Asbestos at Work

AC Sheet		See Cement Sheet
Adhesives		Industrial adhesives commonly contained asbestos, usually chrysotile.
Air conditioning duct insulation		Internal sections of duct work may be internally insulated within fire rated asbestos board.
Air conditioning gussets		Made from woven chrysotile.
Aprons		Made from woven chrysotile.
Arc shields		Found on electrical switchboards. Made from moulded asbestos cement sheet. Also known as flash boards.
Automotive body underseal		Bituminous sealants often contained asbestos. Usually chrysotile.
Battery boxes		Battery boxes in older cars comprised of pitch, rubber and crocidolite.
Bituminous membranes		Used as water proofing on rooftops and floors. Usually contains chrysotile, but sometimes amosite or crocidolite.
Blackboards		Blackboards made from painted asbestos cement sheet.
Blankets		Made from woven chrysotile or crocidolite, often containing internal loose fill asbestos insulation. Used for thermal insulation/protection of steam pipe valves/flanges and as fire insulation in penetrations.
Boiler insulation		Large industrial boilers often containing sprayed asbestos insulation beneath outer metal cladding and as insulation on associated duct work. Smaller commercial boilers insulated with asbestos blocks or composite materials applied to the outer surface of the boiler and clad with calico or metal sheeting. Various other asbestos products associated with boilers including seals, gaskets, fire rated board etc.
Bracket insulation		Sprayed asbestos applied to structural building brackets to provide fire insulation.
Braid		Made from woven chrysotile.
Brake and clutch linings		Resin impregnated asbestos braid used on all vehicles, lifts, industrial lifting equipment etc.
Cable sheaths		Woven chrysotile sheath around electrical cables.
Calorifier insulation		Provides thermal insulation to hot water calorifiers. Insulation generally contains amosite (brown asbestos), with an external cladding of calico or metal.
Cement sheet		Asbestos cement sheet (also known as fibrocement or AC sheet) may contain chrysotile, amosite and/or crocidolite. Use of crocidolite ceased in the late 1960's. Later cement sheet products contained only chrysotile until its use ceased in the early to mid 1980's. Most commonly found as flat or corrugated sheeting, available profiles included shadowline, highline, coverline, ribline and striated. Wide range of applications including: eaves, roofing sheets, roof shingles, external and internal wall cladding, ceilings, underlay, guttering, downpipes, conduits, flues, water pipes, fences, ceramic tile backing, fish ponds, planter boxes, pots, phone box tops, switchboard linings, fire place linings, shower recesses, arc chutes, arc shields, underground pits.
Cinema screens		Made from woven chrysotile.
Cooling towers		Outer cladding and internal filler from asbestos cement sheet or internal plastic filler containing asbestos.
Curtains		Made from woven chrysotile.
Door seals		Seals of doors on ovens, fire proof cabinets, furnaces, boilers etc made from chrysotile.
Durabestos & Durawall		Asbestos cement sheet products manufactured in Australia by Wunderlich.
Electrical appliances		Insulations of various appliances including irons, hair dryers, TV sets, projectors. toasters etc.
Electrical conduits		Moulded asbestos cement sheet.
Exhaust pipe insulation		Exhaust pipes from engines such as generators found within buildings were often insulated within asbestos, similar to that found on hot water and steam pipes.
Fake brick cladding		See cement sheet. Fake bricks attached to asbestos cement sheet backing. Used for external cladding of houses.
Fibrocement		See cement sheet.
Fibrolite		Asbestos cement sheet manufactured by James Hardie in Australia.
Filter materials		Used in both powdered form and as a filter paper, asbestos was utilised in the beverage and food manufacturing industries for product filtering, within gas masks and in HEPA filters.
Fire blankets		Made from woven chrysotile.
Fire curtains		Made from woven chrysotile, used for fire protection in theatres between the stage and seating area.
Fire door insulation		Made from woven chrysotile, used for fire protection in theatres between the stage and seating area.
Fire rated board		Medium density asbestos board with a variety of uses including fire door insulation, fire walls, fume cupboard lining etc.
Fire stop insulation		Either a woven asbestos bag containing loose fill asbestos insulation or a composite asbestos mix, used to fire proof penetrations.
Fishponds		Constructed from moulded asbestos cement sheet.
Flowerpots		Constructed from moulded asbestos cement sheet.
Flues		Asbestos cement flues on heaters, hot water services, sanitary napkin incinerettes.
Fume cupboards		Walls, benchtop and/or baffle plates made from asbestos cement sheet or fire rated board.
Fume cupboards		Walls, benchtop and/or baffle plates made from asbestos cement sheet or fire rated board.
Fuse blankets		Small pieces of woven asbestos braid used to stop arcing in high voltage ceramic fuse blocks.
Furnace insulation		Internal walls of industrial furnaces lined with fire rated asbestos board.
Galbestos		Galvanised iron sheets with a coating of chrysotile on each side, covered by a coating of paint or bitumen. Available in flat, corrugated and other profiles. Manufactured from the 1950's through to the 1970's.
Gaskets		Gaskets for flanges commonly contain chrysotile.
Gauss mats		Asbestos impregnated wire mats used in laboratory applications.
Gloves		Made from woven chrysotile.
Hats		Made from woven chrysotile.
Heat banks		Asbestos containing insulation blocks or millboard used in some brands of both domestic and commercial electric heat banks up until the early 1980's. Brand names included Potteron, Auto-hot and Kleenheat.
Ironing board covers		Made from woven asbestos.
Laboratory benchtops		Made from compressed asbestos cement sheet.
Laboratory mats		Commonly found in school laboratories under Bunsen burners. Made from asbestos cement sheet or fire rated asbestos board.
Laminates		Containing a thin layer of asbestos paper beneath the outer decorative coating. Used extensively in ship building and in high temperature applications.
Lift doors		Internal core often containing asbestos insulation.
Light fittings		Light fittings may contain asbestos cable sheathing or millboard seals.
Limpet		"Limpet" asbestos is a trade name used by J.W. Roberts Limited to market sprayed asbestos insulation. The "Limpet" process included sprayed amosite, chrysotile and crocidolite.
Limpet board		Perforated "peg board" containing asbestos. Main application was to cover sprayed limpet asbestos, although was also used to cover synthetic mineral fibre insulation batts or blankets to provide a fire rating.
Marinite		A fire rated asbestos board used in ship building.
Mattresses		Made from woven chrysotile cloth, often with internal loose asbestos fill. Used to cover pipe flanges, diesel power generator exhaust pipes etc.
Millboard		A soft asbestos containing cardboard like material. Normally containing chrysotile, but occasionally contains amosite and crocidolite. Many uses as a thermal and electrical insulator.
Monocote		Sprayed asbestos insulation containing a small percentage of chrysotile.
Mortar		Asbestos often added to mortar.
Oven insulation		Internal lining of fire rated board and woven asbestos seals.
Packing materials		Asbestos packing within valves and stopcocks. Usually chrysotile.
Paints		Asbestos packing within valves and stopcocks. Usually chrysotile.
Pipe insulation		Provide thermal insulation to steam and hot water pipes. The most commonly encountered insulation installed as preformed sections containing amosite (brown asbestos), with an external cladding of calico or metal sheathing. Small diameter pipes may also be insulated by wrapping strips of flexible asbestos containing board.
Pipes		Asbestos cement pipes used for fresh water supply, stormwater and sewerage systems.
Plaster cornice adhesive		Mostly contained chrysotile, but sometimes amosite.
Plastics		Asbestos was incorporated as a filler material in many common plastic polymers such as PVC, polypropylene and nylon.
Proximity suits		Woven chrysotile full body suits used by fire fighters. The more modern suits are internally lines with non-asbestos fabric, with the external surface sealed with an aluminium coating to assist in reflection heat.
Re-heat box insulation		Fire rated asbestos board within re-heat boxes of air conditioning systems.
Render		Asbestos often added to cement based renders.
Roadway pits		Constructed of moulded asbestos cement.
Rope		Generally made from chrysotile, but sometimes crocidolite. May also contain amosite.
Screeds		Floor leveling screeds often contained asbestos.
Shadowline		Moulded asbestos cement sheeting.
Shotgun shell wads		Packed with white asbestos.
Silbestos		Sprayed asbestos insulation utilising crocidolite from the Wittenoom mine.
Socks		Made from woven chrysotile. Reported to cure corns and bunions.
Spackle		Asbestos present mainly in the top-coat.
Sprayed insulation		Sprayed asbestos insulation was used for fire protection, thermal insulation, condensation control and acoustic insulation. Various trade names for sprayed asbestos insulation included Limpet (amosite, chrysotile or crocidolite), Asbestospray, Cafco, Silbestos (crocidolite) and Monokote (chrysotile).
Steriliser insulation		Asbestos blocks or composite materials applied to the outer surface of the steriliser unit and clad with calico or metal sheeting.
String		Composed of chrysotile or crocidolite. Applications include windings on welding electrodes and thread for sewing together various asbestos textile products.
Steam engine insulation		Boiler units of steam locomotives insulated with asbestos blankets and various asbestos products.
Super Six		Corrugated asbestos cement sheet. Manufactured by Hardies.
Switchboards		Older black electrical switchboards manufactured from coal tar pitch and asbestos (usually chrysotile). Brand names include "zelemite" and "miscolite".
Talc		Asbestos (usually tremolite or anthophyllite) can be found as a natural contaminant in talc.
Tasbestos		Asbestos cement sheet manufactured by Goliath Portland Cement Co. in Australia.
Telecommunications pits		Underground pits made from moulded asbestos cement sheet.
Telephone boxes		The dome top on the old red phone boxes was made from moulded asbestos cement sheet.
Textiles		Various products made from woven chrysotile or crocidolite.
Tilux		Laminated flat asbestos cement sheet with various decorative pattern designs. General used in wet areas such as shower recesses, bathrooms and kitchens.
Underlay		Asbestos millboard or cement sheet used as underlay to vinyl flooring and cement sheet used as underlay to ceramic floor tiles.
Vermiculite		Asbestos (usually tremolite) can be found as a natural contaminant in vermiculite.
Vinyl floor tiles		Chrysotile asbestos used in vinyl tiles until about 1985. Older tiles contained up to 28% asbestos, while the tiles manufactured in the 1980's contained 8% asbestos.
Vinyl floor sheeting		Asbestos millboard/paper sheeting used as backing to upper layer of non asbestos vinyl sheeting.
Weatherboards		Woodgrain textured asbestos cement sheet weatherboards.
Welding blankets		Made from woven chrysotile.
Welding rods		Welding rods were wrapped with asbestos string. Chrysotile and/or crocidolite.
White asbestos		See chrysotile.
Window seals		White asbestos braid used as seals within window frames. Usually associated with asbestos cement sheet clad roofs (e.g. skylights associated with sawtooth roofs).
Zelemite		See switchboards.

Asbestos at Work

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