Plasterboard also known as drywall is a board used in large sheets as a backing or as a substitute for plaster in walls and consisting of several piles of paper, fiberboard, or felt, usually bonded to a hardened gypsum plaster core.
If your home or work site was built from the 1950s through the 1980s, there is a very strong likelihood that asbestos is in the drywall. It was added to drywall to make it more noise absorbent, improve fire resistant capabilities and to make the drywall stronger. Even once it was no longer in common usage for new home and commercial construction, the drywall already in place was still there and still contains the toxic fiber.
Occupational guidelines and laws are now in place to avoid asbestos, but unfortunately exposure still occurs. Here are five tips to help you avoid exposure shared by nmshealth.com.