Asbestos - Serpentine

[dime]

I have been cleaning out an older preproom where stuff was stored during the renovations two years ago. Found a box of rocks, and suddenly realised that one of them is asbestos. (I was only sitting at my desk for quite a while with the fan blowing across the rocks towards me, I've just realised). I have now bagged the offending rock and have just been trying to get info on disposal etc.
Whilst doing this research, I have found out that serpentine is asbestos! How stupid am I! At some stage I have handled lots of specimens of it and numbered it and put it in its drawer. I wouldn't have guessed that it was asbestos due to its waxy feel.
Now I am feeling somewhat cheated that I haven't been adequately protected with relevant info.
Does anyone actually know whether this stuff can do damage by handling it?
Are we supposed to get rid of it ?
I have never seen any directive from the DEC about asbestos or serpentine, has anyone else?
Sorry, a lot of questions going through my tiny brain at the moment.

[Ev]

Hi Dime,

I Googled serpentine.

http://www.galleries.com/Serpentine

One sentence reads..... Non-fiberous serpentine is not a cancer concern.

Ev

[dime]

Yeah - just found that too, and feel somewhat molified

[amandag]

Hello
Is this the kit you are talking about...this was released by the Queensland education department, you might want to forward it onto the department OHS, especially with rocks coming back in favour of the Aust. Curriculum...

[sunray18]

Ihave a sample os asbestos - it is sealed into a glass container - and I mean SEALED so that no one can open it.
We use this to show students in Seniro Science. It cannot be touched or accessed in any way and so is safe for them to look at.
I have been told that if it is in a resin mould - as the specimens you can buy are in a mould - then you can keep it in schools for display.
However - I am really not interested in exposing myself to the risk just to put it into a mould!
THAT being said, I have renovated two old homes a few years ago, before the great outcry over asbestos and the regulations about removing it and dumping it.Both were lined with the asbestos sheets. I just pulled the sheets off all the walls , broke them up and took them to the dump.
History:
My father visited Wittenoon Gorge, about 40 years ago with a group of engineers from RTZ. This was part of a trip that took them to Rum Jungle and then onto Mt Tom Price, before it was mined - when only the geologists camp was there, and to King Bay, which is now called Dampier. It was a fact finding tour to decide what was required to commence mining and for the men who would work at Hammersley. My father was part of the team that then worked in Perth to set up the initial mining camps and the 'housing' for the men at that time.
The people who lived and worked in Wittenoon lived in company homes that were built on land that was covered with the tailings from the mine. The men walked home from the mine in their overalls, shorts etc and they were washed in the family washing machine with all the family clothes. The children played on grass grown on top of the tailings and breathed in the dust that fell of their dad's clothes when he came home after work. Often the men would just wear shorts inside the mine because of the heat, and they did not have breathing apparatus.
NOTE: for anyone who is interested: All of my fathers slides taken of the Hammersley Ranges before mining began,as well as those of Rum Jungle and Wittenoon from this trip, are now in the Sydney Museum. I donated them to the Museum so they could be preserved as they are part of the history of Australia.