Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Asbestos

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that has been most commonly used in building construction, commercial products, aircraft, automotive, and the maritime industry. In fact, prior to being used as a building material, humans have used asbestos for a few thousand years in everyday objects such as cooking utensils and pots.

While asbestos has a number of benefits, it’s also dangerous as it can seriously damage your respiratory health. That’s why companies like OHMS Asbestos take great pride in their experience with managing asbestos for clients, from site surveying to safely removing the material from various locations.

Asbestos encompasses a family of silicate minerals which are composed of long, thin crystal fibres. This fibrous structure is what contributes to many of the characteristics which make it a suitable material for various products. However, it also makes asbestos extremely hazardous to humans.

Advantages of Using Asbestos

1. It’s naturally fire-resistant and a good thermal insulator, making it ideal for flooring, roofing, and as insulation. It’s also often installed in places near electrical components and outlets since it can protect against short-circuit fires.
2. Asbestos is very cost-effective to produce since it’s easily available in nature. This enables manufacturers to bring the cost of their materials down and pass the savings on to the customers. Additionally, it’s easy to clean and maintain.
3. It’s lighter than many other materials available, making it perfect for constructing buildings and boats. The lightweight of asbestos allows a building to contain less support while being structurally sound. It also poses less of a threat in case of earthquake or fires. Being lightweight, it’s easier to install, which also contributes to its cost-efficient nature.
4. Thanks to its long, fibrous composition, asbestos, when mixed with other building materials like cement or concrete, increases the strength of said materials without increasing their weight. Tests on concrete with small percentages of asbestos added in have shown that the material’s compressive and flexural strength are actually higher than conventional concrete. This means that the concrete can handle more weight without compressing and flexing/bending.

Disadvantages of Using Asbestos

While asbestos has many beneficial properties that make it useful in a range of different applications, it also has many inherent dangers and disadvantages.

Under the right conditions, the tiny fibres in asbestos can easily become dust and get released into the atmosphere. When this dust becomes airborne, people can inhale it into their lungs and develop various health complications, such as the following:

1. Asbestosis is a chronic disease where the lungs are damaged by asbestos. With prolonged exposure to asbestos dust, the walls of the respiratory tract from the nose to the lungs can get polluted and permanently scarred. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, and tightness or pain in the chest.
2. Asbestos can cause two kinds of cancer; lung cancer and mesothelioma. In asbestos-related lung cancer, the victim often experiences shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing up blood. While lung cancer develops inside the lungs, mesothelioma is a cancer in the lining of the lungs. Both types of cancers display similar symptoms and typically take decades to develop but only a few months to spread through the body and metastasize. This makes them difficult to detect without early and regular health check-ups.
3. Another common condition caused by exposure to asbestos is the formation of pleural plaque. A pleural plaque is a plaque that develops in the pleura; the thin membrane surrounding the lungs in the chest.

While most people with this condition do not show obvious symptoms, some may have pain in the chest, coughing, and difficulty breathing.

With the high health risks associated with asbestos, it’s best to hire a professional to help you survey the situation at your location before taking any action, so you can be rest assured that they will handle any asbestos with the proper protection and equipment.

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