SO or SJO & what gauge: replacing asbestos

I asked about the exposure because I wanted to know if I should worry about my health from my small amount of fixture focusing, not trying to stretch my luck with leaving the fixtures.
 
Put the words "asbestos" and "school" together in a newspaper, and things will happen. The (knee-jerk) (prudent) course of action is to isolate the area until a professional can inspect, test, and report.

Air-borne asbestos fibers are a hazard; undisturbed asbestos may be a hazard. Until a qualified individual makes this judgment for this particular situation, the magnitude of the problem cannot be determined and evaluated, certainly not in this forum.

The handling of asbestos and asbestos-containing material falls under US National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 61) and may be augmented by state regulations. Handling asbestos in schools may have additional special requirements (see below). The disposal of asbestos and asbestos material is regulated under US solid waste regulations (40 CFR 239 – 258) and state solid waste regulations. Asbestos is not a "hazardous waste" as defined by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations (40 CFR 260 – 299), however, a landfill must have a special license to dispose of the material.

The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA), a provision of the Toxic Substances Control Act, requires local educational agencies to inspect their schools for asbestos-containing building material and prepare management plans that make recommendations for the reduction of asbestos hazards (40 CFR 763).

Another consideration is that many environmental regulations have lower quantity limits to which the regulations do not apply, or for which a different set of regulations apply. This is often a matter of the ability to enforce regulations or have a workable set of regulations that can be enforced for a given enforcement budget, rather than a real difference in safety, risk, or hazard. (For example, if one were to try to dispose of a drum of acetone, the RCRA hazardous waste regulations would have to be followed. However, an old bottle of acetone-containing nail polish can be tossed into the trash by a thousand different people.) The asbestos removal and disposal regulations, both state and federal, may have such minimum values. Again, this must be determined by a qualified professional.

As pointed out by others, this is a school issue. Regardless of liability issues, there are also bidding and contractual rules that will need to be followed. This may not be a "theater department" budget item, but rather a "school property" or "Building project" or "renovation" type budget item that must be scoped, specified, and bid.


Wrapping the insulation would not be a good idea because of all of the dust/fibers that will get put into the air as you disturb the wire while trying to wrap it.


You should be able to find more comprehensive information here:


USEPA
http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/asbestos/

http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/asbestos/pubs/asbestos_in_schools.html

(I've been having a little trouble with the internal links)

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/newsletters/civil/enfalert/aheraalert0721.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/asbestos.html

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/asbestos.html



OSHA
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/index.html



Joe
 
Level of risk due to your exposure is difficult to judge (as Joe explained) and there are differing opinions in relation to specific levels. At a cellular level, it takes only a single fibre of asbestos to cause the cascade that results in mesothelioma. The same way that a single cigarette can cause lung cancer.

However, you would be very unlucky for this to happen. Risk increases with exposure and you need to reduce (preferably eliminate) your exposure. As with most things, there are multiple factors that either increase or decrease your risk of developing a disease.

I use to do research into heart disease and we were looking at what protected people form heart disease, as the risks and causes are pretty much known. What is not properly understood is why someone who is obese, smokes, drinks and doesn’t exercise doesn’t develop heart disease when they have all the risk factors. You probably have hear the stories of a relative who drank heavily and smoked like a chimney and lived until they were 99.

Asbestos that is not broken or flaking is much less of a problem than asbestos products that are releasing fibres, as it is the fibres that are dangerous.

So the take home message is that any exposure to asbestos increases your risk of developing mesothelioma (cancer or the lining of the lungs).
 

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