Brexit, for once some facts.

[Nev]

testing the resistance of the floor in an operating theatre.

I should have added, theatre floors are made to a certain specification when it comes to their resistance. Its nearly 40 years since I last tested one so I cant remember the exact specification. We used to test the floors with an insulation resistance tester, the readings had to be above a certain value but below another one. Sort of an anti static floor if you like.

The reason is obvious, you don't want the surgeon getting a static shock just as he is poking about in your internals also a spark and some of the gasses in a theatre might not go to well together.

The idea of the floor resistance being between the two specified values was that you wanted the resistance high enough that any build up of charge would not discharge too quickly as that could be dangerous see previous paragraph. You also did not want the resistance so high that any charge build up would not be able to leak away.

 

[oyster]

I should have added, theatre floors are made to a certain specification when it comes to their resistance. Its nearly 40 years since I last tested one so I cant remember the exact specification. We used to test the floors with an insulation resistance tester, the readings had to be above a certain value but below another one. Sort of an anti static floor if you like.

The reason is obvious, you don't want the surgeon getting a static shock just as he is poking about in your internals also a spark and some of the gasses in a theatre might not go to well together.

The idea of the floor resistance being between the two specified values was that you wanted the resistance high enough that any build up of charge would not discharge too quickly as that could be dangerous see previous paragraph. You also did not want the resistance so high that any charge build up would not be able to leak away.

And theatre staff have footwear which is also somewhat conductive. Typically, from memory, carbon loaded rubber soles.

 

[RossG]

And theatre staff have footwear which is also somewhat conductive. Typically, from memory, carbon loaded rubber soles.

Hence the saying 'working here drives you up the wall'

 

[RossG]

WE used every available grade, including wool, powder, rope, pad and moulded forms, as to the colour, it never occurred to us to ask.
It was all harmless, or so we were told

I think I'm right in saying the blue asbestos (not actually blue in colour) is the really dangerous stuff, it's sort of fluffy and breaks up easily. I believe that was used a lot on ships esp in the engine room around hot pipes.

The slightly less lethal type was usually grey in colour, you'll remember the old prefabs built after the war made of the stuff. Lived in one, well two actually for years very warm places and in many ways ahead of their time.
I recall they had fireplaces where you could stoke up a good blaze (well you could hardly burn the place down could you) and built in the wall behind the fire grate was a water tank. In the winter the water in the tank would boil you could hear it sometimes, free scolding hot water. You had to be careful though there was no sort of control as to steam pressure, my dad had to go and run the taps every now and again in case the place blew sky high.

Those prefabs even had built in fridges that were gas powered amazingly, they had one setting...cold ! Ice would form on the inside regardless and you would have to make sure the little pilot light stayed on.
There was also some form of central heating I believe, I seem to remember ducting up by the ceiling with an adjustable grating in every room. For it's time they were all very advanced, then they eventually pulled them down and replaced them with freezing cold council houses.

 

[flecc]

I think I'm right in saying the blue asbestos (not actually blue in colour) is the really dangerous stuff, it's sort of fluffy and breaks up easily. I believe that was used a lot on ships esp in the engine room around hot pipes.

That's correct, the type of soft asbestos moulded around pipes or anything else needing insulation. There's lots of it on central heating pipes in large buildings. It's safe all the time it's covered with paint or any other intact coating, but dangerous once that gets broken.
.

 

[oyster]

There is more to this tale: the Guys who worked on the Boiler Making half of the Factory thought the Guys who worked in the pottery half had a cushy job, as instead of being universally covered in black sand and filthy soot , they worked in a warm environment wearing short sleeved white natches that looked like nurses uniforms, we only found out later that they died like flies from silicosis caused by the white dust when they opened the plaster of paris moulds and fettled the unfired toilets pans and washbasins they were making, and worst off of all where the guys in the cast iron bath plant that applied the glaze as a powdered frit to red hot bath castings, apart from the heat, the frit contained lead and antimony, many died of cancer.

That would appear to imply that many baths have lead and antimony on them! Which could, in some circumstances, release into the water?

 

[oldgroaner]

That's correct, the type of soft asbestos moulded around pipes or anything else needing insulation. There's lots of it on central heating pipes in large buildings. It's safe all the time it's covered with paint or any other intact coating, but dangerous once that gets broken.
.

We used it around grooves in the faces of boiler sections as it could be glued into place till they were assembled

 

[oldgroaner]

I think I'm right in saying the blue asbestos (not actually blue in colour) is the really dangerous stuff, it's sort of fluffy and breaks up easily. I believe that was used a lot on ships esp in the engine room around hot pipes.

The slightly less lethal type was usually grey in colour, you'll remember the old prefabs built after the war made of the stuff. Lived in one, well two actually for years very warm places and in many ways ahead of their time.
I recall they had fireplaces where you could stoke up a good blaze (well you could hardly burn the place down could you) and built in the wall behind the fire grate was a water tank. In the winter the water in the tank would boil you could hear it sometimes, free scolding hot water. You had to be careful though there was no sort of control as to steam pressure, my dad had to go and run the taps every now and again in case the place blew sky high.

Those prefabs even had built in fridges that were gas powered amazingly, they had one setting...cold ! Ice would form on the inside regardless and you would have to make sure the little pilot light stayed on.
There was also some form of central heating I believe, I seem to remember ducting up by the ceiling with an adjustable grating in every room. For it's time they were all very advanced, then they eventually pulled them down and replaced them with freezing cold council houses.

We used "The Fluffy stuff" made into a thick putty with water plus a water based adhesive to fill gaps on the boilers with the front platework once heated the thick putty turned rock hard.
When the government banned the use of Asbestos we used a Fire cement, here is a modern equivalent "Vitcas Fire cement" as I recall it could badly damage your hands!

 

[Wicky]

I think I'm right in saying the blue asbestos (not actually blue in colour) is the really dangerous stuff, it's sort of fluffy and breaks up easily. I believe that was used a lot on ships esp in the engine room around hot pipes.

The slightly less lethal type was usually grey in colour, you'll remember the old prefabs built after the war made of the stuff. Lived in one, well two actually for years very warm places and in many ways ahead of their time.
I recall they had fireplaces where you could stoke up a good blaze (well you could hardly burn the place down could you) and built in the wall behind the fire grate was a water tank. In the winter the water in the tank would boil you could hear it sometimes, free scolding hot water. You had to be careful though there was no sort of control as to steam pressure, my dad had to go and run the taps every now and again in case the place blew sky high.

Those prefabs even had built in fridges that were gas powered amazingly, they had one setting...cold ! Ice would form on the inside regardless and you would have to make sure the little pilot light stayed on.
There was also some form of central heating I believe, I seem to remember ducting up by the ceiling with an adjustable grating in every room. For it's time they were all very advanced, then they eventually pulled them down and replaced them with freezing cold council houses.

I pulled my old asbestos tank from the airing cupboard and got a £££ quote from the council for disposal - it's now a big asparagus pot in my garden.

Local schools built in the 50 and 60s are jammed full of asbestos, too much trouble / cost again to remove. Also a boat building firm on a riverside industrial site I did some website work for burnt down and that had an asbestos roof which floated away in the blaze all over downwind residential areas. The insurers hasd to fork out a pretty sum to clean up what was left of the premises.

 

[RossG]

I remember a factory burning down here in town many years ago. Rubberneckers gathered around watching the action unfold only to be told to beat it quick as the air was full of asbestos from the roof.

 

[oyster]

I pulled my old asbestos tank from the airing cupboard and got a £££ quote from the council for disposal - it's now a big asparagus pot in my garden.

Local schools built in the 50 and 60s are jammed full of asbestos, too much trouble / cost again to remove. Also a boat building firm on a riverside industrial site I did some website work for burnt down and that had an asbestos roof which floated away in the blaze all over downwind residential areas. The insurers hasd to fork out a pretty sum to clean up what was left of the premises.

Last house had Artex - which used to be made with asbestos. And an asbestos cement boiler flue. And asbestos bits remaining from the original ducted warm air heating. And quite possibly asbestos loaded floor tiles.

Thankfully, whilst we answered all questions honestly, the purchasers still went ahead. Phew!

This was after having had asbestos floor tile issues in my mother's house - which had to be taken up and replaced after a flood destroyed her carpet... That too caused (minor) problems when selling her house.

There must be quite some asbestos mountain, somewhere.

 

[RossG]

I was going to mention asbestos in tiles. I have an elderly friend who had tiles replaced in her hallway and she said they had their work cut out because of asbestos, I couldn't understand what she was on about...now I know.

 

[oyster]

I was going to mention asbestos in tiles. I have an elderly friend who had tiles replaced in her hallway and she said they had their work cut out because of asbestos, I couldn't understand what she was on about...now I know.

Some of the hard plastic tiles, very typically used as original on concrete floors when built, were loaded with asbestos. Safe until broken. Even then, only low risk. But, once found and identified, they needed to be taken up and it was hard finding someone to do that.

 

[oldgroaner]

That would appear to imply that many baths have lead and antimony on them! Which could, in some circumstances, release into the water?

The Glaze was mature in fact a fused Glass and many from the 1940's and 1950's are still giving service.
I doubt that they would leach as they are so tough!
From the early 1960's the glaze was changed to being purely glass based, which is why the later baths had much shorter lives before the glaze started to degrade and rust spots show, which the old ones do not even those still in service, in other words they are inferior performance wise to the earlier glazes.

 

[oldgroaner]

Some of the hard plastic tiles, very typically used as original on concrete floors when built, were loaded with asbestos. Safe until broken. Even then, only low risk. But, once found and identified, they needed to be taken up and it was hard finding someone to do that.

A company makes a good living on the Corporation estates in Hull with a mobile asbestos removal trailer

 

[oldgroaner]

Last house had Artex - which used to be made with asbestos. And an asbestos cement boiler flue. And asbestos bits remaining from the original ducted warm air heating. And quite possibly asbestos loaded floor tiles.

Thankfully, whilst we answered all questions honestly, the purchasers still went ahead. Phew!

This was after having had asbestos floor tile issues in my mother's house - which had to be taken up and replaced after a flood destroyed her carpet... That too caused (minor) problems when selling her house.

There must be quite some asbestos mountain, somewhere.

One of the major suppliers was a company called ARCO
"Asbestos and Rubber Co" headquarters in Hull

 

[oldgroaner]

The Grinning skull put this is the Telegraph
"
Public opinion, not scientific advice, is what is keeping us in lockdown

• DANIEL HANNAN

After his party caused tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths thus creating that public opinion, it's more important to Hannan to start making profits than killing thousands more, which is what is worrying public opinion!

And there is of course a sort of Karma in that a party that came to power and achieved the referendum swindle by employing fear now finds fear is working against them

 

[oyster]

The Glaze was mature in fact a fused Glass and many from the 1940's and 1950's are still giving service.
I doubt that they would leach as they are so tough!
From the early 1960's the glaze was changed to being purely glass based, which is why the later baths had much shorter lives before the glaze started to degrade and rust spots show, which the old ones do not even those still in service, in other words they are inferior performance wise to the earlier glazes.

Keeps amazing me how good some products were - even if they had lots of H&S issues. How did they come up with such a glaze in the first place?

Quite a lot of older baths (probably a small percentage but still quite a number) have been refurbed. Typically this seems to consist of sanding down followed by applying an epoxy layer. I was well aware that any dust needs a mask but not that it might contain lead an antimony. (I never did it myself - we replaced our bath which was a more recent one with an unplasantly etched surface.)

 

[oyster]

The Chinese government has produced this little video.

In the animation posted online by China’s official Xinhua news agency, red curtains open to reveal a stage featuring Lego-like figures in the form of a terracotta warrior wearing a face mask and the Statue of Liberty.

 

[oyster]

Am I not a hero for surviving? No, actually. There are probably relatively few who for whom getting covid-19 was very arguably due to failure to abide by advice. (Except where that advice was "wear PPE" or similar and impossible due to lack of PPE.)

Boris Johnson’s doctors had plan to announce his death. Boris Johnson has revealed that doctors prepared to announce his death as he spent three nights in intensive care last month. Britain’s PM told the Sun on Sunday: “They had a strategy to deal with a ‘death of Stalin’-type scenario. The doctors had all sorts of arrangements for what to do if things went badly wrong.” Johnson, 55, said: “The bad moment came when it was 50-50 whether they were going to have to put a tube down my windpipe. That was when it got a bit ... they were starting to think about how to handle it presentationally.”