Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

A company based in Birmingham, England has developed a new electronic sensor that would notify users of the presence of friable asbestos (asbestos that is likely to become airborne and cause a health hazard).  The film, created by Datatecnics, sounds an alarm when materials containing asbestos, such as wallboard or ceiling tiles, has been compromised. 

Asbestos is a natural material that was added to thousands of products and construction materials because it lent strength and fire resistance to them.  However, exposure to asbestos can cause lethal diseases such as mesothelioma, an incurable cancer, if inhaled or ingested.   Even small amounts of asbestos can be lethal as it only takes one microscopic fiber to become lodged in the lining of the internal organs to cause mesothelioma decades later. 

The company, run by CEO Mohammed Zulfiquar, saw a need for such a device because of the heavy saturation of asbestos in public buildings, especially schools, in the United Kingdom.  Zulfiquar said that “the Government estimated that 70% of UK schools contain [asbestos] and the guidance from the Health and Safety Executive is to manage most of it, not remove it."

America faces a similar situation with thousands of its schools and public buildings having been constructed before asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) were banned.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has espoused a similar management strategy as well, advocating the monitoring rather than the removal of the hazardous material. 

"You paper the wall,” said Zulfiquar when explaining how the sensor works.  “And have just two wires connected to a control; something like an alarm."  That alarm would then draw attention to any section of the material that had been damaged enough to let asbestos potentially leak out and contaminate the air.

To better illustrate how the device works, Zulfiquar’s first prototype was simply aluminum foil attached to a piece of paper.  When the paper ripped, so did the foil, setting off the alarm.

 Zulfiquar was reluctant to share too many specific details about his invention (created during a brainstorming session three years ago) until it was patented but noted that even if the detector track (the part of the device containing the electric leads) is not disturbed, the resulting crumbling of the surface will trigger the alarm. 

The latest version of the film is PET plastic printed with semiconducting ink.  The film also acts as an emergency stop-gap device as well.  It is self-adhesive, thereby trapping any fibers released by an initial breach of the material.

The best part of the film is that it’s completely scalable and can be used in private residences as well as large industrial settings.

While the device is not yet ready for the consumer market, seeing the innovative approach to a growing problem (asbestos contamination) is heartening.  Perhaps, one day, such a film will be commonplace and the risk of accidental asbestos exposure, and resulting mesothelioma diagnoses, can be cut in half.