THINKING ABOUT RENOVATING YOUR HOME? BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY MAJOR RENOVATIONS, ESPECIALLY IF YOUR HOUSE WAS BUILT BEFORE 1990, IT IS IMPORTANT YOU KNOW THE RISKS AND LIKELIHOOD OF ASBESTOS BEING PRESENT IN YOUR HOME.
Reporter Georgia Tacey spoke to managers Steve Michelini and Bec Coulter from Green Scape Group, who have been accredited asbestos removalists for over 10 years in Victoria and NSW.
Read what they have to say about how to keep yourself safe around asbestos.
What are the different types of asbestos?
Steve: Asbestos is a natural fibre that comes from the ground. The different asbestos at this present time is the friable asbestos, which is a material which can be pulped into a powder form, and then we have non-friable asbestos, which is the sheet asbestos.
Bec: In the house as it sits, non-friable asbestos is actually not dangerous until it’s broken. So people can live happily in their house with asbestos, provided it’s all in good condition.
Where can asbestos be found in homes?
Steve: Generally, asbestos was used as waterproofing in its day, as the asbestos itself is actually quite durable. It’s also good for heat. So asbestos can be found around the wet areas of your home, in your eaves, underneath tiles or in bathrooms around the shower.
What should homeowners do if they discover asbestos in their home?
Steve: What they should do is if they’re unsure, they should speak to someone immediately.
If they’re in the process of doing some demolition or renovations and they believe it could be asbestos, what they’re best to do is stop work. Make sure they don’t go interfering with the product, and ring up and get us to come in and have a look.
What we would do is go in, have a look and if we weren’t 100 per cent sure, that’s when we take a sample and get that taken away for further inspection.
Bec: The friable is more dangerous than the non-friable asbestos because it is in dust form that can be inhaled and causes lung cancer.
So if a non-friabale cement sheet product is broken it can become friable, as it can have dust particles. We don’t want people to break off a sample or do anything to break it into little pieces to get rid of it.
Steve: Just be safe around it. At the end of the day, if you believe that it could potentially be asbestos, don’t touch it, get a professional to have a look at it.
What are some of the risks associated with asbestos?
Bec: If the asbestos is in good condition in your home it is safe, it’s only when you start renovating, moving it, breaking it or if it’s deteriorating, that’s when it becomes an issue.
Steve: Airborne fibres are the worst. So what you get when you start breaking the asbestos, those airborne fibres, they’re the ones that you can inhale. You inhale and exhale, and 50 per cent of that time, you will expel those fibres in any other way, by coughing or talking. But you’ve got a 50 per cent chance of those fibres actually staying inside your system.
Bec: That is when you can get asbestosis, and it can sit dormant for many years. You don’t necessarily get sick straight away, so you don’t really know if you’ve been exposed.
Steve: Mesothelioma is one of the most common illnesses from asbestos. And that’s because of the intake of inhaling fibres being dormant in your system, and not knowing that you’ve got fibres stuck there so hence the PPE we use, which eliminates any of that.
But for the average person attacking your walls, breaking it up, with lots of fibres in the air, you’re breathing in all those fibres, not thinking about it for so long. That’s when it gets you.
Bec: Once it’s in you can’t get it out.
Before undertaking renovations, should homeowners engage professionals to have a look first?
Steve: Nine times out of 10, it is the safest way because we as trained asbestos removalists have an idea, before we even walk in the house from the age of the house and the area that [the renovation] is in.
And if they’re going to be doing bathroom renovations, kitchen renovations, redoing walls or external cladding, you can tell straight away that there could be a potential for asbestos in the house.
You can go around and knock on walls every day of the week, but until you actually know what you’re knocking on you can’t tell.
It’s a peace of mind that you know, there could potentially be asbestos in your house and at the present time, there’s no risk. But if you were to engage in any renovations or demolition, then that would cause some issues and that’s where you need to know if it is asbestos.
What services do Green Scape Group offer?
Steve: We are a Class A, which is friable and Class B licensed removalists. We work very closely with WorkSafe and all other governing bodies that go along with the removal of asbestos, in regards to the notification, removal, and also the transportation of asbestos, we have to be in line with all those protocols.
Green Scape go through these protocols, we remove, transport it and we get an independent hygienist come in.
The hygienist is someone who is NTAA approved, which is the National Training for Asbestos Awareness. They come in and give a visual clearance and also a risk assessment for a clearance, which means whatever we have removed has been visually inspected, and there’s no debris or anything lying around, and that room can then be entered into by others.
We get this done every time we remove asbestos, for the safety of our workers, but also for the safety of the homeowner or business.