US EPA

6888524 

Journal Article 

Chrystile asbestos cement and the Grenfell Tower fire 

Hoskins, JA; , 

2018 

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE 

SAN DIEGO 

171-171 

29649497 

10.1016/j.taap.2018.04.003 

WOS:000454675100028 

On 14 June 2017, a fire broke out at Grenfell Tower: a residential block in North Kensington, London, UK. Soon the whole tower was ablaze and it took firefighters over 24 h to get the fire under control. Some 71 people were confirmed or presumed dead and around 70 injured. Among the many reasons given for the blaze none discuss why a Tower Block, constructed in 1974, from materials whose fire safety had been checked was recently refurbished with materials considered by many to be flammable.The frame of the tower had curtain walls, originally finished with 6 infill panels constructed from 4 glass windows and two 3 ply composite panels constructed with chrysotile cement. These panels had been fire tested and all passed the stringent 1 h fire requirements for insulation and spread of flame. They were used on many high rise buildings throughout the UK.Additional fire safety in the block was provided by AIB lined fire doors. After the UK/EU ban on chrysotile in 1999 the Labour Government enforced the removal of all such panels and the fire doors claiming they were a threat to life from the asbestos they contained.The tower was refurbished in 2015-2016 when the AIB fire doors were replaced by timber doors and the asbestos cement panels were replaced with a new cladding. This was almost certainly the cause of the fire. Had the original asbestos cement panels remained in place the disastrous fire could not have developed. 

Monticello Conference on Elongate Mineral Particles (EMP) 

Charlottesville, VA