B.O.B. Stevenson

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Position Statement relating to Hazardous Materials (such as asbestos and lead).

The effect of EU directives 2002 95/EC RoHS & 2002 96/EC WEEE and various other legislation including the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 has been to control the use of substances hazardous to health. As a conscientious manufacturer we wish to make you aware of our position on what we understand to be the focus of legislation, to ban the use of lead and asbestos.

With regard to asbestos then we can inform you that no BOB organ blower contains asbestos and we believe that no acoustic cabinet manufactured after 1945 by BOB contains asbestos. During the war years (1939-1945) when materials were in short supply it is understood that ¼” thick asbestos sheeting was used to secure the wadding or Rockwool into acoustic cabinets however in practice cabinets of this vintage are very rarely seen.
You should also be aware however that many acoustic cabinets, still with their BOB label attached, have been re-lined or re-clad by others since their original supply.

With regard to lead then we can inform you that we are not aware of any lead in BOB acoustic cabinets however some BOB organ blowers do contain lead.
An organ blower consists of a centrifugal fan casing, an impeller and a motor and of these sub assemblies some impellers (internal to the fan casing) contain lead. TOT blowers have aluminium impellers and do not contain lead however blowers from our larger XB range do contain lead. The traditional method of manufacture for XB impellers is to fabricate from lead coated mild steel sheet with soldered slot and tab construction. The positive merits of this method of construction are its long operating life and resistance to rust, attributes which have helped BOB organ blowers gain the reputation we currently enjoy. As a result of increasing awareness in industry of impending legislation on the use of lead we have switched impeller construction to a tin coated steel and lead free solder.

We must therefore inform you that all XB blowers purchased before the legislative enforcement date of July 2006 must be assumed to contain some amount of lead. Our current understanding of the legislation is that we may continue to repair and refurbish existing XB blowers (containing original lead coated impellers) provided that the blower is required for an existing Church installation and not for any new organ. Thought should also be given to the possibility of lead content within paint, particularly on older blowers.

We hope you find the above information of interest however we cannot absolve you of any responsibility to carry out due diligence when working with suspicious substances. If there is any doubt we would advise that you seek advice from experts. Many Local Councils have officers who can advise on procedures for the safe handling and disposal of asbestos and lead.

B.O.B. Stevenson Limited
Coleman St, Derby, DE24 8NL
Tel: +44 (0) 1332 574112 - Fax: +44 (0) 1332 757286
E mail: sales@bobstevenson.co.uk