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| Asbestos roofs |
Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Wednesday ordered the removal of asbestos roofs from all buildings in the country within three months.
The CS cited health risks and warned of potential prosecutions for non-compliance.
Duale directed the National Environment Management Authority to write to the institutions to dispose of the hazardous fibrous minerals.
Asbestos fibres may cause serious lung diseases, including asbestosis and cancer. Smoking also increases the risk of developing illness from asbestos exposure.
Disease symptoms may take several years to develop following exposure.
Currently, the people most heavily exposed to asbestos are those in the construction sector and most occupational exposures occur during the repair, renovation, removal or maintenance of asbestos.
“We have written to the ministries of Defence, Internal Security, Education and Health to undertake an audit of all the facilities that have asbestos roofing,” Nema Director General Mamo Mamo said.
Asbestos is a group of six fibrous minerals occurring naturally in metamorphic deposits worldwide.
In the 1960s and 1970s, asbestos was a material of choice in the construction industry.
Several facilities including food manufacturing industries and residential homes used asbestos roofing material due to its durability and fire resistance characteristics.
Asbestos fibres are strong and have properties that make them resistant to heat. Many other products contain asbestos.
Most of these materials are used in buildings as roofing, soundproofing, ceilings and tiles; as insulation materials in boilers, steam pipes, water heaters, brake linings, clutch plates, and bonnet lining; and in protective gears as fire-resistant blankets, jackets and gloves.
Canada, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe are major producers. Asbestos used to be mined in Kenya but was stopped.
Nema first developed national guidelines on the safe management and disposal of asbestos in 2011 before they were revised in 2013.
The guidelines were produced through consultative and collective efforts of Nema and lead agencies such as the Ministry of Health, the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services and the then City Council of Nairobi.
The need to safeguard human health and the environment from adverse impacts of asbestos materials necessitates the guidelines.
The guidelines say waste generators must secure the site when removing asbestos to prevent unauthorized persons and to restrict movement. Before removal, the asbestos sheets should be wet.
“If asbestos sheets begin to crack or crumble, wet the cracked or broken areas with a pintsize spray bottle or garden pump sprayer,” part of the guidelines say. It adds that breakage releases asbestos fibres.
Care should be taken not to stand or sit on the asbestos sheets to avoid breakage.
The guidelines say workers removing the asbestos must have the appropriate personal protective equipment which must be removed immediately after work.
Material containing asbestos or contaminated with asbestos must be viewed as hazardous and packaged to keep fibres from getting into the air.
The guidelines say containers used for packaging may be hard or flexible and must be sealed airtight.
The site where asbestos is disposed of should not be near human settlements and will be determined by the Ministry of Health. The transportation vessel should be labelled “Danger – Contains Asbestos Fibres”.
by CYRUS OMBATI