A commercial cleaning company made a costly mistake of using a high pressure washer to clean the roof of an empty home – a roof that contained the deadly substance asbestos. Adjacent homes and properties next to the empty house located in Moffat Beach, a suburb of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, were sprayed with asbestos containing dust and debris.
Asbestos was commonly used in roofing tiles and products as it is highly fire, heat and erosion resistant. Asbestos also causes cancer, the most fatal type being mesothelioma, and asbestosis, an irreversible scarring of the lungs. Although repeated exposure increases risk, even a singly incident can lead to illness.
Asbestos related diseases can take anywhere from ten to up to fifty years before symptoms begin to develop. Therefore, the two neighbors most affected by the improper roof cleaning will really not know the extent of the damage for decades to come.
In the meantime, the clean up is difficult and time-consuming. Comprehensive efforts must be made to make sure not even a single microscopic asbestos fiber is left behind. Because of the method of cleaning the roof – high pressure hose- the spread was far and wide. Not only will all hard, impermeable surfaces need to be cleaned, but all fabric and permeable items including garden soil, pavers, etc, will need to be replaced.
The owner of the cleaning company is taking full responsibility for his employee’s action, and offering to pay for the asbestos specialists who have been brought in to do the clean up. In addition to the fact that the cost of the clean up may be so great as to cause his business to cease, he also feels badly about knowing his employee’s actions may one day cause others to become gravely ill.
This is a good reminder to all to take precautions when repairing, cleaning, removing or disposing of any asbestos containing materials. It’s best to hire specialists who have been trained and spare the risk of potentially causing unwanted exposure and death.
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