Friday, 21 October 2011 13:10

ASBESTOS (SEPTEMBER 2011)

Asbestos

 

Do you really need an Asbestos survey?

 

Your building was constructed in the late 1990s and you’re pretty sure that it doesn’t contain asbestos. Will you still need to have a suitable survey or can you get by without one?

Duty to manage

 

Legislation requires that those who are responsible for the repair or maintenance of non-domestic premises have arrangements for the proper management of asbestos risks. To comply with the duty you need to know where the asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) are located within your building. In most cases this means having a survey carried out, but there are ways around it.

 

Tip. HSE guidance states that if your building was constructed in the year 2000 or thereafter, it’s unlikely to contain asbestos, so you’re not expected to take any specific action to identify ACMs.

 

When might you have it?

 

Although asbestos was in use within building products up until the end of the 1990s, by this time it was very rare. Premises built or refurbished in the 1960s and early 1970s are the most likely to contain some form of asbestos. But any building that was constructed or had major refurbishment work between the 1950s and mid- 1980s is also a likely culprit.

 

Tip. If your building was constructed before 1990, you should have a survey completed. Trying to avoid this just isn’t worth the risk. Disturbing asbestos is disruptive, expensive and dangerous.

 

So is your 1990s building in the clear?

 

A building constructed in the 1990s wouldn’t be expected to contain any blue or brown asbestos. This means that you shouldn’t have sprayed asbestos coatings on steel beams or asbestos insulation board; these were banned from 1985. However, the use of white asbestos products continued into the 1990s, with the final ban coming in 1999.

 

Tip 1. These dates should only be used as a rough guide. Builders’ yards will have contained asbestos products for some years after they were no longer permitted to be used and we can be fairly sure that a few would have carried on regardless.

 

Tip 2. A building constructed in the late 1990s might contain some asbestos cement products, i.e. gutters, corrugated roofing sheets, flues or soffits. It may also have had asbestos in decorative plaster work, although it’s said that white asbestos was no longer used in artex after the mid-1980s. Review the information on the HSE’s website to check where asbestos cement may have been used in your building.

 

Sure it hasn’t?

 

If your building was constructed in the late 1990s and you’re confident that it doesn’t have any of the white asbestos products listed on the HSE website, then you might decide to forego the expensive survey and take a different approach.

 

Tip 1. In addition to a thorough inspection of the building, double check using information available to you in the construction files.

 

Tip 2. Put together an asbestos statement explaining that the building appears to be asbestos free and any suspected asbestos materials discovered in the future will be investigated before being disturbed.

 

Because the use of asbestos was being phased out, the likelihood of a building constructed in the late 1990s containing asbestos is remote, if you’re confident that the building doesn’t have any white asbestos products, e.g. asbestos gutters, roof tiles, flues or soffits, a survey can be avoided..

  

                                                                                                                                                   

 

Source and Ref: © 2010 Indicator Limited