Fibre counting down under

Hey guys,

So fibre counting for asbestos air monitoring is pretty much the same here as it is in the U.S. except for a few big differences.

Slide preparation is a bit different. Instead of a quarter of a filter, they use 1/2 of a filter. They still use acetone and triacitin. I have also learned how to prepare my own cassettes. We reuse all the cassettes here, which is rather annoying and hardly as error free as using new ones, but apparently they don't manafacture them here so they have to ship them in which is really costly. Also since they onoly use low flow pumps and keep them a fair bit back from any containment, I haven't seen more than 5 fibers in a whole slide....its crazy! but then again the volumes are really low since most of the consultants will only run the pumps at around 1.2 lpm, which again isn't going to really capture anything.

They also have some wierd field sheets for the counting, they do it the old fashion way, ticking off boxes. We don't even get to use the clickers!

Another fun aspect of it all is the microscope. It's huge for one, and I've had to lug it onto a plane more than once, which is realllllly fun. The thing is slowly breaking apart since it isnt a travel microscope and they have no microscope boxes. We've had to use a cardboard box with packing penunts and bubble wrap. It got so bad that i went out and bought a big toolbox on wheels that fits the micrscope and lined it with foam so it doesnt break any more than it already has.

Anyway that was a bit of Aussie frustration I was venting.

I hope things are going well over there!

Some of the differences

Above- Asbestos cement sheeting - eaves lining. No stucco....they don't even really use that here.


Above - asbestos concrete sheets hiding some piping.

Alright so there are a wide variety or differences in the asbestos containing materials that are sampled in Australia as compared to what we do in California. Here are some of the differences I've noticed so far.

California Australia
Drywall & J.C. -sampled Drywall ( they call it gyp rock) - not sampled, no ACM
Popcorn ceiling - high ACM Vermiculite (popcorn ceiling) - sampled but never is ACM
Fiberous concrete board - huh? Fiberous concrete board - a lot of ACM here


The fiberous concrete board is called a lot of time over here A/C sheeting. (Asbestos concrete sheeting). I had never even really seen it in the U.S. but it is EVERYWHERE over here. They use it for wall partitions, eaves lining, ceiling lining, roofing......everything. Here are a few pictures