Asbestos is not a single substance but a group of six naturally occurring silicate minerals that split into hair-fine fibres. The EU chemicals regulation REACH names them explicitly: chrysotile (white asbestos, from the serpentine group) and the five amphiboles actinolite, anthophyllite, tremolite, amosite (brown asbestos) and crocidolite (blue asbestos). Exactly the fibrous form that made asbestos the most widely used building material of the twentieth century (non-combustible, heat-resistant, insulating, cheap) also makes it the most dangerous: the IARC of the WHO classifies all types of asbestos as a Group 1 carcinogen, as carcinogenic to humans, with no safe threshold.
The most important practical truth first: you cannot recognise asbestos with the naked eye. Asbestos cement looks like asbestos-free fibre cement, old floor adhesives like new ones. Only a laboratory analysis gives certainty.
Where asbestos occurs in buildings
Asbestos was built into more than 3,000 products, most often in buildings constructed between about 1960 and 1990. Typical locations:
- Eternit and other asbestos-cement products on roofs and facades and as pipes (around 10 to 15 percent chrysotile in a cement matrix)
- vinyl floor coverings of the 1960s to 1980s with black asbestos paper as a backing layer
- tile adhesives and filler compounds, especially from the 1960s and 1970s
- night-storage heaters with asbestos-containing insulation behind the cladding
- pipe insulation in the basement, grey, felt-like wrappings
- sealing cords in stoves, boilers and chimney connections, asbestos boards in old fuse boxes
Asbestos occurs in two forms of binding, and the risk depends on it. Firmly bound asbestos (asbestos cement, Eternit) holds the fibres in a hard matrix; as long as the surface is intact, almost nothing is released. Weakly bound asbestos (sprayed asbestos, boards, cords) contains higher fibre proportions in a loose binding, where even touching it can release fibres.
Asbestos is not the only pollutant in old buildings. Under old parquet there is often PAH-containing adhesive (→ PAH in old buildings), and old fibrous insulation can be problematic mineral wool (→ MMF: old insulation).
Is Eternit always asbestos?
No. "Eternit" is a brand name for fibre cement, not a synonym for asbestos. But for decades the two meant practically the same thing: Eternit products from before about 1990 almost always contain asbestos (10 to 15 percent chrysotile), products from about 1993 onwards are asbestos-free (cellulose and PVA fibres). The problem: old and new boards are visually identical. Sometimes a production stamp reveals a date after 1994, often it is missing or weathered. Only the laboratory analysis is reliable. How an Upper Austrian patent of 1901 became the ubiquitous roofing material is a story we tell separately (→ Eternit: the story).
What makes asbestos dangerous
Asbestos fibres are so fine that they bypass the filters of the airways and penetrate deep into the lung. There the body cannot break them down, they remain. Over years and decades they can scar the lung tissue (asbestosis), trigger lung cancer or cause a pleural mesothelioma, an aggressive tumour of the pleura that arises almost exclusively from asbestos.
What is insidious is the latency: between fibre exposure and illness there are typically 20 to 40 years. Anyone falling ill today was often exposed in the 1970s or 1980s. There is no level below which the risk is demonstrably zero. So this is not about panic, but about prevention: before any intervention, know what is built in.
When asbestos becomes dangerous
As long as asbestos-containing material is intact and undisturbed, fibre release is low. It becomes dangerous through mechanical working and weathering: drilling, sanding, sawing, milling, breaking, working it with a pressure washer, or decay outdoors over years. Precisely for this reason the rule is: first clarify what is present, then work.
How to determine reliably whether asbestos is present
Since the eye does not help, the path leads through a material sample. It must be taken expertly, without releasing fibres, and examined in an accredited laboratory (ISO/IEC 17025). Under the microscope, by the procedure of VDI 3866, it can be determined within a few days whether and which type of asbestos is present. Rapid tests from the shop and sampling on one's own are not advisable: anyone handling suspect material may release exactly the fibres they want to avoid. Asbestos belongs in expert hands.
The legal framework in Austria
Asbestos has been banned in Austria since the Asbestos Ordinance of 1990 (BGBl. No. 324/1990); placing asbestos-cement building products on the market has been prohibited since 1 January 1994, and the ban is today anchored in the Chemicals Prohibition Ordinance. EU-wide the ban has applied since 2005, at the level of the REACH regulation (Annex XVII) with a threshold of 0.1 percent by mass. The occupational limit for asbestos fibres has been 10,000 fibres per cubic metre since 31 December 2025 (GKV amendment 2025); there is no binding limit for outdoor or indoor air in Austria.
For work, the following applies: protection during asbestos work is regulated in § 124 of the Construction Workers Protection Ordinance (BauV). Before starting, it must be determined as part of the risk assessment whether asbestos-containing material is affected, and a written work plan must be drawn up by a competent person. Since 31 December 2025, demolition and asbestos remediation work may moreover only be carried out by authorised specialist firms entered in a list of the federal ministry under § 26 GKV. In practice this means: anyone who opens, demolishes or sands something on a building from before 1990 must first clarify whether asbestos is involved.
What to do
Intact, firmly bound asbestos can often stay in place; it makes sense to document its location and condition and to keep an eye on the condition. Never drill, saw or sand yourself, or throw old Eternit sheets. If a renovation or demolition is due on an older building, the asbestos assessment belongs at the very beginning, and removal exclusively in the hands of authorised specialist firms.
Asbestos reaches buildings not only as an industrial product but also by a natural route, as asbestos-containing rock processed into gravel and grit. This second pathway is the subject of the asbestos scandal in Burgenland.
Sources
- REACH Regulation (EC/1907/2006), Annex XVII No. 6 (asbestos, 0.1%, the six asbestos minerals)
- Asbestos Ordinance 1990, BGBl. No. 324/1990: ris.bka.gv.at
- Construction Workers Protection Ordinance (BauV) § 124, radiation protection and GKV provisions on asbestos work (RIS)
- Arbeitsinspektion, „Asbest: Kein Thema der Vergangenheit": arbeitsinspektion.gv.at
- IARC/WHO, classification of asbestos as a Group 1 carcinogen
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