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#1 Posted : 10 September 2003 19:55:00(UTC)
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Posted By Miriam
Can anyone throw light on the kind of hazardous substances that could be found in soot dust from fire damaged metal roofing/ceiling materials (e.g. plaster; polystyrene tiles)?
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#2 Posted : 11 September 2003 13:05:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ian Bruce
Miriam,

Not an expert on soot or other by-products that may be present from a fire, but remember to think about the potential for asbestos containing materials.

Surface coverings such as "Artex" contain asbestos that may have the potential to release air bourne fibres following damage.

I suggest you check any existing asbestos registers or level 2 survey results and include this info into any risk assessments prepared prior to clean up operations.

Just as an aside, if you've had a fire in a premises, think about the buildings structural integrity following the fire - get a structural engineer to give it the once over before letting anyone in to perform any work.
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#3 Posted : 11 September 2003 20:55:00(UTC)
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Posted By Neil Pearson
I would expect this soot dust would be quite hazardous to health, though you will find little data on it. These dust particles have an enormous capacity to adsorb chemicals onto their surfaces. The fires would have produced alot of carcinogenic dioxins, polyaromatic hydrocarbons etc, and these will be present in the soot dust. Quite a cocktail basically. General dust has an exposure limit in EH40, but I would treat this dust with more respect than general dust.
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