Why You Should Not Remove Asbestos Yourself
As a nation of DIY lovers, it’s only natural to want to remove asbestos yourself. After all, you can likely remove other building materials yourself, so why not those containing asbestos? It can be frustrating when you know you’re capable and don’t want to pay professionals to remove it for you.
As tempting as it can be to get stuck in, we advise against it. You shouldn’t remove asbestos-containing materials (ACM) for these important reasons:
The Health Risks
Asbestos is a dangerous natural mineral. When the tiny fibres are released into the air and breathed in, they can cause serious respiratory illnesses like lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma. Scientists haven’t yet determined a ‘safe’ exposure level. This means that even one exposure event might put you at risk of an illness in the years to come.
Many of the illnesses associated with asbestos are life-threatening and have no known cure. That can be reason enough to call the experts for asbestos removal. After all, at least 220 people die from preventable asbestos-related illnesses in Aotearoa New Zealand every year.
You Don’t Have Specialised Equipment
You might assume that a dust mask is all you need to protect yourself from the tiny asbestos fibres responsible for related respiratory illnesses. However, that’s far from adequate protection. Asbestos removal experts rely on many different pieces of specialised equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep themselves and others safe.
Respirators are among the most important pieces, with different respirators required for different asbestos removal tasks. For example, you might use a half-face respirator with a P2 filter while working with non-friable asbestos. This respirator can stop 94% of airborne particles.
Asbestos removalists typically rely on particle respirators with P3 filters, airline respirators, and self-contained breathing apparatus. They also use asbestos-approved overalls and disposable boot covers.
Our Laws and Regulations
Businesses are required to call in the experts when the ACM they’re removing is in an area larger than 10m2. Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand, encourages homeowners to take the same approach. If you have friable asbestos in any part of your home, it’s crucial that you hire removalists with the appropriate Class A licences to remove it safely.
To Ensure Appropriate Disposal
As tempting as it can be to throw your asbestos building materials into your wheelie bin to go out with the rest of your household waste, this isn’t an appropriate disposal method. That’s why hiring the experts can be necessary – and convenient.
They know how to package asbestos for removal and have processes for transporting it to disposal sites. What’s more, not all landfill facilities accept asbestos waste. If they do, they often require notice. You typically can’t drop off asbestos on a whim, which can be inconvenient for homeowners trying to clean up after a renovation.
Wrapping asbestos waste can be a time-consuming but necessary process. It can also require a great deal of knowledge to get it right for your health and safety. There’s no point in risking it. Reach out to asbestos removal teams who can take care of removal, wrapping, disposal, and everything in between.
To Avoid Contamination
Asbestos fibres are so small that you can’t see them. You can’t tell just by looking at surfaces and soil that they contain asbestos fibres. You often don’t even know there’s contamination until you undertake asbestos testing.
Asbestos-contaminated soil has been seen time and time again throughout the country, like a school field in Auckland, some parts of Shelly Bay, and a pump station in Edgeware. Unless you were specifically testing for asbestos in these areas, you would never have known that this hazardous mineral was present.
With that in mind, there are no guarantees that you’ll avoid contamination by removing asbestos yourself. If you don’t have safety measures in place and isolate the removal area, there’s a genuine risk of it happening. This can be costly for yourself and future homeowners if contamination is later discovered.
You Might Make Mistakes
Asbestos removal experts don’t become experts by chance. They study towards their qualifications and undergo ongoing training to make them a master of their craft. Homeowners don’t typically have the same knowledge or skills.
It’s okay not to be an expert, but it’s a dangerous activity to make mistakes in. Accidental exposure is still exposure, and there are no guarantees that someone won’t pay with their life.
Call Asbestos Removal Experts
It might be frustrating that you can’t tackle all renovation tasks at your homes, but there’s value in leaving asbestos removal to the experts. Keep yourself and your loved ones safe by contacting Chemcare today. Our expert removalists can handle everything from testing and sampling to encapsulation, removal, disposal, and transportation. Free up your time for other, more straightforward renovation tasks.