Hi Guys
i have been working in a building built back in 1994 for over 10 years now as a maintenance worker, we were told there were no asbestos in the building and it said so in the asbestos register which was completed by the previouse owners, the builing employs over 600 people.
over the years we have been fixing and removing all sorts of kit including massive coils on air handling units were we have had to change the gaskets on, these gaskets have been changed back as far as 8 years ago, to completely remove the gaskets we have had to file, wire brush and wipe off the gaskets which causes a lot of dust and debris.
a new maintenance worker started and said that the gaskets could contain asbestos? for over a year we have been trying to convince our manager to complete another test, in the end he did and it has brought up that 90% of the 100s (600+) of gaskets contain asbestos which are fine when undisturbed and low risk. with this concern we then had swabbing tests completed on all the areas were we have removed gaskets in the past and even after 8 years it was found positive for Asbestos fibres in over 10 different areas. we have been working under some of these places when people above have been wire brushing causing dust and debris particles.
since this has been found out all works has stopped and deep cleans of these areas have been happening, the place of work have sent us for brething tests at a specilist.
my question is this - i would like my partner of 8 years to have this test completed due to the fact that for the past 8 years washes my clothes which is a known secondary exposure, but the specialist is saying she wont need testing because i have had the all clear? this sounds ridicoulus to me as the doctors cant tell if i have been affected yet due to the fact it takes up to 30 years for it to develop. secondary exposure is known to be just as bad and no limit of exposure can still cause Mesothelioma and other related diseases. the test would make sure she is ok today and also log down that she has been tested so that in the future if the tests are taken again and there is a difference at least this can be looked at?
for the past 3 years my partners respiritory problems have been getting worse.
long winded i know but if anyone has infomation that would be great.
cheers
dave
