Morts Musings

The Dangers of Asbestos and Importance of Awareness Training

October 26th, 2011

Asbestos is a material that was commonly used in building construction in the UK from the 1950s through to the mid 80’s for fire proofing and insulation purposes. It has since been banned due the dangers associated with inhaling its fibres when it becomes airborne. Asbestos is considered to be one of the most dangerous hidden killers as it tragically claims around 4000 lives per year, and the asbestos claim has become a regular part of the compensation lawyers workload. Due to the high risks involved with dealing with this material it is a legal requirement that anyone who comes into contact with it during their work life must receive special training in how to properly deal with it.

The Dangers

When asbestos fibres are inhaled in large quantities you significantly increase your chances of contracting one of four life changing diseases. These consist of mesothelioma (always fatal), lung cancer (almost always fatal), asbestosis (low chance of fatality but often very debilitating) and diffuse pleural thickening (not fatal). These diseases won’t necessarily affect you immediately and will often appear later in life. It is important to note that asbestos that is undisturbed cannot cause you any harm, it is only dangerous when its fibres are broken apart and inhaled.

Who’s at risk?

In general, anyone that is likely to disturb asbestos in their normal everyday work life will be at risk. In particular, this relates to people whose profession deals with the inner workings of any structure that was built before the year 2000. Examples of such professions include plumbers, roofers, joiners, architects, electricians, building surveyors, demolition workers, gas fitters, plasterers, and construction workers.

Asbestos Awareness Training

If you or your employees fall into anyone of the at-risk categories then it vitally important that they receive proper asbestos awareness training from a qualified professional. For those affected asbestos awareness will fall under the rubric of health and safety training. The training itself will teach workers the best procedures in how to avoid the risks associated with asbestos and how to properly protect themselves.

There are additional levels of training that you can receive depending on the work that you intend to carry out. In particular, it falls into two categories, non-licensable and licensed asbestos work training. Non licensable training is directed at workers who may knowingly disturb lower risk asbestos containing materials (drilling holes, laying cables, removing tiles ect.). During these courses you will learn about waste handling procedures, how to make suitable risk assessments, and safe work practices. If you intend to work with high risk asbestos containing materials then you must be a licensed contractor. Your employees will need to have additional training and use the appropriate respiratory protective equipment.

Due to the dangers of asbestos, refresher training should be carried out every year to further ensure your work force is continually following the best practices available.

Posted in Environment, Health, Legal | No Comments »

The science of LNG – Liquefied Natural Gas

October 24th, 2011

We hear a lot about Liquid Natural Gas – so what is it and how is it made. Here, we have a more in depth look at the fossil fuel of our time.

Liquefied gas or LNG is a gas that is made nearly completely from methane and is converted by a scientific process to a liquid form for storage purposes. This process reduces the volume of the gas by 600 times and creates a colourless, odourless and non corrosive liquid. The liquid can then be transported and sold to power companies who use it to supply households with gas and electricity.

This liquefaction process is the one that removes all the external components of the gas such as dust, water, helium, water and heavy hydrocarbons. This purer gas is then condensed into a liquid at as close to atmospheric pressure as possible and is cooled at a very low temperature of -162 degrees Celsius. LNG is typically 90 per cent methane, though does contain small amounts of other gases.

LNG density is roughly 0.41 kg/l to 0.5kg/l. This is compare to water which comes in at 1KG/L. The heat value of the gas is dependent on the source of the gas and there is a variation in the higher and lower heating value. The energy density of LNG is comparable to propane or ethanol and around 60 per cent of diesel and 70 per cent of petrol. The higher the energy density of a fuel the more than can be transported by ship and this has a resulting determination on how much the product costs.

This decrease in the size of the gas makes it much more cost effective to transfer as now it can be fitted in to a smaller area such as a pipe, lorry or if over sea where no pipe exists by a cryogenically frozen sea vessel. When the gas gets to an area it is reheated and turned back into gas in its usable form.

The production of gas happens all over the world, yet it is Qatar and other areas in the Middle East that produce the most LNG. The most important piece of infrastructure to produce the LNG is the plant which needs an LNG train. The largest of these trains is currently in Qatar, with the second largest is in Trinidad and Tobago and the third in Egypt. These plants usually are connected directly to independent plants in the surrounding area. There has been a huge growth of these plants worldwide due to lowering in costs of production in the last few years.

This factor alongside the increasing costs of oil has seen a large rise in the amount of this form of gas production around the world. LNG has also followed those of oil prices since 2003 – a far cry from the buyers market of the 1990s. Receiving terminals for the product currently exist in 18 countries, 18 countries, including India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, the UK, the US, Chile, and the Dominican Republic and there are plans for many more to receive these facilities.

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Ways To Save Money

October 19th, 2011

The generic advice for financial well-being is to earn more than you spend. This advice can seem hard to follow through on sometimes though – so here are a few ideas that might not have occurred to you.

Try to find ways to simply your life. The starting point for this should be your home. Take a look around. Do you have shelves and shelves of books and CDs? How about getting rid of them? If you are a book or a music lover you first reaction to this suggestion will probably be one of horror, but it may not be as crazy as you think.

First of all, it is perfectly possible for you to rip all of your CDs to MP3 on your computer. Do this and sell your collection and you still have your music to listen to. This will also discourage you from the expensive habit of collecting. You can get more music in future by either buying the individual tracks that you want as downloads, or even just listen to streaming services – there are plenty to choose from.

Books are also a medium that may have its day, and you can eliminate books from your shelves without having to compromise on your love of literature. One way is by getting yourself a library card, and checking out whatever reading material you want. Libraries will often order a book in for you if you request it, and if you want to read something again, just borrow it once more.

Books have also gone digital. E-readers cost money, but they are getting cheaper. In the US some models are available subsidised by advertising. As well as sometimes being cheaper to buy than dead-tree books there are many digital books that are available for free. Copyright expires after 75 years, so this means that you can have access to more classics than you could read in a lifetime without charge.

Another thing that is dear to many people’s hearts is motoring. We love our cars, we see them as status symbols and even as extensions of ourselves. Unfortunately this habit is a costly one, and it may be time for an intervention.

Everything about car ownership costs money. Not only that but the amount that it costs goes ever upwards. Insurance premiums, fuel, tax, all of these things continue to become less affordable. Shine your car up nicely, flog to some other chump and pick yourself up a bike. Remember: driving a car makes you fat and burns money, riding a bike is free and burns fat – you can even ditch that costly gym membership.

Hitting the things that you love the most might be tough, but if you put just a small bit of what you are not spending in a savings account each month you will see the reward.

Posted in Finance | No Comments »