Asbestos Surveys
The first thing to note is that under the Control of Asbestos Regulations, there is no legal requirement for any business to have an asbestos survey.
The regulations require only that you identify any asbestos containing materials in or on your business premises and that you manage them in a way that they do not pose a risk to your visitors or your workforce.
Asbestos was used in a very wide range of materials used in the construction industry and the difficulty lies in identifying which materials contain asbestos.
Although you might be able to identify an asbestos cement roof easily enough, you might not be able to tell whether a ceiling tile contains asbestos.
Also, because of the known health issues, asbestos containing materials used in the construction of many commercial buildings were boxed in or covered up – and these need to be identified.
It is strongly recommended therefore, that you do have a qualified person conduct your asbestos survey and compile your register for you.
All asbestos surveyors should be qualified to a standard laid down by the Health & Safety Executive called P402.
A chartered building surveyor will not necessarily have this qualification, so always use a specialist asbestos surveyor. (We are qualified asbestos surveyors and chartered building surveyors, so you can be 100% confident that the advice you receive from us is completely objective and impartial).
Until February 2010, there were three types of asbestos surveys available, known as the Type1, Type 2 and Type 3 surveys.
This has now changed and the surveys are now known as:
- Management Asbestos Survey
- Refurbishment Asbestos Survey
- Demolition Asbestos Survey
The Management Asbestos Survey
The surveyor will conduct a thorough survey of the inside and outside of the building to identify possible asbestos containing materials.
Normally, this will involve looking into floor and ceiling voids, service risers, boiler rooms as well as any populated working areas.
The survey involves photographing suspect materials and wherever possible, taking samples (unless agreed otherwise in advance) for laboratory testing, usually to rule out the presence of asbestos in most cases.
In simple terms though, where sampling is not undertaken many materials will be assumed guilty until proven innocent and will entered in the asbestos register as being either presumed or strongly presumed to contain asbestos.
The old type 1 surveys were almost entirely visual in nature and because of the presumptions often made by some asbestos surveyors, resulted in virtually useless documents being produced.
Our own approach to surveying always involved sampling the most likely materials to contain asbestos, since this led to better on-site management and often, due to ruling out asbestos presence, reduced building maintenance costs.
The scope of all surveys is discussed fully with the client before commencement of the survey and a good surveyor will usually agree to take samples of materials that might be of particular concern.
Demolition or Refurbishment Asbestos Survey
These types of survey are usually undertaken prior to major refurbishment or demolition works.
The aim is to identify and record possible asbestos containing materials and record estimates of the volumes and surface areas affected.
Full sampling and testing is always undertaken and the information from the survey, if asbestos is discovered, is used as a basis for tendering for the removal of asbestos which in the majority of cases must be undertaken by licensed removal companies.
Unlike the management asbestos surveys, the demolition or refurbishment asbestos surveys do not record the condition of the asbestos for pre-demolition and major refurbishment work, other than to note where additional asbestos debris might be expected to be present.
It is used by the demolition or refurbishment contractor to determine any possible risk of asbestos contamination to their staff whilst works are being undertaken.
In preparing this information, we have tried to avoid technical and legislative jargon, instead preferring to keep to the facts as they apply in most commercial situations. If you require clarification on any point raised, or would like to arrange for an instant and free quotation for an asbestos survey on your commercial premises, please call us on 0121 711 7110.