Asbestos hazard in floor coverings

Press, 12 March 1985, Page 2

Asbestos hazard in floor coverings

An asbestos backing to many linoleums and vinyls is a potential hazard to home-improvers lifting old floor coverings. Linoleums and vinyls have a backing which can stick to the floor when the shiny top surface is lifted. Some of these backings contain white asbestos fibres and are a potential danger when the floor is sanded, creating a dust which is inhaled.

The senior inspector of occupational health with the Health Department in Christchurch, Mr Lew Graham, said laboratory analysis was the only way to test if asbestos was in the backing. Old linoleums, which left behind a grey material, were the most common examples, but asbestos fibres had also been found in the backing of floor coverings described as vinyls, said Mr Graham.

The hazards were greater with older floor coverings because the use of asbestos was curtailed in the 1960 s and 19705, he said. Brand names were not an accurate way of determining if asbestos had been used. Brands were often hard to find on old floor coverings and backings differed between products by the same manufacturer. About 20 or 30 enquiries

were made to the Health Department each year, and about 20 samples were sent to laboratories in Wellington for analysis, he said. This was a service the Health Department offered, but had not been widely publicised. The department received about 200 to 300 enquiries a year about asbestos in other materials. Asbestosis was a doserelated illness and anybody lifting and sanding their own floor covering was at little risk because it was likely to be a once-only job, he said.

Those in most danger were professional floor sanders who worked with the materials 40 hours a week. Health and Labour Department inspectors have spoken to people in the floor sanding industry about the hazards. As a result sanders were now required to wet

the floor first to reduce dust, wear masks, try to contain the dust by sealing the room, and to improve their methods of cleaning up.

Mr Graham said many householders were probably unaware of the asbestos dangers in floor coverings, but he believed that most employed professional sanders to remove the backing. For this reason, the information has been directed mainly at the in-

dustry. There, was no way of knowing if home improvers who had already sanded their floors had exposed themselves to asbestos. Analysis was the only way to determine its presence, he said.

He did not, however, think it was likely that they would have damaged their lungs as a result of the work.