Posted By Fearghal Cunningham
Danny,

Though tis not may be of muchuse - as you say the risk is generally very low. Doll and Peto in their 1985 study for the Health and safety Commission summarised the risk from the 'regulated fibre' size as a life-time death of 1 in 100,000 - however since I only have access to a summarised version am not aware if this was backed up by any actual environment monitoring levels.
Part of the problem in getting the information is it depends where you survey (outside or inside older buildings) - see reports on US public school custodians where asbestos related abnormalities were reported for 28% of 660people surveyed - sorry can't be of more help.

Posted By Danny O'Donnell
Thanks John! It's not my intention to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, but simply present the facts. At the site where I work there are over 200 buildings. We have carried out Type 2 Surveys on most of these to-date, labelled all identified ACMs, have a programme of condition monitoring in place and have made information relating to the location and condition of ACMs widely available on a local intranet. The problem, as you are no doubt aware, is that asbestos is an emotive subject and often provokes a knee-jerk reaction. I now find myself in the position of trying to convince some 'informed' building occupants that the potential of fibre release from linoleum type flooring, which has been identified as containing chrysotile, is very low under normal usage and is something that can be safely managed. Unfortunately, the same individuals are also vaguely familiar with the 'single fibre' theory and mere verbal reassurance is not enough.

Regards,

Danny