Asbestos, a mineral fiber located in
rock, is found in a variety of products
including household and building supplies.
Asbestos was widely used in construction
from the early 1900s until the 1970s and is
best known for its strengthening
characteristics, thermal and acoustical
insulation qualities, and fire retardant
capabilities. The product is most frequently
encountered in roofing materials, wall and
pipe coverings, floor tiles, appliances,
ceilings, patching compounds, textured
paints, and door gaskets of stoves,
furnaces, and ovens.
Chrysotile makes up about 90% of world
asbestos production and trade. In Canada,
chrysotile is the only type of asbestos
mined. Canada accounts for about 20 percent
of world chrysotile asbestos production and
exports more than half a million tones of
asbestos products (worth more than $300
million), to 60 countries every year. The
chrysotile industry employs some 2,500
people, mainly in a 100-km strip in Québec’s
Eastern Townships extending from the town of
Asbestos (site of the western world’s
largest known deposit), to East Broughton in
the east. The industry also accounts for
approximately 6,500 indirect jobs, the vast
majority of which are in rural communities
depending on a prosperous chrysotile
asbestos industry.
Since 1979, Canada
and the USA has been the champion of
the controlled-use approach to asbestos.
This approach is based on risk assessment
and prohibits specific uses, such as
asbestos-spraying, where workers cannot be
protected. Several countries have supported
Canada’s position and the International
Labor Organization and the World Health
Organization have either adopted or
supported this approach.
Classification
Asbestos is classified as friable and
non-friable and is described as follows.
Friable:
Material that is easily crumbled,
pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand
pressure. Friable material can be disrupted
during renovation, repairs, cleaning, or
related activities. Asbestos is most
commonly seen in the form of a fluffy,
spray-on material for fireproofing and
insulating walls and ceilings. Another form
is the fibrous grey paper used to wrap pipes
and boilers for heat insulation. Lastly,
asbestos can be found with a cement-like
plaster appearance that was used for
soundproofing and fire retardance.
Friable asbestos is dangerous as it can
release fibers into the air that are not
collected by furnace filters or vacuum
cleaners. Inhalation of these airborne
fibers can cause an accumulation in the
lungs creating problems such as lung cancer
or asbestosis, a degenerative lung disease.
Non-Friable:
Asbestos may be found in pre-fabricated
products typically containing bonding agents
(e.g., painted cement sheets used around
wood-burning stoves), that prevent any
airborne dispersion of fibres unless the
product is physically altered through
sanding, drilling, or cutting. Non-friable
asbestos comes in the form of wallboard
(that looks like gypsum), and in exterior
cladding for structures. These products only
release hazardous fibers when broken or
altered.
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