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History of Asbestos

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral and was extensively mined and used in building construction throughout Britain between the 1950’s and the mid-1980’s. It was known as the magic mineral and was used for a wide variety of purposes, such as fireproofing, insulation and sound proofing. All building types built before 2000, whether domestic, commercial and industrial can potentially contain asbestos based materials.

Asbestos based materials in a good condition are safe and can be left in situ and suitably managed unless damaged releasing asbestos fibres. There is no legal requirement to remove asbestos.

Asbestos has been used for hundreds of years but became popular during the industrial revolutions in the 1800’s. The Industrial revolution represented a boom for the asbestos industry and mines sprang up as entrepreneur’s recognised asbestos was a potential way to get rich quick.

The railways were amongst the first to use asbestos containing materials (ACM’s) extensively. The asbestos materials were used in a variety of ways such as the construction of carriages, refrigeration units but were especially useful in the insulation of pipes, fireboxes and the steam engines boiler.

Asbestos materials were also extensively used throughout the ship building industry in much the same way it was used on the railways.

The first diagnosis of asbestosis was made in 1924 when a woman in her thirties work with asbestos since she was thirteen died. The doctor determined the cause of death was because of what he called asbestosis. As a result of this a study of asbestos workers in England was made. The results showed twenty five percent of them showed evidence of asbestos-related lung disease.

In 1931 the first asbestos laws were passed “The Asbestos Industry Regulations 1931” requiring increased ventilation and making asbestos an inexcusable work related disease. Major medical journals in the 1930’s started publishing articles linking asbestos to cancer.

Despite the safer alternative materials, such as fibreglass companies continued to use asbestos in manufacturing and construction, ignoring the health risks. As the car became more and more popular in the early years of the 20th century, that industry started using asbestos in the manufacturing of brake pads and shoes, clutch plates, all commonly known as “friction” products.

Asbestos friction products were also used in the lift machinery that were installed in the new skyscrapers being built in America. However because asbestos had good fire retardant, acoustic and thermal properties, it was the building industry that gave asbestos the largest boost. Asbestos was used in a wide range of products such as insulation on boilers and pipework, cement roofing sheets, sprayed coating to beams and underside of roofs to floor tiles and toilet cisterns. Asbestos was soon to be found everywhere within homes, commercial and industrial buildings.

By the 1980’s regulations prohibiting the use of asbestos were in place. By the end of the 1990’s the only asbestos based materials which could be legally used were products like gasketting and cement products containing Chrysotile asbestos. In 1999 the import and use of Chrysotile asbestos was banned, effectively ending the use of asbestos products.

However there are still countries mining and exporting Chrysotile asbestos. Although the risk to asbestos has been reduced due to the prohibiting of its use, there is still a risk within older buildings, shipping or where asbestos was widely used prior to the prohibition regulations coming into force