What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a number of naturally occurring minerals that have crystallised to form long thin fibres and fibre bundles. The most common of these is the sepentine, which includes chrysotile (white asbestos), the most frequently mined. Another asbestos group known as the amphiboles includes crocidlite (blue asbestos) and amosite (brown asbestos). The fibres have high tensile strength and chemical, electrical and heat resistance - properties that made asbestos extremely useful as a building/insulation material. Asbestos has been used extensively throughout the world.
In the 1950's to the mid 1980's asbestos was widely used around Great Britain as a building material. Although some of the asbestos as been removed over the years by asbestos removal specialists, there are still thousands of tons of asbestos in a estimated half a million non-domestic premises.
Commercially manufactured asbestos containing materials can be broadly divided into the following categories:
- Thermal insulation (e.g. pipe and boiler insulation)
- Fire-proofing materials (eg. sprayed insulation, fire door insulation)
- Asbestos cement/fibrocement products (eg. roof and wall claddings)
- Decorative and acoustic applications
- Electrical switchboards, insulators and fittings
- Vinyl floor coverings
- Asbestos felts and paper-like products
- Friction materials (eg. brake linings)
- Paints, coatings, sealants and adhesives
- Packings and gaskets
- Textiles (eg. woven cloths, blankets)
- Miscellaneous and unusual products (eg. asbestos socks, phone boxes)