Around Des Moines

Asbestos abatement is the containment of asbestos fibers in a building. This is usually by removal, encapsulation, encasement, or repair, but abatement also includes proper techniques for building maintenance (such as the sweeping and cleaning of asbestos-containing floor tiles, ceiling tiles, etc.).

As we have seen in Part 4 this process is regulated, expensive, and time-consuming. So why do it?

Older buildings will have deteriorating, friable asbestos in sprayed-on fireproofing and in wall and ceiling insulation and in ceiling texturing. Asbestos will also be present in caulks and putties. Boilers and pipes will have been coated or covered with friable asbestos that may or may not be wrapped. Friable asbestos is also found on reinforcing beams and ceiling tiles installed before 1981. (Floor tiles have better encapsulated asbestos containing materials [ACM], but if they begin to crack or break, fibers will become airborne then too.) When asbestos-containing material is undisturbed, that’s great, but the problem with aging asbestos-containing materials is that they are disturbed - disturbed by water, by vibration, by careless or unknowing workers who may have drilled, cut, polished, sanded, smoothed, ripped, or otherwise abrasively contacted the ACM. I can even imagine someone vacuuming textured ceilings or walls because they were dusty. Then it’s time to abate.

Would you like to see what the materials disturbed and otherwise look like? site 1 (several pictures; see especially “exposed”); site 2 (18 pictures); site 3 (a deteriorating wrap).

I’ve seen two abatements in different institutions. I saw different activities each time, and I will share some pictures of each. But first I’d like you to see how seriously Iowa State University takes asbestos removal. Being a state institution they are more transparent so we can read their protocols on-line. In the ISU manual, jump or scroll to University Responsibilities. That section is pretty impressive. The President acknowledges: I am responsible; the EH&S says: we will keep an inventory; we will write the procedures and we will follow the rules (permits, records, training, protection of workers, disposal of wastes). And you can bet money they do. I’ve met some of the people in Environmental Health & Safety at ISU; they are very open and very knowledgeable (also true in the places I have worked).

Who does the asbestos abatement?

In part 4 we saw there are federal guidelines for personnel training for asbestos removal. In Iowa there are companies who do the removal and there are companies who do the training.
So here is the fun and interesting part that you are not likely to see other places. What does asbestos abatement look like?

I am one of those people who wants to know stuff. So I visit with workers and ask questions - just like a little kid. “Whatcha doin’? … why?” Nearly all the workers have been quite happy to share their knowledge. Remember Part 4 when my former student told me, “As of this minute you are in violation of federal law…” (when he saw that asbestos wrap had been hacked away?) It’s been over 20 years, but I think the abatement firm that fixed that problem was from Ankeny. They came in, brought in their tools and equipment, they sealed the room with thick polyethylene, and they set to work. These are some pictures:

See that bucket of liquid (arrow) in the first picture? The worker told me that before they ever cut the asbestos wrap, they wrap then wet the asbestos thoroughly so the fibers don’t float off. Only then do they slice and remove a piece of the asbestos wrap. In the third picture you can see the wet asbestos in the bottom of the bag. In two of the pictures you can see that even with these precautions, all of the workers are wearing tight fitting masks with canister filters. (I took the pictures through the window of a sealed door.)

As of May 2006 the U. S. Department of Labor said these workers are paid an average of $17.04/hr. According to the ISU document, working in this industry increases the risk of lung cancer 5 fold, smoking by 10 fold but the combination, that is, for a smoking asbestos worker, by 90 fold (a synergistic increase).

The second project was more recent. In the top left picture you can see that the working room is again sealed with thick polyethylene. Then there is a box (arrow, a negative pressure pump) and a large polyethylene tube running from the box. What you can’t see is that a tube also runs from the room into the box. The box is a pump that is sucking the air out of the room and pushing it through a HEPA filter. The other two pictures show the path of the already-purified air being discharged into a courtyard.

Well, that’s it. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it. People from New Jersey to California got excited about Asbestos and the Equitable Building within 24 hours of the time that the story broke on February 2, 2008. Over 2500 years of geology, chemistry, history, health, law, business, and commerce - now 5 weeks in Des Moines. When you go back and read Perry Beeman’s story in The Des Moines Register and then next week when you see the result of the DNR meeting scheduled for Tuesday March 11, pictures will spring to mind, and you’ll have some ideas of your own!

If you think it’s the end, it’s not. Just watch.

Guest Writer: James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.

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