Asbestosis , Silicosis.

[cuttsie]

As I walk  around Town I notice more and more building workers using stone and concrete cutting saws without using masks .  In addition to this more and more kitchen fitters are doing the same by cutting the new craze in must have kitchen design,  The engineered stone worktops.   Now Asbestosis has been the scourge of building workers for generations,, The inhaling of cement, plaster , Asbestos dust has been a ticking time bomb  for these lads who just turned up at work to carry out their every day tasks .    We in the building trade have all known people who have suddenly found out that this deadly lung disease has struck .there is no cure and life span is shortened considerably .. The kitchen fitters are now waking up to the fact that some of their community are going down with Silicosis  . Again the chance of a cure is slim ..  

In my time in the trade the cutting of stone, concrete,  blocks and bricks was done by hammer and bolster or chisel .   Although the same did not apply to asbestos sheets used for insulation or roofing . In that case a saw was used  so we still inhaled the dust . 

Some Countries inc Australia are banning the new must have stone or engineered stone worktops . but as usual the need for profit as well as one upmanship by kitchen customers rules the roost in the UK .

Will our Government follow the lead of others and ban this trade , or simply ignore it .

[cuttsie]

Just now, cuttsie said:

As I walk  around Town I notice more and more building workers using stone and concrete cutting saws without using masks .  In addition to this more and more kitchen fitters are doing the same by cutting the new craze in must have kitchen design,  The engineered stone worktops.   Now Asbestosis has been the scourge of building workers for generations,, The inhaling of cement, plaster , Asbestos dust has been a ticking time bomb  for these lads who just turned up at work to carry out their every day tasks .    We in the building trade have all known people who have suddenly found out that this deadly lung disease has struck .there is no cure and life span is shortened considerably .. The kitchen fitters are now waking up to the fact that some of their community are going down with Silicosis  . Again the chance of a cure is slim ..  

In my time in the trade the cutting of stone, concrete,  blocks and bricks was done by hammer and bolster or chisel .   Although the same did not apply to asbestos sheets used for insulation or roofing . In that case a saw was used  so we still inhaled the dust . 

Some Countries inc Australia are banning the new must have stone or engineered stone worktops . but as usual the need for profit as well as one upmanship by kitchen customers rules the roost in the UK .

Will our Government follow the lead of others and ban this trade , or simply ignore it .

Not forgetting the furnace builders in this who all inhaled the dust on a daily basis.

[cressida]

When I had remedial builders in (2002) the electrician sent the apprentice down to the foundations,  it was so dusty I asked him to get the apprentice

a mask,  which he did - I'm sure there was asbestos down there.

[Jim Hardie]

My neighbour died of mesothelioma a couple of years ago. He was exposed to asbestos 40 odd years ago working  for the gas board.

[cuttsie]

1 minute ago, cressida said:

When I had remedial builders in (2002) the electrician sent the apprentice down to the foundations,  it was so dusty I asked him to get the apprentice

a mask,  which he did - I'm sure there was asbestos down there.

Electricians were,  are especially effected  , those that wired out train carriage s would drill through the linings and breath the dust in ,   Cravens at Darnell had workers who  were effected.

[cuttsie]

4 minutes ago, Jim Hardie said:

My neighbour died of mesothelioma a couple of years ago. He was exposed to asbestos 40 odd years ago working  for the gas board.

So many a national disgrace .

[cressida]

Thanks,  did Slinny and yourself coe across asbestos in your work?

[Slighty batty]

7 minutes ago, cuttsie said:

Electricians were,  are especially effected  , those that wired out train carriage s would drill through the linings and breath the dust in ,   Cravens at Darnell had workers who  were effected.

A friend of ours in France was an electrician who did wiring on nuclear submarines. They all used asbestos for insulation. The French government said that because he’d been exposed he was allowed to take early (paid) retirement if he wanted to. He didn’t have any symptoms but their view was that anyone who’d been exposed should be offered the chance of retiring while they were still healthy enough to enjoy it. Would be nice if they did that in the UK. 

[trastrick]

10 minutes ago, cuttsie said:

Electricians were,  are especially effected  , those that wired out train carriage s would drill through the linings and breath the dust in ,   Cravens at Darnell had workers who  were effected.

 

True enough, Cuttsie. I was an apprentice "sparks".

 

Among our regular raw materials were sheets of asbestos, and a shiny brown bakelite product who's name I forget. We sawed it up like wood, to make separators in for the industrial switch boxes we fabricated on site in the mills of Steelo's, Sammy Fox's, and Firth Vickers.

 

We also used lead sticks, melting pot and blow lamps for "jointing" the heavy industrial lead covered cables.

 

I also worked in Enderby at the granite quarry where inside the crushing houses the air was full of white powdered dust that covered everything. It would pile up and was so fine, that if you scooped a handful and tried to close your fist it would run through your fingers like water. No such things as masks in those days.

 

They had huge vacuums that collected it and it was trucked in tankers to guess where?

 

The Yardley (face) powder factory.

 

Like you, I was a smart dresser, so when I was 18 they gave me an apprentice, and the "cushy" jobs in town, Boots, Banks, University, Liptons and City Market.

[Meltman]

43 minutes ago, cuttsie said:

Electricians were,  are especially effected  , those that wired out train carriage s would drill through the linings and breath the dust in ,   Cravens at Darnell had workers who  were effected.

I had a friend who worked at Cravens and passed away quite young with asbestosis