By Adam Donnelly

WorkSafe BC campaign raises awareness to dangers of asbestos

Dec 2, 2016 | 2:04 PM

KAMLOOPS — Asbestos has many properties which made it an ideal material for building, including sound absorption, fire resistance, and low cost. It was widely used in construction for decades before the connection organisation to the toxic nature of dust created when the asbestos is disturbed. WorkSafe BC recently launched a campaign targeting homeowners, aimed at raising awareness to the dangers of asbestos, and the importance of ensuring safe handling when removing products containing the substance from your home.

It’s a nightmare scenario for anyone who owns a home. Barry Rokosoh was in Calgary for a family funeral. When his son arrived back home in Rayleigh before Barry, he found the family house flooded.

“It was raining from the ceiling,” Rokosoh recalls.

Rokosoh was quick to call a contractor. Dave Madsen, Project Manager for N&H Contracting, came in right away to start drying out the house; the house was  are inside. Because the home was built before 1990, both the owner and the contractor knew there would be asbestos present in the home.

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“Once we’ve sampled and confirmed that there is asbestos, then we have a certain set of procedures and precautions we have to take,” Madsen explained.

Due to the prevalence of asbestos used in building materials from the 1950’s to 1990, the likelihood of finding some material containing the toxic fibre is extremely high.

“There’s over 3000 types of building materials [containing asbestos],” Patrick Davie, from WorkSafe BC, told CFJC Today.

This is why the organization recently launched an awareness campaign, to inform homeowners who might be undertaking renovations about the importance of taking the proper precautions when it comes to disturbing materials containing asbestos.

“Between the years of 2006 and 2015 there were over 584 worker fatalities related to asbestos,” Davie continued. “Yet we see workers and employers, especially during renovations or demolitions, exposed to asbestos every day.”

Rokosoh worked as an engineer in the construction field for years and is well aware of the dangers posed by asbestos. Which is why he brought in N&H contracting from the very start.

“Asbestos really was a great product,” Rokosoh said, listing the low cost, fire resistance, and high tensile strength made it ideal for building, but also adding “until all the research was done and found out it causes death.”

It’s for this reason they key reason it’s important to hire a qualified asbestos abatement contractor to ensure asbestos in the home is handled safely.

“Containment is crucial,” Madsen says, of doing an abatement, adding there are lots of measures professionals can take to ensure the dust is kept out of the air. “As long as… it’s not getting into the air we’re pretty safe and confident we can make an abatement happen.”