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How to Safely Handle Asbestos

Avoiding mesothelioma risk

Whether you work with asbestos products or they are present in your home, be aware of things you can do to avoid mesothelioma and the other diseases caused by asbestos exposure. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have issued asbestos handling standards.

Asbestos checklist for the workplace

OSHA provides a detailed checklist of asbestos handling precautions to help employers ensure that their workers can safely handle asbestos present in the workplace, including:

  • Identify the presence, location, and quantity of all asbestos-containing materials in the work place and inform employees of all asbestos-containing materials in their work areas.
  • Attach or post labels and signs to warn which materials are dangerous.
  • Until proven otherwise, handle all materials suspected of containing asbestos in facilities constructed before 1981 as if they contain asbestos.
  • Train all workers, including housekeeping, on asbestos handling precautions.
  • Restrict access to contaminated areas.
  • Enforce prohibition of drinking, smoking, chewing gum, or tobacco and application of cosmetics in the regulated area.
  • Supply protective work clothing and equipment appropriate to the work assignment, including clean clothing and equipment at least weekly.
  • Provide a clean room, showers, and a changing room apart from the storage area where potentially contaminated clothing and equipment are kept.
  • Provide a positive-pressure, air-filtered lunchroom.
  • Require employees to wash their hands and face before eating or smoking.
  • Use engineering controls and local exhaust ventilation designed, constructed, installed, and maintained in accordance with ANSI Z9.2-1979.
  • Make sure asbestos is handled, mixed, applied, removed, cut, or scored only in a wet state.
  • Ensure all asbestos-containing materials are removed from containers while wet, ventilated, or enclosed.
  • Prohibit sanding of asbestos-containing floors and use of compressed air to remove asbestos.
  • Provide and require respirators in regulated areas and wherever engineering and practice controls are not feasible.

Asbestos handling precautions for the home

The EPA advises that there is no way for you to safely handle asbestos in your home. If there is a problem, you should get a licensed asbestos abatement firm to either repair or remove it. Only professionals have the proper equipment and the training to safely handle asbestos.