To make my children wear masks when entering and leaving our home?

[AsbestosFlatly]

I live in a 2nd floor flat and its well known that all the halls have asbestos.

Theres a guy drilling all round the edges of the ceiling to install emergency lighting.

I told him about the asbestos, he said he didnt know about it but will hoover up the mess and get himself a mask.

Ive called my agency and they are getting back to me.

But even with him vaccuming, the floor is still totally covered in dust. Im tempted to get the kids masks for now and going out there myself tonight and washing the floor.

WWYD?

Sorry I didn't see your last posts before giving DH's advice. He says the type of asbestos you have is a medium level one. So not the nasty of nasties but still needs to be dealt with properly. Obviously he can't say conclusively without having seen the situation himself but based on the info you have given you don't need to evacuate, but personally he would have his kids bed down somewhere else if possibly, just in case.

Ring the health amd safety executive- they have powers to prosecute (they did recently around here for builders who were demolishing asbestos buildings with no protection).

LowER risk is not NO risk, and the guidelines and regulations absolutely need to be followed to the letter - every thing damped down, hoovered with a specialist hoover, everything double bagged including all overalls etc - I have had to deal with inspections and removals of asbestos in public buildings through my work. One of them was "just" some flaking textured paint in a foyer that everyone thought was nothing important. My friend had to have the whole of an artexed ceiling in her house taken out following a burst pipe - luckily the insurance paid, but it was a huge amount of money.

No contractor should be doing any drilling/hammering/ripping out of fittings without first having SEEN the asbestos report for that building. THEY are the ones at risk too!

Complain complain complain and don't shut up till they listen. Make your neigbours complian too.

On an asbestos training course I was told that 9/11 will be the cause of a huge rise in asbestos related illnesses, and several sniffer/rescue dogs have already died from it.

DH (has had an asbestos awareness course as part of his work) says that while there is such a thing as low grade asbestos, it should not affect how it is dealt with and the man should have stopped immediately. You definitely need to get the right authorities out; WestieMama gave you a great amount of advice upthread.

Once DH and a colleague removed a panel to access some pipes and discovered asbestos (they had been told there was none). They had to leave, the room was shut off and everything inside was destroyed, bags and coats and such like.

Both my husband and I agree on phoning the police if an interim measure is required.

Thank you.

I will be making calls to EH and telling the guy that he shouldnt continue.

I doubt he will listen, I told the kids to cover their faces when they came up the stairs and he laughed at us.

Hope it gets sorted!

Hope it gets sorted.

We recently had to have asbestos removed to get a new boiler, were council. We were allowed no where near the building while they did it.

We had some asbestos in our old porch, contractor came out and took a sample of it and told us what it was, can't remember the name of it now, but said anyone could remove it and pointed us to the HSE web site. On the web site It does say anyone can remove and it did not need the area to be sealed and air tested after removal so it was fine as long as it is not broken up and is disposed of safely as it is the low risk type - the joiner who was replacing the porch removed it for us. We called our local council who gave us extra thick polythene to wrap it in then they took it away. I asked how they disposed of it and they just said they bury it in landfill...

So I called environmental health at 8.30 they immediately said he needed to stop.

I opened the front door and told the guy to stop, that I was on the phone to EA.

Anyway, as it stands now EA have been incredibly helpful and informative and are sending someone round to clean it properly the way it should be done safely.

He said he should be done immediately and they will be round immediately.

They arent, but I didnt expect them to be realistically.

If it gets to 2pm and they havent been, then I will call the relevant guy and see what the crack is.

Either way, the drilling guy was understandably pissed off with his company, has packed up and left.

I felt quite sorry for him, he was at more risk than any of us. He was appologetic which is daft, is as innocent as we all are.

*EH

and sorry about all the gaps!

Bet he feel a dick for laughing at you now eh ? Hope it teaches him a lesson about asbestos.

Oh yes! Id forgotten about that. Perhaps thats why he felt appologetic.

I called me agency who got really arsey with me about it, said they told me it was safe. Said "not all asbestos is a danger you know"

No its not a danger you twat. If left alone.

*my

Most likely. As it happens I am doing my asbestos h and a training right now.

I'd have called her a twat to be honest. H and S training sorry.

Well done! It is not a risk worth taking. Ask the agency if they will send you a copy of the risk assessment signed by a senior manager at their company confirming that they told you it was safe as you 'might need it for future reference'. I bet they refuse to put anything to you in writing.

Did env health come round op? I can't believe your agency's attitude.

No they never came round. I cleaned the stairs and halls myself in the end.

So basically like was suggested upthread, the place needed vacuuming with a special hoover then wet washed down.

Its being walked into my flat and I darent hoover until Ive washed away what is sitting in my carpets. Equally its pointless to wash it away until what is outside has gone.

So the guy from EH came the flats, said that while its asbestos its shallow so wont be calling the cleaners round but told the company they need to buy the relevant vacuum cleaner and wet wipe the place down. And stop drilling the ceiling altogether.

This is fine, except that they wont be vacuuming and wiping until they are done so in the mean time thats more and more crap being walked into my flat.

So I bought myself a mop and bucket, wipes, new mats for my front door and went and cleaned the place from top to toe.

No, not the wisest move but at least it reduces my childrens exposure. And I can stop worrying.

Sounds like environmental health have been a bit soft on this case, I think that they should have sent an asbestos worker around to do the clean up and then bill the company which made the vile carcinogenic mess.