Asbestos is found in more than 3,000 different home building materials used in the years leading up to 1990.
Today, the most common risk of exposure to the mineral is from unsafe practices during demolition and renovation of homes.
WorkSafeBC’s Al Johnson says prevention officers are attending the Northern BC Home and Garden Show in Prince George this weekend, and are educating the public about asbestos and ways to avoid risk of exposure.
“If you are going to put on an addition or you are going to remodel your kitchen, you might have vinyl tile that’s thirty years old and that could contain asbestos. We’re just trying to raise that level of awareness around the province.”
Breathing in the fibers from asbestos aggravates lung tissue, causing them to scar, which leads to cancer.
Something Johnson says most people aren’t even aware of.
“We get a lot of questions from people saying they didn’t know anything about asbestos or that it causes diseases if you breathe it in. Then people start asking what they can do to make sure their family is safe if they plan on renovating.”
In 2016, 85 work-related-deaths, mainly from asbestos exposure decades ago, resulted from occupational disease.
The Home and Garden Show start tomorrow (Friday) and runs until Sunday.