Worried rules are asbestos

Newheight13

Hi, 

I have just lifted a carpet in our new department and the vinyl tiles are ancient and I’m worried they might have asbestos? 

Any advice please? 

GDB2222

It's quite possible. Do you absolutely need to remove them?

Mesothelioma takes around 25 years to develop, so if you are my sort of age the cancer risk is pretty minimal. I wouldn't touch those tiles if I were younger.

theoretica

You can sent a bit away for testing for £30ish.  Then you would know.

Monsternextdoor

How old is the building ? 

Newheight13

Thanks all. 1960’s. 

Robin9

Very common for floor tiles to be asbestos at that time.  If you don't have to touch don't.

Newheight13

Too late for that, I’ve had a few up today spitting out plenty of dust 😫

Robin9

Damp the area you have uncovered -   double glove the tiles when handling, wear a mask and double plastic bag and take to a special part of the tip.  Put your clothes in the wash and take a shower.

GDB2222

Newheight13 said:

Too late for that, I’ve had a few up today spitting out plenty of dust 😫

To put this in perspective, the sort of people who tended to develop problems from asbestos worked with it more or less daily. They would come home covered in dust. Even so, only a fraction of those people developed problems. You'd have to be very unlucky indeed to get cancer from a single exposure. 

Monsternextdoor

Robin9 said:

Damp the area you have uncovered -   double glove the tiles when handling, wear a mask and double plastic bag and take to a special part of the tip.  Put your clothes in the wash and take a shower.

This 

Mr Monster has civvie asbestos quals and this is what he has told me to do when removing suspect tiles.

Niv

To put this in perspective. Asbestos floor tiles (and the glue btw) typically contain 1-2% white asbestos. As far as asbestos materials are concerned they are just about the 'safest' so don't over panic, but obviously take reasonable precautions when handling and bagging up.

The danger with asbestos is inhaling fibres, pretty hard to inhale fibres from floor tiles as getting a fibre out of the matrix is a right pain in the backside - I know because I used to do bulk analysis (and survey / manage / fibre count for clearing)