Australia’s Ongoing Challenge of Legacy Asbestos in the Built Environment: A Review of Contemporary Asbestos Exposure Risks
Abstract
:1. Introduction: Asbestos in the Built Environment
2. Potential Fibre Release from In Situ Asbestos Products
2.1. Indoor Products
2.2. Outdoor Products
3. Analytical Techniques for Measuring Asbestos Exposure
4. Current Settings for Potential Asbestos Exposure
4.1. Demolition
4.2. Renovation
4.3. Illegal Asbestos Disposal
4.4. Disaster and Emergency Events—Fires, Storms, Cyclones and Floods
4.5. Contaminated Sites
- the amount of asbestos in soil
- how exposure to airborne asbestos may occur
- the risk of material or serious environmental harm, as defined in the relevant environment protection law.
5. Framework for National Action to Prevent Asbestos Exposure
6. Case Studies
6.1. Asbestos Cement Roofs
- Age—Most existing roofs are beyond their product life. An aged asbestos cement roof is prone to increased structural weakness due to physical changes. Sheet thickness has been estimated to reduce with degradation at a rate of 0.01–0.02 mm/year [93], making it weak and brittle and therefore prone to collapse from forces such as walking on it during maintenance or removal or other forces such as strong winds, hail or falling branches from overhanging trees. Weakened roofs can also shatter explosively in fires, causing widespread contamination of surrounding areas [20,94].
- Maintenance—Roofs are much harder to maintain than wall cladding, making upkeep more costly and likely not done adequately or appropriately. Contaminated run-off of asbestos fibres into gutters, stormwater systems or the surrounding ground surface can occur without maintenance (e.g., due to the action of rain), and more widespread contamination arises from illegal maintenance practices. Potential asbestos stabilisation practices such as encapsulation add additional load to a roof and are only suitable if the underlying structure and supporting systems are also in good condition, making repetitive applications unviable [82]. Conversely, illegal high-pressure cleaning of asbestos cement roofs is a large problem for regulators and other government agencies tasked with managing the emergency response [95,96,97,98].
- Weathering—By virtue of its position, roofing is more exposed than other outdoor products to the effects of sun, rain, wind, hail, air pollution and salt. Asbestos cement roofs can also be damaged by moss/lichen growth. Surface degradation exposing an asbestos-enriched layer can occur, resulting in fibre release in the range of 106 to 108 fibres/m2·h [16,94]. The fibres not only become airborne (approximately 20% dispersed to air) but can also be washed out by rainwater (approximately 80%) resulting in soil contamination [21,87].
- Disaster events—Contamination from asbestos cement roof destruction can be widespread, and unforeseen costs after such events are higher than for planned removal. This includes the cost of a new roof; cleaning and disposal of the asbestos-impacted soils and other contaminated materials in the surrounding areas; as well as additional inspection, sampling and validation required for clearance certificates to confirm that the remediation has been undertaken appropriately.
- Incident management—Asbestos cement roof incidents and non-compliant management and removal work burden asbestos waste facilities with increased waste volumes arising from asbestos-contaminated materials. This poses an increased exposure risk and overall cost to the general community and the asbestos professionals tasked with the cleanup, in the immediate vicinity and beyond, as the higher volume of contaminated waste (now including more debris than just whole pieces of asbestos) needs to be safely collected, transported and disposed.
- Effect of innovation—Increased domestic uptake of products such as rooftop solar, rainwater tanks and satellite dishes are incompatible with an asbestos cement roof. The roof building material and condition upon which such systems are installed are not always considered, despite code of practices issued from regulatory bodies suggesting otherwise. The additional load, ongoing maintenance and repair work, and operation can result in non-compliant activity and elevate asbestos exposure risk to homeowners, workers and the general community even further. Internationally, planned initiatives to improve asbestos management (i.e., proactively remove it) are linked with the transition to sustainable environmental practices (e.g., in the EU [27,99,100,101]).
6.2. Asbestos Cement (AC) Pipes
- Removal and replacement—This represents the only AC pipe management method that completely eliminates future asbestos exposure risks at the site. A new pipe can be laid in the trench from which the AC pipe has been removed. This is the most expensive AC pipe rehabilitation option, as full excavation is required and asbestos must be removed, transported and buried at an approved waste facility in accordance with WHS and environment protection laws.
- By-passing and construction of a new alignment—This represents the most common approach used and involves making an AC pipe section redundant by disconnecting it and installing a brand-new service pipeline alongside. The redundant AC pipe section remains buried in situ and although decommissioned, it remains the responsibility of the water agency to manage the risks associated with it (e.g., including it in an asbestos register and management plan, as well as recording it in all asset information requests).
- Slip-lining and curing-in-place pipe lining—Involves using plant to pull through a smaller diameter pipe inside the existing AC pipe or lining an existing AC pipe with a resin-saturated fabric tube to extend the life of water and sewer assets. The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) is a key industry body in Australia and has worked in collaboration with researchers from Australian universities on the Smart Linings for Pipe and Infrastructure project to produce standards, codes of practice and decision tools on the use of pipe liners.
- Pipe reaming—Involves pumping drilling fluid into the existing AC pipe and as the reaming tool attaches, the new pipe comes forward and the existing pipe is broken. The pipe fragments of the redundant AC pipe are captured in the drilling fluid along with some of the soil. This asbestos waste is then flushed down stream to a receiving pit where it is collected. It must all be disposed of as asbestos waste in accordance with WHS and environmental protection laws.
- Pipe bursting or splitting—Involves machinery that is pushed up the AC pipe section to expand, split or break the pipe, creating a cavity for a replacement pipe to be inserted into the void. A disadvantage is that removing all the fragments of the AC pipe from the surrounding soil is difficult to achieve with current technologies, and generally requires excavation, remediation, and validation by sampling to meet cleanup requirements. This method is only chosen if no other methods are reasonably practicable, as there are significant regulatory requirements.
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Activity | Concentration (f/mL) | Time | Exposure Adjusted to 8-h Exposure for Each Task 1 |
---|---|---|---|
Workplace exposure standard | 0.1 2 | 8-h (time-weighted average) | 0.1 |
Removal of vinyl tiles by scraping | 0.004–0.014 | Short-term 3 | |
Asbestos-cement sheet Hand saw Jigsaw Circular saw | 1–4 2–100 10–20 | Short-term 3 Short-term 3 Short-term 3 | |
Removal of AC corrugated external roof sheeting in dry conditions | 0.215 4 | 18 min | 0.008 f/mL |
Removal of AC flat external wall sheeting in dry conditions | 0.213 4 | 31 min | 0.012 f/mL |
Removal of small sections of AC flat sheet to create penetrations | 13.231 4 | 5 min | 0.140 f/mL |
Drilling and screwing into AC sheet | 0.062 4 | 15 min | 0.002 f/mL |
Removal of AC wall panels in bathrooms | 0.663 4 | 15 min | 0.021 f/mL |
Cleanup after task | 0.898 4 | 35 min | 0.065 f/mL |
Removal of a small outdoor shed constructed of flat and corrugated AC sheeting | 0.124 4 | 108 min | 0.030 f/mL |
Event Type | Incident Details | Management Details (e.g., Extent of Damage, ACM Type, Parties Involved in Cleanup, Estimated Costs) |
Large scale fire | Black Summer bushfires State of NSW Spring (September) 2019 to Summer (February) 2020 |
|
Confined fire | Wickham Wool Store fire City of Newcastle, NSW 1 March 2022 |
|
Cyclone | Cyclone Seroja Mid-west region, WA 11–12 April 2021 |
|
Flood | River Murray flood event Riverlands and Murraylands, SA November 2022 to January 2023 |
|
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Frangioudakis Khatib, G.; Collins, J.; Otness, P.; Goode, J.; Tomley, S.; Franklin, P.; Ross, J. Australia’s Ongoing Challenge of Legacy Asbestos in the Built Environment: A Review of Contemporary Asbestos Exposure Risks. Sustainability 2023, 15, 12071. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151512071
Frangioudakis Khatib G, Collins J, Otness P, Goode J, Tomley S, Franklin P, Ross J. Australia’s Ongoing Challenge of Legacy Asbestos in the Built Environment: A Review of Contemporary Asbestos Exposure Risks. Sustainability. 2023; 15(15):12071. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151512071
Chicago/Turabian StyleFrangioudakis Khatib, Georgia, Julia Collins, Pierina Otness, James Goode, Stacey Tomley, Peter Franklin, and Justine Ross. 2023. "Australia’s Ongoing Challenge of Legacy Asbestos in the Built Environment: A Review of Contemporary Asbestos Exposure Risks" Sustainability 15, no. 15: 12071. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151512071
APA StyleFrangioudakis Khatib, G., Collins, J., Otness, P., Goode, J., Tomley, S., Franklin, P., & Ross, J. (2023). Australia’s Ongoing Challenge of Legacy Asbestos in the Built Environment: A Review of Contemporary Asbestos Exposure Risks. Sustainability, 15(15), 12071. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151512071