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Occupational health, basic toxicology and epidemiology
Published in Sue Reed, Dino Pisaniello, Geza Benke, Kerrie Burton, Principles of Occupational Health & Hygiene, 2020
Hundreds, even thousands, of substances found in workplaces have the potential to cause harm. However, it is important to differentiate between potential hazards and those hazards that present risk of harm. Asbestos in an asbestos-cement sheet is a hazard, but may not present a serious risk because the likelihood of inhalation exposure occurring is very low if the material is not machined or abraded. However, release of asbestos fibres into the workplace air during removal of asbestos lagging will almost certainly result in an inhalation exposure leading to a higher risk of toxic effect. Benzene is a potent leukaemia hazard, but while contained in a closed reaction vessel it presents a low risk; xylene used in open tanks or in painted coatings may pose a greater risk to health.
Occupational health, basic toxicology and epidemiology
Published in Sue Reed, Dino Pisaniello, Geza Benke, Principles of Occupational Health & Hygiene, 2020
Hundreds, even thousands, of substances found in workplaces have the potential to cause harm; however, it is important to differentiate between potential hazards and those hazards that present a risk of harm. Asbestos in an asbestos-cement sheet is a hazard, but may not present a serious risk because the likelihood of inhalation exposure occurring is very low if the material is not machined or abraded. However, release of asbestos fibres into the workplace air during removal of asbestos lagging will almost certainly result in an inhalation exposure, leading to a higher risk of toxic effect. Benzene is a potent leukaemia hazard, but while contained in a closed reaction vessel it presents a low risk; xylene used in open tanks or in painted coatings may pose a greater risk to health.
Textiles
Published in Alva Peled, Barzin Mobasher, Arnon Bentur, Textile Reinforced Concrete, 2017
Alva Peled, Barzin Mobasher, Arnon Bentur
Use of asbestos–cement composites in the building industry started in the 1880s (Woods, 2000), and by 1950, approximately 1 billion square feet of asbestos cement products had been produced for building applications. As a building product, the asbestos–cement combination exhibits many desirable material characteristics, including good fire resistance, high mechanical strength (due to the fibers’ high length-to-diameter ratio), flexibility, and resistance to friction and wear, and it is also lightweight, impermeable to water, durable, tough, and resistant to rotting (The Industrial Uses of Asbestos, 1876). However, after an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prohibition on its use in 1973 when it became apparent that asbestos poses a serious threat to human health and safety, by the late of 1970s its use had declined sharply (National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1993). Today classified as a known human carcinogen, asbestos is strictly regulated, as exposure to this toxic mineral has been directly and scientifically linked to a number of lung and respiratory health conditions such as asbestosis, a form of lung cancer.
A novel methodology for pipe grouping and rehabilitation interventions scheduling in water distribution networks
Published in Urban Water Journal, 2023
João Caetano, Nelson Carriço, José Rui Figueira, Dídia Covas
Asbestos cement is a pipe material that is no longer used, as asbestos fibres are carcinogenic when inhaled. Although there is no evidence of increased risk to human health of this material in contact with water, operators who handle and cut these pipes in case of a failure repair are exposed to that risk. Thus, the Percentage of Asbestos Cement pipes (PAC) in each rehabilitation unit is used as an imperative criterion in decision-making, being formally described as follows: