So, I have a concern about asbestos exposure. I’ve recently read
a lot about 9x9 asbestos tile and the danger it poses with removal. Basically,
the consensus seems to be these tiles pose no real threat unless they are cracked
open, degraded, or sanded down.

For the past 16 months, I have worked in a tiny office (69
square feet) at the school where I work, which has the original asbestos floor
tiling. When I moved into the office, the floor underneath the rolling metal
chair was significantly deteriorated due to the scraping of the chair over the
years. I never thought twice about it because my understanding was the asbestos
was under the tile and only releasable if the tile was cracked. However, information
I have recently read indicates that sanding or powersanding these tiles would
be especially bad, resulting in friable asbestos. I fear that the grinding of
the tile from the chair over the years exposed and released the asbestos, which
I breathed in for the past year, and which probably adhered to my personal
items and clothes. There did seem to be dust under my chair, but I always
assumed it was just regular dust accumulated over time. The janitor staff never
cleaned or washed the floors in my office. Of course, I am quite scared about
this.

I only recently began to research this after reading a news
story about the renovations that will begin soon in my building, which includes
removal of the asbestos floor tile. This phrase – asbestos floor tile – changed
everything for me because I had not previously known that the tile itself contained
asbestos. I did not know about friable asbestos, or about the specific way
asbestos causes cancer. Since renovations are under way, there is no way for me
to go back to my office to verify anything.

I am planning to send some personal clothing out for
testing: shoes, a jacket that fell under my chair and which I accidently
ground, etc. I don’t know how to put my mind at ease about this. Perhaps there
is no way, and I should have been wiser to these risks.