While replacing a section of galvanized water piping in a building from the 1950s, a plumber finds an adjacent steam line wrapped in crumbling fibrous insulation and sees that the old water joints were made with 50/50 tin-lead solder. What is the correct response?

Giải thích

Deteriorating pipe insulation in a building of that era is presumed asbestos-containing until sampling proves otherwise, and the correct action is to leave it alone, keep others out of the area and report it so licensed abatement personnel handle the removal. Cutting, scraping or wetting it yourself still releases fibers and does not make an untrained worker an abatement contractor, and a filtering facepiece does not authorize the work either. On the piping side, 50/50 tin-lead solder is prohibited in potable water systems; solder and flux must be lead free, and wetted surfaces of pipe, fittings and fixtures must not exceed a weighted average lead content of 0.25 percent.