ABSTRACT
As technology evolves, new building materials and services systems are integrated into buildings. While, at the time of installation, these may have appeared safe, experience has shown that first impressions can be misleading. Asbestos is a case in point. Exploited for its incombustibility, resistance to chemical attack and other useful properties from around 1900, with time it became evident that exposure to asbestos could cause respiratory disease, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare tumour associated only with exposure to very fine fibre asbestos. However, the diagnosis of such illnesses can take place 15–50 years after the exposure to asbestos, and at the time of exposure the individual affected would have been oblivious to the risk placed on their health (Addison 1990).
