A pane in the lungs? Asbestos testing Catch 22

andym said :

Maybe you should try another glazier……

Get somebody from outside the ACT, they wouldn’t give a rats about a small bit of putty. Remember years ago when there were mushrooms all over our houses , with contractors removing roof insulation. Richard Carlton took great delight in showing what the Australian taxpayers were forking out in the ACT, while the good residents of Qubyn got a roneo’d sheet telling them how to do it themselves.

Disclaimer; I’m not an expert!

Asbestos is only dangerous when the fibres become airborne. Unless the putty is extremely dry or brittle and crumbling into very fine dust I would think it’s reasonably safe. To reduce the chance of dust, spray the area you’re working on with water. The fibres are minuscule which makes regular ‘dust masks’ and old clothes fairly redundant as far as protection goes.

Contact a Painter Poetix – they are used to dealing with asbestos regularly and the one I use does a great deal more than painting and plugging holes, he is handy with carpentry too and grateful for all types of work!

There’s asbestos throughout the older suburbs. I suspect removing a small sample with a knife will not significantly increase your exposure beyond what you’ve already been exposed to.

If you want to be on the extra extra safe side, just go to Bunnings or a tradie shop, buy a half mask that takes P1/P2 dust particle filter cartridges. It’s good to have one of those masks anyway for when you are doing clean-outs; there can be a lot of nasty stuff in dust apart from asbestos like rodent fecal matter and dried chemicals.

And maybe some disposable gloves and a disposal painter’s suit. But I think it’s probably overkill. Personally I’d just get a knife and gouge a bit straight in to a bag.

Anyway, here’s a link that might help you:

http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/formspublications/publications/documents/working_with_asbestos_guide_5484%5B1%5D.pdf

Maybe you should try another glazier……

zander said :

I think you’re being a bit melodramatic, gettting a small sample one time would not pose any significant risk. The glazier doesn’t want to do it as they deal with it day in day out, which over time would pose a significant risk. (think of the doctor and nurse hiding behind a screeen when you get an x-ray). How much does getting the test cost? I’d be inclined to just remove all the putty myself if the test price was too high.

Moi, melodramatic! Surely you jest! (Faints.)

Thank you everyone for your advice. Most people tend to confirm my idea that this is a tad silly. If I do it myself I will do as Clown Killer says, and wear really old clothes I can dispose of. (And hope no-one thinks they’re worth rescuing.)

Get ready for even more stupidity poetix…
The rules for asbestos in the ACT are that you can get it assessed by asbestos assessors (and pay $65 or more for that assessment), but the assessor cannot be an asbestos removalist (or vice versa).

…

Does this mean that there are also people who you can pay to do little jobs like removing a putty sample?

Get ready for even more stupidity poetix…
The rules for asbestos in the ACT are that you can get it assessed by asbestos assessors (and pay $65 or more for that assessment), but the assessor cannot be an asbestos removalist (or vice versa).

How ridiculous that such token red tape exists for something that can kill you. It would be funnier if it wasn’t true.

I can understand this; it’s along the same lines as don’t get your accountant to audit your books. A tester may be tempted to say it contains asbestos, and recommend that they should remove it immediately.

The ACT Government should have a bunch of mobile inspectors who come, assess, and remove. They could tie this to their own internal asbestos register, so as homes change ownership, new owners aren’t forced to go through the same process as previous owners of discovering they live in a death-trap.

This makes sense. The only issues I can see are the usual ones: increased bureaucracy; timeliness; increased cost.

For my two cents worth …

Treat the stuff as if it was asbestos – wear a good quality mask, gloves and old clothes that you can chuck if you get any on you – and remove it yourself.

If ou get it tested and the results come back positive then you will know for sure and you DO NOT want to know for sure.

I think you’re being a bit melodramatic, gettting a small sample one time would not pose any significant risk. The glazier doesn’t want to do it as they deal with it day in day out, which over time would pose a significant risk. (think of the doctor and nurse hiding behind a screeen when you get an x-ray). How much does getting the test cost? I’d be inclined to just remove all the putty myself if the test price was too high.

Seems a bit counter intuitive that they need to get a sample off you when you suspect it to be asbestos…. my guess would be a mask, and some disposable tweezers?

I don’t know the content well enough to point you to a particular part of the site, but you may find looking through through asbestos.act.gov.au to be useful.