Asbestos Surveyors | Mesothelioma Information

Plastic products seem to surround us. It can be found in places we forget to look – contact lenses and eyeglasses, refrigerators, the pipes in our homes, CDs and DVDs, even much of our clothing contains plastic components. Plastics continue to be recycled far less than other recyclables. Paper products, for instance, are currently being recycled at a rate of around 75%, while plastics recycling remains at less than 20%. Recycling is great for our environment, but it isn’t the limit of what you can do. Just a few tips can help you to eliminate much of the plastic use from your life.

1. Stop buying bottled water. Invest in a stainless steel water bottle and a great water filter, which can give you hundreds of bottles of water for pennies a day.

2. Don’t use plastic bags from the supermarket. Bring reusable fabric bags when you go shopping. Keep some fabric bags in your car so you won’t forget and be tempted to use the plastic variety in a pinch.

3. Use glass leftover bowls instead of plastic ones. Glass leftover bowls have the advantage of not becoming stained or damaged from reheating over time. You can also reuse glass jars for homemade and leftover dips, drinks, and baby food. Even breast milk can (and should) be stored in glass jars; nutritious components of it can actually bond to the sides of plastic containers.

4. Buy foods in glass containers instead of plastic whenever possible.

5. Cook from scratch when you can. For example, instead of buying tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce, make it from tomatoes themselves, or make your own jams and preserves from fresh fruit.

6. Many organic supermarkets now offer the opportunity to buy from bulk containers instead of selling those things in smaller, plastic packaging. You can bring glass jars along to fill with fresh peanut butter, syrups, oils, grains, even soaps and shampoos.

7. The plastics in disposable diapers and menstrual products are a huge contributor to plastic waste. Consider switching your home to cloth diapers and reusable menstrual products such as cloth pads or cups.

Asbestos surveyors locate materials used in the building of your home, or business property, which may contain asbestos. In addition, they may take for further study samples of materials that may have asbestos contamination.

Asbestos is a mined, fibrous material, which after processing had many uses for many industries in the late 19th century. For example, the automobile industry used asbestos for brake systems. However no industry used asbestos more than the construction industry. They used it for building materials, fire proofing, electrical insulation, and in cement, among other things.

However, early in the 20th century reports of lung problems, and early deaths, began to emerge from asbestos mining communities. Then, over the years, further medical research confirmed that prolonged breathing of asbestos fibers can lead to respiratory problems, and mesothelioma cancer.

Nevertheless, in spite of the evidence, the construction industry continued the widespread use asbestos in the construction of buildings, and homes, until 1999. As a result, today, many occupied homes and other buildings may have undetected asbestos contamination. Because prolonged exposure to asbestos may be fatal, it is to your advantage to have your home, or business building, surveyed by professional asbestos surveyors.

Asbestos Surveys

The best time to complete the survey is when the least amount of people are in the building, because this gives the surveyors the freedom to move about. When the survey is complete, the survey team will meet with you to discuss their findings.

In the meeting, the team of surveyors will inform you of any areas in the building they could not check, and the reason why. However, in the final analysis, they assume these unchecked areas have asbestos contamination, and they are included in the management plan they suggest you follow, to control the asbestos contamination they find. If the survey team finds asbestos contamination, they will tell you what kind of asbestos it is, and what it contaminated. In addition, the surveyors will tell you the exact location, how accessible it is to people, and give you a photograph of the area. You will also be told if anyone has ever disturbed the asbestos, and the total degree of contamination.

Management Plan

A common risk of exposure to asbestos contamination is service personnel, maintenance workers, contractors, or employees, who may come into contact with asbestos and not realize it. As a result, much of the management plan the survey team will present you protects against incidental contact.

Your management plan will include these suggestions:

• Everyone will have knowledge of the exact location where any contamination exists.
• Whenever possible, the contaminated areas will be sealed off to protect against incidental contact.
• If any store personnel notices any damage to any sealed off area, they must report it to management.
• All contaminated areas will have regular inspections to make sure they remain safe.
• All staff and outside personnel will be informed of changes in their daily routines, when a change in routine will route them away from a contaminated area.
• Any personnel will be informed if they are working near a contaminated area.

If asbestos surveyors inspect your home and find contaminated areas, they will have a meeting with you and your family, and establish a similar management plan.