Document wgBbJX7GwQ03GNNvgBGgVjY5E

FILE NAME Quebec Asbestos Mining Association QAMA DATE 1980 Sept DOC QAMA162 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION QAMA Bulletin Vol 4 No. 4 Substitutes higher cost lesser quality If asbestos were banned in roof cements the market would be flooded with products so inferior in quality that they cannot perform the purpose for which they are intended Such is the opinion expressed by an American expert at a symposium of national scope held in the United States on the whole question of substitutes for asbestos National Workshops on Substitutes for Asbestos Mr. Eric Wormser of Gibson- Homans the largest U.S. manufacturer of sealing and coating compounds was invited to the numerous problems posed by the replacement of asbestos in various products His analysis was based on the results of several studies and tests conducted by his company in an attempt to find and develop valid substitutes for asbestos : According to Mr. Wormser all the money and efforts invested in the search for substitutes have yet to give satisfactory results particularly in the case of sealing and coating com- pounds for roofs In these products tahesbesto fibs re acts as a binding agent and helps to increase the cohe- sion viscosity elasticity and plasticity of the mixtures Being inert it is not subject to aging and so enhances the resistance and the durability of the products Conclusive experiments In spite of the tremendous amount of work that has been done to try to find a substitute raw material that will produce satisfactory roof coatings and roof cements to the best of our knowledge no one has found such a material As the result of our com- pany's vast research by complicated formulating techniques utilizing a variety of ingredients and techniques we are now able to produce solvent base asphalt roof coatings and roof cements which do not include asbestos fibre We do not yet offer these asbestos free roof coatings and cements for sale in the United States because they are about 15 more expensive to produce and we believe| comparable they are not as good as products made with asbestos It is difficult to justify selling an inferior product for more money We are shipping considerable quantities of asbestos free coatings and cements to Sweden where the use of asbestos fibrien such products has been banned Therefore we are gain- ing experience in the volume manufac- ture of such products and have the opportunity to observe their performance in large scale use Furthermore Mr. Wormser feels that a ban on the use of asbestos in the manufacture of roof coatings and cements would be a great disservice to the public Once the asbestos is bound in the roof coating and cement vehicl itecasn do no harm to anyone Therefore a ban would not benefit any- one On the other hand it would force on the public a flood of very poor products at high prices Energy savings While admitting that it is possible to produce asbestos free products Mr. Wormser further pointed out that such production goes against the current trends in industry and government policies regarding energy consumption The only method we know for manufacturing reasonably satisfactory asbestos free roof coatings and roof cements is to combine some less than satisfactory substitute fibres with a variety of mineral fillers wetting agents plasticizers and synthetic thixotropes We manufacture about 250 different roof coatings cements and mastics A variety of techniques must be used to achieve acceptable results in each of these products The end result in every case is a product that contains considerably less asphalt tar or other waterproofing oil and much more filler material than when asbestos is used These fillers con- tribute nothing to the waterproofing properties or weathering of the products To the contrary these filler materials often detract from the desira- ble properties These formulas require from 30 to 70 more energy in our plants to manufacture v Health Finally bringing up the subject of health problems which are said to be > | Bullakin The IOEH subsidizes a research project on exposure to different types of fibre The different types of fibre which are commercially mined - chrysotile amosite and crocidolite - have been mined in the East Broughton area are nol less significant than those detected in workers from the other asbestos areas and continue to be the object of studies aimed at determining their effects on health Although up until now chrysotile has revealed Itself to be less harmful It would appear that a distinction must be made between two categories of chrysotile fibre slip fibres and cross fibres In an attempt to answer this question Dr Gibbs in cooperation with a group of British scientists headed by Dr JC McDonald has initiated a research program with the specific object of studying the relationship bet- ween radiological abnormalities detected in the lungs of workers and the different types of fibre to which Background This distinction arises from the they are exposed This study is sub- sidized by the program of the institute geological formation of the Eastern of Occupational and Environmental Envirometal Townships which is such that in most of the asbestos deposits - those Health of Montr^'alwhich is funded by the asbestos mining industry mined at Asbestos Thetford Mines and Black Lake the fibre presents itself in vertical row's perpendicular to the rock whereas in the deposits mined at East Broughton the fibre presents itself horizontally or diagonally with the rock as if it had slipped This fibre which is principally found in the deposits mined by Canada has properties which differ slightly from the other fibres The results of studies published by McGill University in 1974 have led scientists to wonder whether the radiological changes detected in employees working with silp fibre wr Dr Graham Gibbs who until September this year University was Director of the Institute of Occupational Health and Safety of McGill entered the field of Occupational Health In England where he worked for seven years with the British Medicat Research Council Department for Research in Industrie Medicine and Air Pollution Research Unit He obtained his Sc in Chemistry and Geology at the University of London England his Sc in geology and his PhD in Epidemiology and Medical Statistics at McGill University Or Gibhs te now a part time Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Health at McGill University He is also an active member of many international commitless concerned with occupational health and has published widely in this Held Substitutes higher cost ... Scientists already established several years ago that the harmfulness of asbestos is more closely related to the physical characteristics of the fibre particularly is geometric shape than to its chemical composition Thus fibres of different lengths and diameters would not have the same effect on health or provoke the same reactions in the organism For instance it would appear that straight fibres penetrate the lungs more deeply In short according to Dr. Gibbs of McGill University the possibility that asbestos fibres are at the rool of lung diseases may be close- ly connected to penetration deposit and retention of the fibre in the lungs as well as the resulting biological reac- tions related to asbestos Mr. Wormser after stating that such problems had never arisen in his company remarked that asbestos being the best known of all minerals is probably the easiest to control as well Given the current state of research the same assurances cannot be given about substitutes The hazards of asbestos fibra have been thoroughly researched and documented They are real but readily con- trollable and limited We know little or nothing about the hazards of the raw material variety of we use in order to manufacture asbestos free roof coatings and cements We get material safety data sheets from our supliers None of the new raw materials are known carcinogens is unlikely however that anywhere near the amount of research into the health hazards of these materials has been devoted as has been to asbestos Methodology The test group will be made up of approximately 200 employees working with slip fibres and groups of employees from the other mines all born after 1921 Each test subject shall have worked with one type of fibre only for a minimum period of eight years but initial exposure may not have taken place prior to 1958 The rays taken at Thetford Mines > 2 at Bell As part of a general modernization program Les Mines d'amiante Bell Li^'ehas just completed its new laboratory facilities While the activities of the lab had limited up been unli now to the usual quality control of the fibre the new facilities now make it possible to include the evaluation of deposits by means of the analysis of drilling cores as well as various other tests for the pilot mill Concurrently the environmental control department whose program has been diversified and extended is expanding considerably facilities New laboratory is now located in the no 2 Shaft building where is sheltered from the mill vibrations and any possi- ble shifling of the earth due to underground mining opera- tions The new facilities include a filtering system which produces the pure water required in the quality control test on the fibre stainless steel counters which unlike arbonite do not absorb fibres or impurities and a general ventilation system which prevents dust emission The sampling tables are moreover equipped with exhaust hoods and covered with glass panels which prevent the spreading of dust while still allowing light to penetrate Finally the which were previously previously by mill messenger are now sent directly from the to the laboratory by means of a pneumatic tube system in just 35 seconds Environmental control In addition to the daily measuring of dust levels a quality control program for the environment has been established The new laboratory et Les Mines d'amente Boli Li^'e functional modern and spacious The program deals with the analysis of the emissions from the mill chimneys and the monitoring of noise levels throughout the Installations at regular intervals or on request With the new underground operating methods which require the setting up of farge fleet of diesel vehicles the environmental control department will have to make daily checks on the exhaust levels of the new vehicles as well as on the ventilation of the drifts In order to avoid saturation of the air by engine emissions With five times its previous space a larger staff and a equipment more complete and more modern range of the laboratory at Bell is no longer limited to the quality control of the fibre and dust fevels in the work place Its new assignments indicate a real desire to improve the environ- ment for both the workers and the area residents this fall will be examined by a team of radiologists specialized in reading Xrays for epidemiological studies After establishing the radiological abnormalities and then the different levels of exposure and the history of each worker it will be possible to determine the frequency of the radiological changes according to exposure levels according to the mines and consequently according to the types of fibre Interpretation In addition to providing with greater accuracy whether exposure to slip fibres and exposure to cross fibres really differ in their effects on health the study will provide useful data on the value of the measures taken to prevent asbestosis Indeed all the subjects selected were only exposed after 1968 the year environmental controls were introduced in the asbestos industry and consequently all of them have worked for most of the period of employment in an environment approaching that which exists today The results of this study which will be available by the summer of 1981 could prove that certain types of fibre are safer to handle than others and will allow the evaluation in the field of the effectiveness of the controls implemented in the last 20 years in reducing radiological abnormalities LBY ullatin| Packaging asbestos 27 million bags 500 000 cu m of wood 435 tons of nails What a long way we have come from the early part of the century when the men had to use their ingenuity to think up better faster and easier ways of filling sacks with fibre Nowadays technicians monitor dials and signal lights as the bags of fibre roll by on con- veyors them open and according to the few who remember more than one was split and mended before one got the knack emplied weighed and conveyed by machines man's role being confined to stacking and loading The discovery of pressure packing It is doubtless because they dreamed of advanced automation thal the workers in the mills were also Inventors We owe to their experience and creative minds along with considerable investments many of the machines and techniques which have made it possible to improve working and environmental conditions Burlap needle and thread There was a time when asbestos fibre was not bagged but sacked The burlap sacks were made in Qu^'becwith imported mostly from India The problem of recycling the asbestos sacks wasexistent back then since they were used over and over as long as they could still be mended Mending was moreover an important activity which kept several dozen people busy the mill Mending was also paorf tthe day day work of the men who filled and handled the sacks they always had needle and thread on them so they could immediately repair any ripped or split sacks In short the result of some miscalculated move Before the advent of pressure packing the fibre used to be shovelled into sacks and packed down with a few good thrusts of the knee With a little expenence a hand gewed sack could be filled packed and closed in three minutes The full sacks were sent up to the warehouse roof where they were tossed down through a trap to the floor 25 feet below Not everyone was handy at tossing the sacks without splitting The past at the beginning of the century begging of the fibre and bag handling were entirely manuel Around 1935 the operation was modernized the sack was now held open on a cylindrical rack rather than by the worker and the knee which packed the fibre was replaced by a piston A major improvement pressure packing Pressure packing which was developed by Manville in 1950 was adopted by the other mills a few years later and marked the beginning of automation which from then on was very rapid Although still packaged in burlap the fibre was soon being was a turning point for the asbestos industry to such an extend in fact that research is still being done to Improve this technique and derive the greatest benefit from it In addition to solving part of the dust problems pressure packing has made handling easier reduced the amount of storage and transportation space required and in so doing cut down the cost inherent in these operations burlap to paper FromA world burlap shortage in 1970 combined with a growing preoccupa- 4 tion with health and environmental problems brought into question the use of burlap sacks which did not offer a sufficiently hermetic wrapping soluble wrapping - paper ink and qlue which could be incorporated into the mixtures used in the manufacturing of finished products In 1973 an engineer at Asbestos Corporation's Normandie Mine designed a machine which could which is available in 40 different models represents an additional cost of 4 to $ for every two tons of fibre depending whether he orders a reuseble pallet for shipping his own finished product or a disposable model North American customers may even rent pallets under an agreement with the rail companies which allows them to send back free of charge one wagonload of pallets for each order to five wagons of fibre Today of the seven million pallets manufactured in Qu^'bec annually around 600 are used by the asbestos producers The manufacturing involves 500 000 cubic metres of wood 435 tonnes of nails and creates at the regional level about a hundred jobs The container the lift truck the pallet all are eloments contributing to the sofo transportation of asbestos fibro phd ita iy The present bagging is automatic man s role is essentially limited to monitoring the machmes automatically position the bags to receive the libre and shortly afterwards all the companies adopted this technique That same year all the machines in the milts were covered and closed off so as to further diminish exposure of the employees to dust allowing fibres to escape during handling and shipping From this moment the asbestos industry was to become one of the most important customers of the packaging industry in Qu^'bec consuming an average of 98 sq km of paper annually based on an average consumption of 30 million ply paper bags before plastic came into use Paper was gradually replaced by polyethylene and polypropylene later lined with a reinforcing fabric thread In 1976. in order to further reduce contact with the fibre and to make han- dling easier the asbestos mines began to offer their customers a completely Begging has changed over the years because environmental protection demanded it but also because tech- in nology allowed it Thus 1970 the growing popularity of containers and theappearance of lift trucks made the use of indispensaebnsluree pallets to of the loads and the stability the safety of the operations Pallets an industry in their own right From this time on a veritable pallet industry developed near the mines thus creating local activity which grew rapidly For the customer the pallet Metric conversion Since the bagging of fibre began the industry has used 100 and 125 pound burlap sacks then 100 pound paper or plastic bags such standardization making it easier for the manufacturers to develop their mixtures The adoption of the metric system by producers In January 1980 required numerous adjustments to the packaging machinery and the reinforcement of several machines which were not meant to handle the additional weight and pressure In fact the conversion from 100 lb to 50 kg bags which means an additional 4.4 kg of fibre without changing the dimensions of the sacks required an increased pressure of 55 cu ft as opposed to 50 cu ft To help them correct the dosage in their mixtures accordingly the asbestos manufacturing industries received samples of this more compressed fibre before generalized conversion to the metric system was completed burlap certainly replaceable replaceable Comment- and was before 1970 5 lift truates truates truates a mound mound mound well well before before then too Bulletin Packaging asbestos As regards packaging metric conversion will reduce consumption of bags by about % for both producer and their customers At present this consumption can be estimated at approximately 27 million bags annual- ly of which 90 are plastic and 10 are paper Altogether the plastic bags used on a yearly basis by the asbestos mines of Qu^'becexcluding the production of Asbestos Hill would cover an area of sq km Moreover a drop in shipping costs may also be anticipated as a result of metric conversion as an identical volume of fibre now weighs % more than before and the container which used to transport 18 tons can now carry 20 tons Fibre shipped in blocks In spite of the considerable progress made in the last century in the area of fibre packaging research is still being done in order to discover a technique which will ensure maximum safety in accordance with the strictest regulations Thus it is that Manville Canada Inc after many years of arriving at the block we know today which is compressed to 100 ou ft contains % humidity and measures x10 a good deal of testing was necessary at various degrees of humidity and with different molds in which the mixing was done manually Finally the first machine was put into operation in the pilot plant and shortly afterward four units with an annual production capacity of 35 000 tons were installed at the mill makes it possible to cut back the consumption of paper and plastic wrap- ping and to reduce the required Although the fibre is literally lockedIn by the pressure and the humidity for maximum safety the blocks are Individually wrapped in paper or polyethylene and then stacked on pallets The whole pallel can then be wrapped in plastic film il desired For an equal weight of fibre high density blocks at night occupy half the space Wrapping of high density blocks of fibre research has perfected a technique which appears to bring a solution to the few remaining safety problems posed by the handling and shipping of asbestos Numerous tests Around 1972 G^'rardLambert ProJect Director perfected the process and the machine for manufacturing high densfly blocks of fibre Before Future prospects In 1981 four other machines will be installed thus bringing the production storage space by half There can no doubt that these factors together point to a substantial saving for fibre producers and even more for capacity for high density blocks up from 000 to 000 tons The customers particularly in terms of transport Currently Manvfile advantages inherent in an expanded ships its entire production to the marketing of the blocks are twofold safety and profitability United States Great Britain and Japan The technical problems related the high density blocks have now been In bulk shipments to countries not equipped to handle containers the bags of fibre are frequently damaged releasing the fibre into the air and thus Increasing the risk of exposure for the workers This is the case for instance in India where the dockworkers use hooks to unload the shipments In an attempt to solve this problem and as an experiment Manville has just solved for all grades of fibre as regards both the manufacture of the blocks and their use by manufacturers Nevertheless rare are the manufacturing industries which are already equipped with machines adequate enough to break up the blocks of fibre a necessary operation before incor- porating the asbestos into any kind of mixture shipped 60 tons of the high density blocks of fibre to this country Even though the production capacity of Manville Canada Inc does Promising technique Another advantage is that this process ensures a greater stability of the pallets by diminishing the height of the load for the same weight it also it not for the moment possipobssilblee to consider wide scale marketing of the of high density blocks fibre the techni- que is still the one for the future because of the solutions it offers for environmental problems 6 Home renovation and asbestos Although principally used in Industrial and commercial building asbestos is also a choice material for home renovation Actual proof at this can now be seen in the asbestos region itsell thanks to the work done on two Black Lake homes by the architectural firm of Caouette and Vachon whose services were retained in 1979 by LAQ Before carrying out these repair and renovation projects the architects were also entrusted with the task of researching the use of asbestos construction materials in order to promote their use in home building and to emphasize their numerous qualities After several months of research and of visiting the manufacturers of asbestos products by Eternit of Belgium were finally selected for the wall and roof coverings The materials Rectangular sheets of slate measur- ing x30 were selected to cover a double pitch root Of mineral origin the slate is a compressed material made of artificial Portland cement and rein- forced with uniformly distributed fibres is composition ensures that the roofing material is fireproof watertight and resistant to all chemical and atmospheric agents including hall snow and corrosive smoke and gases Top photo a Black Lake house before renova llon bottom photo the the same same same house house nitex typo asbestos panels renovated renovated renovated renovated renovated with with Gra- Gra- Finally asbestos slate requires no maintenance and particularly important to the Canadian market is completely resistant to extreme temperatures Different well coverings were selected for each of the homes Bardit and Granitex panels Berdit panels offer all the traditional qualities of asbestoscement combined with the attraction of a product designed in several shades and in a shape which takes into account the esthetic and functional preoccupations of modern architecture The Granitex panels are textured sheets with a rough finish generally available in sand grey or natural shades Betler known on the North American continent than the coloured Bardit panels the textured asbestos sheets have been marketed in North America for years and are mainly used in the exterior finishing of office buildings As they require no heavy framing all these materials can be attached to wooden 7 Home renovation backing as the Black Lake experience has shown A successful experiment Once their work completed the architects expressed satisfaction with this new experiment in the field of home renovation In addition to their elegance and their technical qualities these products although designed in accordance with European standards were adapted to Canadian needs with no trouble at all whether at the level of local materials or labour | It was a first for most of those who participated in the project but accord- ing to the architects all of the work executed by regular skilled regional labour was done in a normal and proper manner resulting in a quality product within a reasonable time period and at an acceptable cost The roof and the wall coverings of that house are attached to wooden backings Top photo After renovation the roof is covered with asbestos slate and wall coverings made with Bardit type panels YBulletin This BULLETIN is published by l'Association des mines d'amiante du Qu^'bec 1130 Sherbrooke Street West Suite 410 Montr^'alH3A 2M8 The Post Office Department in Ottawa has authorized postage | paid in cash and forwarding of the publication by third class mail seme cee, etme rene r js . Canada = Postes Post Canada Postage paid Port paye Bulk third class En nombre = troisi^me classe 264 . Montr^'alP.Q. aN ge Ne OR, ** ** S AVON | 85LIZ 85LIZ ->NVITS AN TAXONX ATIVA VOEZ XO o'd | LNVLINSNO TVINAWNOHTANG TVINAWNOHTANG NVW^ TISVO ANN W I . ~ oe nate ed -