A COLLECTIVE of asbestos awareness groups is urging D.I.Y types and keen or aspiring renovators to make sure they know as much as possible about safe home handiwork.
This month is Asbestos Awareness Month and three of the nation's leading Asbestos awareness bodies are urging homeowners, tradespeople and renovators to check out a new online database.
The database provides information which helps people to identify asbestos containing materials so they can be managed safely.
Asbestos was widely used from the mid 1940s to mid 1980s and any Australian home built or renovated before 1987 is likely to incorporate products and materials containing it.
When damaged, disturbed, neglected or dismantled, asbestos products release fibres that can cause asbestos related diseases if inhaled in significant quantities.
Asbestos related illnesses including malignant mesothelioma generally occur 20-40 years after exposure.
The average post diagnosis life expectancy for a person with malignant mesothelioma is just 10-12 months.
Asbestos containing products are still found in one in three brick, weatherboard, fibro or clad Australian homes built or renovated prior to 1987.
Asbestos Awareness Month is an initiative of the Asbestos Education Committee working in partnership with the Asbestos Diseases Research Institute and supported by the Heads of Asbestos Coordination Authorities.
The campaign has been internationally recognised as a world leading awareness campaign in academic journals.
