Asbestos overkill

[eddy]

Asbestos overkill in our nanny state.

My dad used to let me cut sheets of fibro, it was really only the poor aborigines working in the asbestos mines that got crook.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/505666/o ... o-asbestos

[Merc1107]

Asbestos overkill in our nanny state.

My dad used to let me cut sheets of fibro, it was really only the poor aborigines working in the asbestos mines that got crook.

The number of people whose lives continue to be ruined by exposure to asbestos fibres decades ago would perhaps refute that.

We've all been around the stuff - and provided it is undisturbed, there is no problem. Trouble is, like any building material, it deteriorates over time, and that is going to be the big issue going forward. Not so much people handling asbestos (expect inadvertently), but the people who live and work around (crumbling) buildings that aren't known to contain asbestos.

I had a relative who worked at Wittenoom (the infamous asbestos town in WA's Pilbara) in the 50s as a boiler maker, and still alive today in his mid-80s; the two things that probably saved him were not working in the mines or with anything that handled the ore, and the fact he only stayed there a very short time. He felt Wittenoom was, to put it mildly, a shithole. Plenty to read on the subject - this being a quick starting point.

[eddy]

It says here that usually it is people who are exposed to it for a long time.

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environme ... risks.aspx

[Frances]

Asbestos is not safe. End of story.

[eddy]

Asbestos is not safe. End of story.

I agree too much is no good but this is the NSW level of exposure.

The workplace exposure standard for asbestos in Australia is 0.1 fibre per millilitre of air over an 8-hour period. Employers must ensure worker exposure to airborne asbestos is eliminated.25 Nov 2022

[Fleet Lists]

That is over 12 months ago. So has it been eliminated?

[eddy]

That is over 12 months ago. So has it been eliminated?

Well in my opinion it is still overkill.

Evidently smoking causes 85%-90% of lung cancers and asbestos about 4%

[Fleet Lists]

That was not the question.

[eddy]

That was not the question.

You are right that was not the question but as it takes about ten years we shall see if anyone gets sick.

I smoked until I was 45 and worked in a coal mine for 25 years and think I am one third dusted because they used to x ray us every two years and stopped because they said it did more harm than good.

The worst thing was when the insurance company made us wear glasses so you could not see with a mask on so you breathed in more dust.