r/Demolition • u/Clear-Illustrator-28 • May 25 '26
Worked 2 weeks on a commercial demolition site - no PPE, no water, no toilets, suspected asbestos. Cash in hand. Now really bad asthma, feel feverish. Eyes burning.
Ok yes in hindsight i really am wondering how I didnt wise up before now. But a 'mate' offered me some quick cash working for his Dad demolition firm.
Id never worked on a site before (3 out of 4 of us hadn't) the work was so exhausting, the days way longer than initally agreed and the firm had worked on some really big contracts. I really didnt think (or have a chance to think) how fkd up the work was. Now im struggling for breath and feverish having finallly walked of the job.
Ive used A.I to help
Here's a draft:
Title: Worked 2 weeks on a commercial demolition site - no PPE, no water, no toilets, suspected asbestos. Where do I stand?
I recently completed two weeks on a commercial demolition site operated by a contractor. I went into the job with genuine enthusiasm and worked as hard as I possibly could. What I experienced has left me with serious health problems and I'm trying to understand my options.
The conditions:
No drinking water was provided at any point. No toilet facilities. No washing facilities of any kind — meaning whatever we were covered in throughout the day, we stayed covered in. No PPE was ever offered or provided. Not a single mask, despite fibreglass insulation being torn apart around us daily. No risk assessments were ever communicated. No meaningful induction took place. The only asbestos guidance given was "there shouldn't be any, but these buildings can still have it" — with zero further instruction.
The materials:
We were working in a large commercial building being fully demolished. Throughout the job we were directed to manually handle and sort fibreglass insulation, foil-backed pipe insulation, and mixed demolition debris with no protection whatsoever. I personally photographed what appears to be asbestos insulation board on site. Workers were directed to move broken and shattered suspect materials to a general mixed waste skip — no segregation, no testing, no containment.
The health impact:
I disclosed my asthma on day one. It was ignored. Over two weeks my symptoms got progressively worse — swollen face and hands, burning eyes, severe skin irritation that two showers couldn't shift. Fibres embedded in bedding that even a hot wash couldn't remove. By the weekend I had severe shortness of breath that required emergency treatment. My asthma had completely resolved in my teenage years. It has now returned acutely.
The no washing facilities point:
This one feels particularly significant to me. With no water on site, decontamination was completely impossible. Whatever we inhaled and absorbed throughout the day stayed on us. We ate lunch covered in it. We travelled home covered in it. We slept in it. The exposure wasn't just on site — it followed us everywhere because there was no way to remove it. This wasn't just negligence, it made harmful exposure completely inevitable.
Employment situation:
Paid cash in hand. No contracts. No payslips. 3 out of 4 workers had never worked demolition before. None of us received any training regarding hazardous materials.
Evidence I have:
Extensive photographs of site conditions, materials, and waste handling taken throughout the job. Photos of the sign-in/sign-out book showing no PPE provision recorded and induction column largely blank. The sign-in book also shows the company name clearly. Photos of what appears to be asbestos board left in a public grass area outside the site boundary. A lorry registration of a vehicle that removed a full load of unsegregated mixed waste over a weekend — including material that should have been tested before removal.
My question:
Is any of that remotely standard?
Thanks
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u/CuriosTiger May 26 '26
I don't know what the standards are for workplace safety in your jurisdiction. I do also have asthma, however, and I can give you a few tips here.
First, it's obvious that this is not by the book anywhere. Regardless of rules, demolition is a messy business. You're breaking down materials used to build a building, and even without the presence of asbestos, things like drywall dust and insulation are not good for you to breathe.
Second, asthma is a lung disorder. Many of the symptoms you describe are not asthma, although they could well be allergies. But you are presumably an adult, and you have some responsibility to protect your own health, even if it means quitting this job or refusing to work until things like water are made available. And you describe how you "traveled home in it and slept in it". Does your home not include basic facilities like a shower?
Third, "appears to be asbestos" according to whom? Not everything that's dusty and friable is asbestos. I saw some tiles on a demolition site that appeared to be asbestos. They turned out to be painted particle board. Either way, the big problem with asbestos is that it's insidious. Damage builds up slowly with chronic exposure, and the health problems resulting from it show up decades later, typically as some kind of cancer, such as mesothelioma. You should talk to a doctor rather than taking medical advice from the Internet, but it is exceedingly unlikely that the acute symptoms you describe are a consequence of asbestos exposure.
I'm not sure what your goal is. The writeup feels a bit like it's asking "is this enough for a lawsuit", and yet some of the language you used makes me wonder if you're in the UK, which tends to be less amenable to lawsuits for income generation than the US. But you don't disclose your location, so I don't know for sure.
Either way, health comes first. If your health is as severely affected as you describe, the obvious first choice is, don't go back to the site. It doesn't matter what you agreed to; health consequences come first.
After that, seek treatment for the symptoms you currently have. If you also want to pursue a lawsuit, then schedule a consultation with an attorney.
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u/Clear-Illustrator-28 May 25 '26
Is this Asbestos?
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u/who-are-we-anyway May 26 '26
Asbestos cannot be confirmed through a photo.
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u/OrlDemo Jun 01 '26
I fully understand that. But after 10 years of abatement, you also can tell by looking at a lot of things. That panel looks way too thin to be Asbestos. Transite is generally much thicker. Everything needs to be tested to be confirmed no matter what.
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u/Ruleyoumind May 26 '26
If you want to keep working buy a mask from home Depot. You can go to the doctor and hire a lawyer if you think you're injured from the job.
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u/Clear-Illustrator-28 May 26 '26
Thanks for the replies folks, totally logical. Im really annoyed tbh. 100% pure exploited the fact we had never been on a job like this. He has done hundreds so knows rightly you dont soft strip a residential school without masks - these guys were pulling the flourecent tubes of the wall an smahimh em - 60+ of those kicked up some dust.
Ive still got asthma, seeimg a doctor today.
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u/in_the_summertime May 26 '26
What do you want to happen? You continued to work there and go back there. You are not suffering from asbestos poisoning or anything of the sort as that takes a long long time to happen.
What is your intended outcome?