No state or federal law requires total asbestos removal and abatement. However, this insulation material is one of the most hazardous substances known to man, as outlined below. Therefore, the government strictly regulates airborne asbestos level;s. 

The legal exposure level protects businesses, so they don’t incur excessive asbestos abatement and removal costs. The safe asbestos exposure level is much lower than the legal exposure level.

The need for an asbestos attorney for abatement and compensation

When the government doesn’t protect people, an asbestos exposure lawyer steps into that role and holds polluting companies responsible for the damages they cause. Furthermore, a lawyer obtains fair compensation for asbestos poisoning victims. No government program does that.

Asbestos exposure illnesses are bad enough. Making matters worse, these illnesses usually strike victims in their 70s and 80s who haven’t been around asbestos for about a half-century. Some of them never worked with asbestos at all. More on these things below.

Asbestos Hazards

Serious lung diseases which are often fatal, such as asbestosis, are one of the leading asbestos exposure-related diseases in the United States.

Foreign particles, especially toxic particles, usually burn the delicate, and tiny, airways inside the lung. In fact, many of these airways are about the size of the tip of a pencil. The burns create scar tissue, which easily blocks these airways. Eventually, the blockage becomes nearly total, and the victim almost literally suffocates.

Most doctors associate lung problems with cigarette smoking. So, when they examine the lungs, they look for tumors, not scar tissue. Furthermore, doctors often ascribe trouble breathing and other symptoms to “getting older,” because as mentioned above, many asbestos exposure victims are older men.

Diagnostic delays affect treatment programs. In fact, when doctors finally identify the true problem, a radical lung transplant is the only effective asbestosis treatment. Many asbestosis victims aren’t good candidates for such risky procedures.

Asbestos fibers are microscopic, and have no odor or taste. Many people have breathed or swallowed them without realizing it.

Toxic particles also cause various kinds of cancer, such as mesothelioma. A tumor in the meso lining between the heart and lungs grows so slowly that most victims show no visible symptoms, such as extreme weight loss, for about fifty years. Then, the tumor suddenly spreads aggressively.

Once again, diagnostic delays affect treatment programs. Unfortunately for victims, advanced mesothelioma is essentially untreatable. The five-year mesothelioma survival rate is under 10 percent.

Liability Issues in Asbestos Abatement

Property owners could be liable for the substantial damages in these cases, even if they didn’t know about airborne asbestos, at least in most states. Asbestos abatement is usually the only way to avoid a large liability judgment.

Until very recently, property owners weren’t liable for asbestos exposure damages unless they actually knew about the hazard. So, unless an asbestos exposure lawyer had a smoking gun, like an environmental report, property owners were basically immune from civil lawsuits.

The Supreme Court eliminated the so-called bare metal defense in 2019. Now, a victim must only prove constructive knowledge (should have known).

A pre-1980 construction date is usually enough to prove constructive knowledge. Before that year, asbestos was widely used as:

  • Electrical insulation,
  • Attic insulation,
  • Reinforcer for concrete and drywall,
  • Plumbing insulation, and
  • Decorative material, such as popcorn ceilings in residential homes.

Also before 1980, the asbestos industry covered up exposure risks. Therefore, most asbestos companies either didn’t provide PPE (personal protective equipment) or didn’t encourage workers to use it, for fear of blowing the lid off their cover story.

Widespread asbestos use affected more people than just industrial and construction workers. When asbestos fibers leaked through small cracks, they often infected women.

The Asbestos Abatement Process

Laws require complete, three-step asbestos abatement in schools and some other public buildings, regardless of the actual risk. The process varies in a private home or semi-public building, like an office building or church, according to the risk and a few other factors.

Whatever abatement is required, landowners should always partner with certified asbestos abatement professionals. Asbestos abatement is by no means a DIY weekend project.

Testing

We mentioned the legal asbestos exposure level above, which is 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter of air. Curiously, the same agency that set this standard (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is the same agency that concluded there’s no safe asbestos exposure level. So, if you think the government is on your side in this area, think again.

Usually, contractors conduct multiple airborne tests. They focus on rooms with hairline ceiling or wall fissures, as the danger is greatest in these areas. Generally, they also take overall air quality tests.

Understanding your asbestos test results

A positive test means the owner has actual notice of the problem. So, if the case goes to court, additional punitive damages might be in order. For purposes of this post, a positive test creates two options.

Overall, owners can employ stopgap measures or proceed to step two. Stopgap measures usually include sealing the asbestos by painting over cracks. That option might be a good idea if the owner plans on selling the property, especially if another airborne test shows a 0.0 asbestos level.

Eliminación

Touching asbestos is much more dangerous than breathing contaminated air. These microscopic particles easily drift into mouths and ears, and even smaller orifices, like tear ducts and seat glands.

For this reason, many property owners hire a second contractor to handle the remaining phases. A failure to put safety first makes a bad problem worse.

Asbestos removal is an expensive and time-consuming process. First, the contractor must locate the asbestos. Then, that asbestos must be safely removed. Additionally, the building usually needs to be vacant during the removal process. As unpleasant as all this sounds, it’s cheaper and less time consuming than a liability lawsuit.

Disposal

A few final words about asbestos disposal. This hazardous substance cannot be dumped into the local landfill. Disposal options include thermal, chemical, and physical treatments.

Thermal treatment, usually the best option, simply beans incinerating the asbestos. Chemical treatments alter the molecular composition of asbestos, so it can be safely buried or otherwise disposed of. SOlidification (physical treatment) seals the asbestos inside a cocoon of asphalt, plastic, or concrete

The chosen method must be consistent with federal hazardous waste disposal standards, most of which are in the recently-updated Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) passage of 1976.