Asbestos and mesothelioma..?

[juju_1]

I work at a clinic in a hospital that was built in the 1940s. We had facilities come and install mailboxes outside our offices today, and I was at my desk in the main area when he drilled straight into the walls. When he left, there was a ton of dust and debris on the carpet and in another trash can. I’m now panicking that I’ve been exposed to asbestos because they literally drilled straight in and dust got all over. I’m new and don’t know what to do. I mentioned it to another coworker and she didn’t seem concerned at all but I’m panicking, just thinking about long term exposure from sitting in here 5 days a week and what my life will be in 20 years when I get a rare lung cancer. Could this have really released that much? I’m so confused how people can be so careless and put others health at risk

[venusbluejeans]

If they were drilling into the wall and there was people in the vacinity of it then the walls wouldn't have asbestos in them.

[venusbluejeans]

That and there is only a problem from asbestos if you are constantly exposed to asbestos at a high level

[lofwyr]

Yeah, asbestos issues are from chronic exposure. People who worked with it often don't even get disease from it, even though they were at risk. A bit of dust scattered in an area like that is nothing to be concerned about.

Additionally, there is very little chance the walls of any modern hospital haven't been rebuilt in the last 70 or 80 years.

[AMomentofClarity]

That’s like assuming because you smoked 1 cigarette you’re going to get lung cancer, or one beer, liver disease. It’s the chronic, frequent exposure that that does it.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I reckon a facilities team at a hospital clinic would have to be very on the ball about asbestos removal given you have lots of patients with potentially compromised systems and respiratory problems?

[Cuckoo8]

Even if you’d inhaled asbestos, your risk of developing mesothelioma as a result would be low. Even amongst asbestos workers (who were exposed to huge quantities of fibers), the incidence is low (I think it was less than 1%), although of course much higher than in the general population.

However, you or someone with the responsibility should call for a janitor to have the dust cleaned off properly. If the dust is vacuumed using a machine with a HEPA filter and then the remnants are wiped with a wet mop, it’ll be safe, even if there’s asbestos (which there most likely isn’t).