VINYL ASBESTOS TILE

Vinyl asbestos tile contains up to 30 percent asbestos and becomes a health hazard during renovation work

The dirt on vinyl asbestos floor tile.

July 14, 2010 – Congress passed the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) in 1986 to protect construction workers, building maintenance employees, and vinyl asbestos floor tile workers from occupational asbestos exposure.

Removal or renovation of asbestos-containing building products (like vinyl asbestos tile, a product commonly used up until the 1980s), is a work activity regulated under AHERA, especially when the material being removed is, what is described as, friable asbestos material.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversees enforcement of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act.

According to the EPA’s definition, “friable” means the material, when dry, may be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand pressure. It can also include previous non-friable material if during removal or renovation work it can become damaged to such an extent that it may be too crumble or be reduced to powder when dry.

Occupational asbestos exposure, which kills thousands of U.S. workers every year, occurs when work-site employees accidentally inhale airborne asbestos fibers that dislodge from friable asbestos-tainted products.

Dangers of removing vinyl asbestos tile

Vinyl asbestos floor tile imbedded in older buildings contains up to 30 percent asbestos – a toxic material and a health hazard that is exacerbated by the presence of asbestos-based tile adhesives, more often than not found in friable condition decades after tile installation.

Maintenance workers who regularly sand or polish aging vinyl asbestos tile floors (in public school buildings, for example), or construction workers who regularly remove vinyl asbestos tiles during renovation projects, risk contracting fatal asbestos-related diseases.

Before AHERA rules were enacted, linoleum and floor tile installers were uninformed of the serious health threat they faced at work – often going about their business without warnings from the employment contractors who hired them or the vinyl asbestos tile manufacturers who produced the products.

Respirators, and even cheap paper filter masks, were rarely if ever provided. That’s omission is dangerous because microscopic asbestos fibers can dislodge from the frayed ends of floor tile products, become airborne and inadvertently inhaled by unsuspecting tradesmen.

Champion to the American worker

If you worked with vinyl asbestos floor tile in the past (or any asbestos-containing products), and you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may be eligible for financial restitution.

The New York law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg specializes in asbestos-injury litigation and is known in the legal community for obtaining record-setting compensations for retired workers who have fallen ill from on-the-job asbestos exposure.

Protect your family’s financial future today. Use the communication form here to contact an asbestos lawyer at Weitz & Luxenberg for a free appraisal of your asbestos claim and to determine your eligibility to receive compensation.