used, working practices are more carefully regulated to mitigate any hazards to human health. The World Health Organisation is pushing for production of the material to be halted completely, but it continues to be applied commercially in countries such as America, India and China. Even in the United Kingdom, where a full ban is now in force, the full extent of the damage to human health suffered by people exposed during its use is unlikely to be seen for some time. The government Health and Safety Executive estimates that asbestos-related deaths will not peak until at least 2016, and others consider it will be later.

To find out more about asbestos and its related illnesses:

• Look through the rest of the material on the Asbestos Compensation Claims website
• Contact Humphreys & Co. Solicitors on 0800 542 6451 to discuss beginning a claim for compensation for asbestos-related illness on a no win, no fee basis and applying for state benefits
• Call the government asbestos Infoline on 0845 345 0055
• Visit your nearest Health and Safety Executive office or visit the HSE website
• Contact your Local Authority Environmental Health Department