The Old Days
It is a point of pride for some of the old timers in the construction industry to reminisce about “The way we used to do it”, and that generally involves the lack of safety. As the years go by however, the old days and the old ways are largely becoming nothing more than legend, as more is learned about the dangers of substances we used to take for granted. We now know about the dangers of asbestos, lead and mold, and are able to take precautions to prevent serious health hazards. That was not always the case however, and the dangers have only been known about for a little more than 100 years.
Asbestos
Asbestos has been used for thousands of years and the mineral is actually quite incredible. There are not many substances that can be woven into a cloth and remain fireproof. The uses for asbestos over time have been documented and extend back to the ancient Greeks and even further in Scandinavia. A particularly ingenious way that asbestos was used in ancient times was by weaving a cloth and throwing it in the fire to clean the cloth. In today’s world, the prospect of a cloth made out of asbestos would throw most people into a panic.
Asbestos Uses
The Big Cover Up
After being used in so many different products and mixed with materials that were used in many buildings, the asbestos industry began a massive cover up. The big asbestos corporate scandal in the US was a huge cover up, of X-Files like proportions. The large asbestos companies were well aware of the danger and chose to keep the information from the public in order to continue to rake in profits. In the legal realm, asbestos is legendary, thousands of lawsuits have been filed and the big cover up is still affecting people all over the country. Asbestos was eventually banned completely in the U.S. but, there are still buildings all over the country that contain asbestos. Next time we will talk about the health problems associated with asbestos.
Training is the key to keeping yourself and your employees safe around asbestos. NOW Environmental Services is Seattle’s number one provider of asbestos training and we are committed to providing the most comprehensive training in the region. Please take a moment to browse our scheduled classes for 2017, if you don’t see what you are looking for, please do not hesitate to give us a call for training options. Our training courses fill up fast, so in order to reserve the time that is best for you, make the call today!
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