2023-06-25 16:00:46
A law approved in April of last year in Spain established that within one year all town halls should have created a census of buildings with asbestos. The theand it is being widely disregarded. The regulations also require that a calendar be reported that plans the gradual removal of asbestos roofing. Any construction prior to 2002 may have asbestos. It was that year when the production, use and sale of asbestos was totally prohibited. Both the census and the calendar, which must be public, should have been sent to the competent health, environmental and labor authorities of the autonomous communities, which they must inspect to verify, respectively, that the debris generated has been removed and sent to an authorized manager.
But the law is still a dead letter. It is estimated that in Catalonia there are still more than four million tons, whose withdrawal would cost more than 100 million euros in investments in Catalonia alone, according to various estimates. In 2030, more than 85% of these illegal construction materials will have exceeded their useful life and will constitute a public, occupational and environmental health problem, as they are highly carcinogenic. The Government of the Generalitat approved a regulatory plan 2021-2023 and the Catalan Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2021-2026. The objective is the removal of asbestos from all Public Buildings before 2028 and of the Union as a whole in 2032.
Economic consequences and fines
The use of satellites has become an effective instrument to make the uralita map of the municipalities, that municipal inventory required by law and which has not yet been completed. Telespazio Iberica, Italian multinational specialized in the treatment of data collected by satellites, warns that the removal of uralite from all roofs will cost millions and promotes remote sensing services that it assures can speed up and make the process cheaper. There are no reliable studies that asbestos remains on roofs in Spain, much more important in rural areas. Sources from the construction sector calculate that the removal of a uralite roof from about 50 square meters can cost between 1,000 and 2,500 euros, according to the zones and particularities of each construction. To this amount must be added at least 900 euros more for the transport of waste. Up to 3,500 euros as a minimum, an important figure for family economies in the case of independent homes. A simple roof can cost around 70 euros per square meter to be added after removing the uralite roof. For example, the replacement of a 2,000-square-meter roof on a school in Madrid (Colegio de Educación Infantil y Primaria (CEIP) Meseta de Orcasitas) cost the City Council more than 435,000 euros, 217 euros per square meter, according to a parliamentary response.
The company Telespazio uses artificial intelligence to detect uralite roofs with photos from space
The technology used by Telespazio is based on the analysis of photographs taken from space. The best images provide a resolution of up to 30 centimeters in superimposed layers (up to eight layers) with frequencies of light collection or precise spectral signature that allow the composition of the roofs to be determined. Abraham Olivares, commercial director of Telespazio, assures that it is possible to offer an accurate asbestos map of any medium-sized population in just two or three weeks and with moderate costs.
L’Hospitalet, more than 3,000 homes with asbestos
Olivares acknowledges that in the case of southern Hospitalet de Llobregatfor example, Telespazio has detected more than 3,000 buildings with asbestos. and in the Orcasitas neighborhood of Madrid, at least 3,750 homes have asbestos on their roofs. The error rate of the algorithm is only 3%. The detection technology used is capable of differentiating the use in a construction of curved ceramic tiles from others with bituminous. It can be more difficult to distinguish between corrugated galvanized sheets and fiber cement plates (asbestos), which are the ones that must be removed. After the analysis of the satellite photographs, it is necessary to undertake field visits to validate the technical observation. Asbestos removal work in homes they are complex. An aqueous solution is generally used to prevent the dispersion of asbestos fibers in the air. Poor handling of the structure could be fatal for workers, who must have specialized training.
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Despite the fact that the municipal elections of this 2023 have slowed down the application of the law even more, it is expected that sooner rather than later the municipalities will see in the control of asbestos a new source of income in the form of fines for properties with asbestos on their rooftops. Perhaps that way the removal of private homes will be accelerated. Renovation companies also see asbestos rehabilitation and removal as a promising income opportunity.
The withdrawal should prioritize the facilities and locations according to their degree of danger and exposure to the most vulnerable population. In any case, the public facilities or locations with the greatest risk must be managed before 2028. In the case of Catalonia, the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC) the preparation of a map of roofs with fiber cement throughout the territory, which is expected to be available at the end of 2023.
Asbestos, the silent poison
Asbestos is a generic term that encompasses six silicate minerals. Due to its fibrous and fire retardant properties, it was used extensively by the construction and industrial sectors, especially between the 1950s and 1990s.
If asbestos-containing materials are disturbed, either through handling or degradation, they release microfibers that can enter the body through the respiratory tract and can remain in the respiratory tract for decades.
This entry into the body can cause lung, larynx and ovarian cancer, and two diseases caused exclusively by asbestos dust: asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma. The first symptoms of asbestosis are evident between 10 and 20 years after exposure to material that contains asbestos, while any kind of cancer derived from this exposure takes between 20 and 40 years to emerge, a fact that makes early detection difficult.
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