Asbestos, am I being utterly crazy or is this unreasonable?

The thing about the internet and chatting to strangers is whilst I can well believe this is what you were told or think, objectively I know it’s highly unlikely to be to be the case.

If he was clearing a factory forty or fifty years ago it’s likely he came into contact with the far more hazardous brown or blue asbestos.

It’s illegal https://www.gov.uk/find-licences/licence-to-work-with-asbestos-england-wales-scotland#:~:text=Before%20carrying%20out%20any%20type,training%20from%20a%20competent%20provider.

@AquaPeer Agreed. People talking about family and friends who have died from asbestos poisoning- this is a tragedy of our times but these people were not next door to one asbestos garage removal. They were exposed directly over a sustained period of time.

Actually no. The person I knew who died of mesothelioma worked for one day on a factory site where they were clearing asbestos. He was an apprentice at the time. (They gave him a glass of milk after “to wash the dust down” 🤦‍♀️)

One exposure and he died forty years later. The year after he retired. It doesn’t take sustained exposure, once is enough. OP is quite right to be concerned.

But then what do you do with it?

Out of interest I have just checked asbestos disposal at our local waste site. They don’t take it. The council does a have scheme where each household can dispose of a small quantity, probably similar to a quarter of a single garage roof, once only. For that they charge nearly £100.

Any building premier 2000 without an asbestos survey can be a problem. Fuse boxes, floor tiles, tanks, ropes in sash windows all can be ACMs..

Totally irresponsible. The main risk is to your neighbours who are doing this work, but also to the binmen, who are likely to be exposed to clouds of dust laden with asbestos fibres when they try to empty the wheely bin. They will also take the fibres home on their clothing, shoes, hair and unwittingly expose their families to it as well.

Please report your neighbours - the environmental health department of your local council would be a good place to start..

This is how, I'd guess, 90+% of asbestos gets removed from domestic settings. The only people that regularly comply with the regulations IME are major contractor group companies and they swerve it if they can get away with it

How unbelievably ignorant and irresponsible of them . It is very serious . My FIL died from asbestos related cancer at only 60 . Please escalate & definitively get your baby away from this risk . Please let us know the outcome x

It's usually OK until damaged or disturbed. Removing it is a specialist job.

I moved from a council house this summer which had asbestos. I lived there for almost 28 years and the council knew it was there. They only decided to rip it all out after I had moved and now a new family has moved in. It's common in domestic settings.

That's all a bit contradictory. It was widely used in domestic settings for many decades. What makes you assume it is not an older property?

Given the neighbours have said "I think you’re supposed to get it removed by specialists" it is highly likely to be asbestos sheeting. Try getting that out as an amateur without breaking it and releasing fibres, which is what leads to later problems. You don't have to be exposed constantly through working with it daily to get asbestosis or mesophelioma.

No amount of asbestos exposure is considered safe.

@Althenameshavegone
The issue is people think 'it won't happen to them, it's a one-off' and people generally don't want to spend ££££ getting it removed professionally.

It's not the lack of information it the 'I'm invincible' mentality and not my problem once it leaves the premises.

i think there needs to be better public information over asbestos, I’ve seen so many examples of people removing asbestos tiles from inside their homes having no idea what’s in them. My own brother removing an artex ceiling despite me suggesting he should get it tested before hand (oh it’ll be fine it’s not the sort that contains it…) we had some ceiling tiles in our basement tested that were degrading, it cost £100 and piece of mind that the dust is no longer falling on our kids bikes.

Please report to HSE and local council environmental health. It’s probably not a huge risk to you but the council needs to be informed if asbestos is being dumped in domestic bins

Agreed. People talking about family and friends who have died from asbestos poisoning- this is a tragedy of our times but these people were not next door to one asbestos garage removal. They were exposed directly over a sustained period of time.

OP as a next door neighbour your risk of exposure is minuscule, please don’t worry about that. Re putting it in the bins the collectors are highly unlikely to take it.

You could report to the council but without knowing whether or not it is asbestos, and what type, you might find it a bit of a waste of time

How does the OP even know its Asbestos? you cannot tell by looking & they don't sound like the sort of people who have done an asbestos survey.

Lots of people have very wrong assumptions about Asbestos, highly unlikely Licenced material would be used in a domestic setting.

Asbestos is common in older properties, not least in Artex and roofing materials for older sheds.

My brother died 3 months after reaching retirement age from mesathomia caused from exposure to asbestos. They are putting themselves and their neighbours at serious risk of an early and horrible death. Report the bustards.

Agreed. It's a danger to anyone coming into contact starting with whoever removes it and the refuse collectors.

You can remove some types of asbestos yourself. You need to dispose of it correctly though. We bought a kit in B&Q & did it ourselves.

Our local council will deliver asbestos disposal bags for free, that can then be taken to the tip. Could you send off for some and give them to them? They obviously still have to be very careful as they remove it and wear appropriate gloves and mask.

My uncle died from mesothelioma which is caused by asbestos. It's a horrible way to go. Your neighbour is incredibly arrogant and ignorant to not stop and think about what they're doing. Is there someone this can be reported to?
I remember a few years ago an entire road near me was blocked off for hours because asbestos had been found in a property that was being renovated.
Here in Australia it's taken very seriously because so many people have been affected by it because certain companies tried to hide and deny how dangerous it is which has led to a lot of deaths and lawsuits.

I think the key things are

a) what sort of asbestos
b) whether or not they are going to damage it when they remove it and
c) whether or not they are competent enough to read carefully what they need to do and to and then do it (e.g. wetting it if that's appropriate etc)

Because if it's blue asbestos, that would be very bad. It's more likely it's white asbestos, which is less harmful (though still harmful).

If it's white asbestos and they dismantle it carefully, soak it if required, do not break it when they dismantle it, wear an N95 mask, and then carefully wrap it and dispose of it at a tip, then it is probably possible to do this in a safe manner.

But the impression I get from your post is that this is not the type of people they are, in which case I would be similarly concerned and I would be looking for ways to report, or at least find out more before I reported.

They are being very ridiculous and very selfish.
I sale agreed on a house that fell through because of asbestos. I had to pay quite a lot just to have a sample tested to confirm it was asbestos before deciding to pull out of the sale. Its such dangerous stuff. If you buy a house with asbestos in you're accepting that if you want to renovate you have to pay to have it properly removed.

They could kill people with this attitude. Please tell them that you will film them and report them- exposure to even tiny amounts of the dust can be fatal later (many teachers get mesothelioma apparently from the asbestos pinboards they used to use in schools).

I’ve read it, it’s not something someone with no experience should be doing, in a neighbourhood, as opposed to a rural area.I would still report it, as l would be concerned.