Went to a site the other day where they were part demolishing an old factory building.
I backed in and all over the yard in skips and on the ground was asbestos, it was a rough day and there was dust and ■■■■ blowing everywhere. A guy in a white boiler suit and a mask came to my window for my notes and confirmed that it was asbestos, and I told him if he wanted this steel he would have to get me a mask before I got out of the cab.
He said 'its OK mate, it’s low danger grade 3. I said ‘I don’t give a ■■■■, get me a mask or I’m off’
It was a busy estate and the dust was blowing everywhere, but it also backed on to a housing estate, and a couple of young kids were playing in the garden.
Does anybody know about this stuff, and does ‘Grade 3’ or whatever actually exist, or were they a bunch of cowboys talking bull ■■■■.
I have never been one for getting on the phone and reporting/grassing people, and have hated those that do in the past, but if only for the families at the back sake, whom are probably blissfully unaware of the potential health dangers around them, not to mention other drivers, I may make an exception.
Does anybody know anything about this stuff.
Think I would be making a phonecall
Recycling and disposal
In most developed countries, asbestos is typically disposed of as hazardous waste in landfill sites.
The demolition of buildings containing large amounts of asbestos based materials pose particular problems for builders and property developers - such buildings often have to be deconstructed piece by piece, or the asbestos has to be painstakingly removed before the structure can be razed by mechanical or explosive means. One such example is the Red Road Flats in Glasgow, Scotland which used huge amounts of asbestos cement board for wall panelling - here British health and safety regulations stipulate that asbestos material has to be removed to a landfill site via an approved route at certain times of the day in specially adapted vehicles.
Further info
hse.gov.uk/asbestos/faq.htm
If in doubt phone the hse and drive away. A little paper mask won’t protect you from asbestos. I worked for a company supplying removal equipment and materials. Asbestos is asbestos no matter what “grade”. Some is smaller risk but it still has to be treated carefully in removal. The material should be encapsulated or damped down for removal. No dust should be in the air and all materials should be bagged up and disposed in sealed skips for landfill.
Personally I think the guy was winding you up. White coveralls are generally used on site set up or transiting. If your beside a guy in full powered RPE and red overalls you should be worried.
Here’s the different grades
grade3ltd.com/asbestos.htm
When we were kids in the 60’s there was a field next to our house which had asbestos prefabs on it and when they demolished them we were playing amongst the debris 
and we would light fires and throw bits of asbestos on them and watch them explode
How times have changed
CraigM:
If in doubt phone the hse and drive away. A little paper mask won’t protect you from asbestos. I worked for a company supplying removal equipment and materials. Asbestos is asbestos no matter what “grade”. Some is smaller risk but it still has to be treated carefully in removal. The material should be encapsulated or damped down for removal. No dust should be in the air and all materials should be bagged up and disposed in sealed skips for landfill.
Personally I think the guy was winding you up. White coveralls are generally used on site set up or transiting. If your beside a guy in full powered RPE and red overalls you should be worried.
Don’t think he was winding me mate, and I ain’t no expert but I would put a weeks wages on the fact that it WAS actually asbestos. Also if they were a cowboy outfit maybe it was ignorance rather than negligence that was the reason for lack of correct ppe.
I would certainly make that phone call, you may be saving someone’s life.
All asbestos has to be removed extremely carefully and it must then be double bagged in red asbestos bags before being put in an asbestos skip. It is then taken to landfill and buried at a certain depth.
Any mask has to be a proper asbestos rated mask and you must also wear an asbestos suit which must be disposed of with the asbestos.
The brown and blue asbestos are the most dangerous ones but I’ve never heard of grade 3 asbestos so I think he was talking BS.
I’ve just had 5 years of working with the stuff replacing fascia’s and soffit’s before returning to driving.
I worked with asbestos removal in the 90s on the local council. Ive never heard of a grade 3 asbestos. Theres several different kinds from tremolite to amosite and different colours of the stuff. Some of the info is correct on here like double bagging, sealed skips and disposable suits.
The most important thing is tho we had to use respirators not masks, but that could have been a local council thing. Thing is if you are that concerned you could always ring the hse and ask there advice, but they would want to go and visit the site.
When we do asbestos skips it has to be a closed bin we have the white coveralls and a resperator and we only open the door of the bin at the tip.
One of our drivers went to a wait and load recentley for asbestos he droped the bin expecting to see it all coming out bagged up etc next thing the eastern European labourers were lobbing sheets or it off the scaffolding in to the street within 10 minutes the old bill had turned up and put a stop to it.
In sheet form it’s not a problem it’d when it’s disturbed and broken the dust particles are the problem
wing-nut:
I’ve just had 5 years of working with the stuff replacing fascia’s and soffit’s before returning to driving.
I’ve just seen your avatar, and I feel a lot better about it now… at least it seems to have done you no harm 
robroy:
I’ve just seen your avatar, and I feel a lot better about it now… at least it seems to have done you no harm
Hahaha, avatar was found on google, only the big ears are me
a few years ago my next door neighbour had an old asbestos garage that was ready for collapsing so I said to her ill knock it down and take it to the tip for her ,it was quite dodgy, but she said its all right ive rung the council and they are going to see to it, well a few weeks later a team of about 8 blokes and 3 vans came, white suits, masks, special bags, it was like quatermass in colour, but back in the 70s the firm I worked for ( onward transport ) had the contract for delivering asbestos from the gleno factory in livingstone. we delivered it all over the country unloaded by hand, we asked if it was all right to handle and the lads who worked there said it was no problem in its current state, its when its blue actually being made in the factory that its dangerous, so anyway a few years go by when all of a sudden the plastic straps holding the packs together had some writing printed on them ( breathing asbestos dust may damage your health ) round about the same time they did it to cigarette packets so who knows. 
My dad and grandad where dockers, I remember them ttalking about this issue back in the 80s
asbestosdiseases.org.uk/scaleOfProb.html
Contraflow will be along later to confirm your doomed .
Dan Punchard:
Contraflow will be along later to confirm your doomed .
Nobody let on to Carryfast about this for Christ’s sake. 
I think I’m too young to remember Asbestos.
Radar19:
I think I’m too young to remember Asbestos.
It’sa type of Mercedes
Many years ago I used to be an asbestos lagger, taking of the old asbestos on piping in boiler houses etc, you lived in the stuff you couldn’t see your hand in from of your face, and had your tea and sarnies down there too , no safety gear back then, when I went on the road one of the first jobs I had on a regular basis was running sacks of asbestos from Avonmouth docks back to London, same again you lived in the dust, not saying you shouldn’t take precaution nowadays, but there seems to be a fair bit of hysteria about asbestos that seems to have turned it into a big money earner, but I’m still here at 71 as are one or two of the others I worked with….Just saying.
Ossie
CraigM:
If in doubt phone the hse and drive away. A little paper mask won’t protect you from asbestos.
This^^