Recent Asbestos News Illustrates the Importance of Using a Professional to Remove Asbestos.

Great North West Painting LLC hired workers off Craigslist and sent them to remove asbestos from popcorn ceilings without proper PPE (personal protective equipment) according to court documents.

A homeowner’s complaint led to Washington State Department of Labor & industries investigation and a $134,500 fine. According to the agency, the Great North West Painting owner told inspectors he hired asbestos removal contractors through a Craisglsit ad. The owner couldn’t provide information about the contractor’s training or the workers’ full names.

The agency cited Great North West for twenty-eight violations, including four “willfully serious” violations. The company is appealing that ruling.

Asbestos Exposure Hazards

A third of homes were built before 1970, when popcorn ceilings and similar decorative features were very popular. Builders typically used chrysotile (white) asbestos to make popcorn ceilings. This thin, crumbly substance is easy to manipulate, and it also quickly breaks down. As asbestos deteriorates, it releases tiny particles of dust and fibers into the surrounding area. These particles cause serious illnesses, such as:

La Asbestosis: Wearing a flimsy N-95 mask is a little better than covering your mouth with your hand, but it isn’t much better. People can wear these masks and easily breathe toxic dust and fibers, especially since asbestos particles are microscopic. These fibers inflame and close airways in the lunges, many of which aren’t much widener than the tip of a ballpoint pen. As the disease progresses, breathing becomes almost impossible.
Mesotelioma: Toxic asbestos fibers also cause tumors in the mesothelium (membrane between the heart and lungs). These tumors are hard to detect, mostly because doctors usually look for NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) or another more common kind of lung cancer. Sometimes, they don’t look at all. Many environmental cancer victims don’t have lifestyle or genetic red flags. Therefore, when patients have symptoms like chest tightness and trouble breathing, many doctors blame it on asthma or another such condition.
Engrosamiento pleural: The pleural lining surrounds the lungs. Asbestos particles could inflame these lings, just like they inflame airways in the lungs. By itself, pleural thickening is not a very serious condition. Therefore, especially since most of these victims are over 70, many doctors let sleeping dogs lie. Pleural thickening-related complications include serious diseases like mesothelioma.

Many asbestos exposure victims are in their 70s because these diseases have about a fifty-year latency period. So, by the time doctors diagnose their conditions, their illnesses are often untreatable.

Effective mesothelioma testing is available. However, since this disease is so rare, doctors rarely order such testing as a precautionary measure. If you or a loved one may have been exposed to asbestos, testing is key. Possible exposure categories include:

Direct Occupational (worked with a popcorn ceiling, insulation or another asbestos-laced product),
Indirect Occupational (worked at a construction firm or served in the military),
Direct Ambient (lived with a direct or indirect occupational victim), and
Indirect Ambient (worked or lived near an asbestos hotspot, like a mine, manufacturing facility, or the Twin Towers when they fell on 9/11).

Effective treatments for advanced mesothelioma, except radical and expensive gene editing therapy, are largely unavailable. So, early detection could literally mean the difference between life and death.

Changing Laws

Asbestos remediation contractors may be much busier in coming years. Currently, asbestos is legal, at least in most cases. So, for owners of residential or commercial buildings, the rule is usually “no harm, no foul.” As long as asbestos remains embedded in the walls or doesn’t get into the air any other way, asbestos remediation is basically optional.

That environment could change overnight if a proposed total asbestos ban takes effect. The new EPA rule would, in the long term, protect many people from the aforementioned diseases. However in the short term, a ban could increase the number of victims.

Sadly, the above story is not a one-off. In 2016 a Detroit contractor hired homeless people, most of whom wore flip-flops, T-shirts and shorts, to remove asbestos from a school.

Furthermore, Craig Gestring, an assistant U.S. attorney in Rochester, N.Y., said he has prosecuted several cases that involved workers who were “unskilled, unknowledgeable and are basically patsies and it’s always done to save a buck.”

Asbestos removal is not a weekend DIY project. Only experienced contractors should handle such matters. More on that below.

The law has changed in other areas as well. In 2019, the Supreme Court rejected the so-called bare metal defense. As a result, property owners could be liable for asbestos exposure damages even if they didn’t actually know about asbestos in the building. Circumstantial evidence, such as a pre-1980 construction date, could establish liability.

Damages in an asbestos exposure claim usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. An asbestos exposure lawyer can also obtain additional punitive damages in these cases.

Proper Asbestos Remediation Methods

A certified asbestos removal contractor adds value to your home or business, both financially and nonfinancially.

Financially, a clean asbestos bill of health makes a building much easier to sell. Asbestos in the walls significantly reduces sales prices, because of the aforementioned liability risk. Asbestos in the air usually torpedoes a sale. Homes and businesses with toxic air don’t pass inspections.

Nonfinancially, asbestos removal gives owners peace of mind. They know they’ve done all they could to protect guests from toxic exposure illnesses.

Pruebas de asbesto

Testing is always the first step in the asbestos abatement process. A single fiber could have deadly consequences.

Legally, the ambient asbestos level must be under 0.1 fibers per cubic meter of air. However, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, there is no safe asbestos exposure level. So, when they receive test results, owners ust ask themselves if they’re satisfied with the absolute minimum or if they are willing to go out of their way to protect people.

Asbestos air testing is a very dangerous business. Only licensed contractors should handle this chore. Besides, even if an owner does a DIY test, the owner must send the sample to a lab. That usually costs almost as much as hiring a contractor to handle the whole thing.

Eliminación de Asbesto

Usually, asbestos contractors sela off the area and carefully remove asbestos from the walls, ceiling, or other location. These workers generally wear hazmat suits that protect them from head to toe.

Asbestos removal is often a slow process, and workers must not only protect themselves.

Asbestos abatement workers must also ensure that not a single asbestos fiber escapes into the air. As mentioned, most asbestos is chrysotile asbestos. After many years, once this substance is removed, it almost literally falls apart in your hand.

Asbestos Disposal

Contractors cannot throw removed asbestos into the city dump. This hazardous substance must be disposed of properly, by a professional with certification and experience.. Some contractors used advanced recycling techniques that avoid the landfill problem altogether.