[knappe]

My father just retired as a lab analyst looking at builder samples for both modern and historical construction, specifically for asbestos.

The day I moved into the college dorms he looked at me and said "Don't move the floor tiles, ceilings tiles or the touch the large ventilation pipe outside my door in the hallway." A lot of the buildings at my university were built with asbestos, so much so that the university had a 30 year contract with the lab he worked at to analyze samples.

And it isn't only historical buildings that have asbestos. A very well known mall that was built in the 2000s had incurred some severe hail damage and while the repairs were ongoing samples were taken and found to be hot. Someone had introduced asbestos contaminated materials into the original build and rather than extensive repairs the mall had to do extensive remediation first, before continuing repairs.

Apparently there is still a large stock of "hot" building material that are sitting in warehouses and every once in a while they make it into the supply chain.

[marak830]

I'm currently working as a PCM analyst looking at samples to identify asbestos. There is a lot out there still, we are busy every week. (technically PCM doesn't identify asbestos, just the number of fibers during abatement, PLM will identify asbestos but that takes a lot longer to process).

[SpicyUme]

Interesting, I had some vermiculite removed recently and got a response from the ZAI trust that the samples had fibers but they couldn't say specifically that it was asbestos. I assumed that was a legal distinction, it didn't occur to me that it might be from different test methods.

[marak830]

Yeah, for a PCM test we only count 100 fields, and identify the number of fiber end points (upto 2) which with math can give an approx number of fibers/cc2 - helps determine approx how much potential can be in the air (this is usually done during abatement - when it's being cleaned up).

A PLM analyst will use multiple methods to determine if the sample has asbestos, and takes a much longer time.

There are even more expensive tests that can be performed but I'm not so familiar with those.

[jabl]

> Apparently there is still a large stock of "hot" building material that are sitting in warehouses and every once in a while they make it into the supply chain.

Not working in the industry, what do they actually do with asbestos that has been removed? I presume it can't be 'destroyed', so it needs to be stored indefinitely somewhere where it doesn't cause harm? Dump it in an unused mine shaft and seal the entrance?

[jve]

Few months ago I called local company that specializes in utilizing asbestos. He explained me on the phone that there are concrete bunkers/boxes in the ground and they just store it there. At least that's how I understood what he was telling me. Eastern Europe.

[wmil]

The danger is mechanical, not chemical. Think small sharp needles that you can breathe in.

Chemically it's just silicates. So you can melt it at high temperatures or do various other processes to get rid of it.

I'm not sure what they actually do.

[bryant]

> Apparently there is still a large stock of "hot" building material that are sitting in warehouses and every once in a while they make it into the supply chain.

I wonder how much of this is because folks in the supply chain might not be aware of what asbestos looks like.