Wearing Protective Gear Against Asbestos

Wearing Protective Gear to Protect Against Asbestos: The Exposed Consequences

Editor's note: Wear protective gear before dealing with asbestos in homes, schools, and workplaces.

Overview

Asbestos has long been a prevalent material for insulation purposes before being banned as a carcinogenic substance in many countries. Despite its known hazardous nature, removing asbestos from older buildings requires protective gloves, covers, and specialized equipment to ensure workers are adequately protected from the threads of toxic fibers. Though safety measures can help minimize exposure, some individuals may remain at risk as asbestos continues to decompose over time and need legal defense against asbestos crimes.

Despite widespread peril following detection as the leading cause of mesotheliomas and countless other diseases, asbestos was once considered a valuable material in times of industry and commerce for creating thin but insulating impenetrable sheets. During the 20th century, the cheap and versatile silicate mineral was widely utilized in just about every commercial endeavor where added layers of insulation were crucial for energy efficiency, such as building walls, floor and roof panels, and transport vehicles like shipping containers. Its high conductivity of heat yielded thermal, electrical, and acoustical insulation, for instance, and practical qualities of hydrophobicity, fire+, and gas resistance had it secure market shares alongside trusted counterparts berleite, crocidolite, amosite (or chrysotile) to incompatible perlite. These principal naturally useful effects have led to a creeping global sharing of asbestos by NAFTA and ANZUS members, US corporations, publicly listed mining companies, and other well-known industrial entities, embodied by braze materials, gasket material, brake linings, pipe tees, and electrical wire site supports among numerous tangential uses.