Asbestos - Part 3 – More places to find asbestos in buildings

…..the inspection, identification and testing of asbestos is a specialist activity which is shrouded in a wide range of policies and procedures written into legislation.  It is therefore imperative that specialist advice is sought where there is a possibility of the existence and/or discovery of asbestos or asbestos containing products or components in buildings

Source: http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/

Over the last few weeks I have introduced asbestos and in particular its extensive use in UK construction.  In Part 1 (link) I discussed the health risks associated with being exposed to asbestos fibres and subsequently why asbestos is no longer used in UK construction. I also explained that asbestos containing products/components in buildings only becomes a problem if they are disturbed or become damaged and that there is no need to panic if asbestos containing products/components are discovered in buildings. In last week’s article (link) I went onto explain that asbestos is not easy to identify, even for the trained eye as it is often concealed or decorated, making it difficult to differentiate from other building products/components. I finally gave some examples of the wide use of asbestos cement in UK construction with some images of its typical uses.  In the final part of this three part article I will gives some examples of the wider uses of asbestos containing products and components in buildings, some of which you may find surprising.

It is first worth re-emphasising that the inspection, identification and testing of asbestos is a specialist activity which is shrouded in a wide range of policies and procedures written into legislation.  It is therefore imperative that specialist advice is sought where there is a possibility of the existence and/or discovery of asbestos or asbestos containing products or components in buildings.

Textured Coatings – used as a finish onto ceilings or wall surfaces to give a decorative appearance. Textured coatings that may contain asbestos are difficult to identify from a visual inspection, as many have been painted over. The asbestos fibres are held in place within the coating and are not easily released unless sanded down, or during removal.

Textured coating - Source: http://hawkenvironmental.com/

Floor tiles, textiles and Composites – You may be surprised to learn that asbestos can be found in PVC floor tiles. Discovery is often further complicated as these types of floor tiles are often covered over with newer floor coverings. 

PVC Floor tiles - Source: http://www.mesotheliomahelpnow.com/

As previously discussed in Part 1, asbestos is an extremely flexible material as such it could be woven and spun, allowing it to be used for products such as fire blankets as well as textiles within electrical fuse boxes which allowed additional fire protection behind the actual fuses.

Asbestos fire blanket - Source: http://houseinvestigations.com/

Electrical fuses - Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/

Asbestos composites allowed asbestos to be used for a variety of products for which typical examples are toilet cisterns and seats, window sills, and bath panels. These are products that many people do not readily associate with asbestos.

Asbestos cistern and seat - Source: http://asbestosadvisor.net/

Spray Coatings - often found as insulation on the underside of roofs and sometimes on the sides of buildings and also used as fire protection on steel beams/columns as well as on the underside of separating floors. Identification of suspected asbestos containing spray coatings is usually made with the presence of a rough surface, white or grey in colour, although painting of a spray coating can make this more difficult to identify. Some spray coatings can contain up to 85% asbestos.  When this is added to the fact that spray coatings can be very friable (break up easily), this use is one of the most dangerous asbestos containing products found in buildings.

Asbestos spray coatings - Source: http://www.asbestostesting.com.au/

Asbestos Insulating Board (AIB) – Can be found in a number of different locations within a building as it was used for a variety of fire proofing applications.  AIB can therefore be found as ceiling panels/tiles, soffit boards, partition walls, lift shaft linings, panels within fire doors amongst other applications.

Asbestos insulating boards - Source: http://www.ekii.co.uk/

Lagging and Insulation – Mostly found as insulation around heating pipework and has many different appearances, which is commonly a fibrous material that can break up easily. When applied to pipes it is often covered with a protective coating, which can be a variety of different colours that sometimes makes it difficult to identify. As with spray coatings, this is a particularly dangerous form of asbestos.

Asbestos pipe lagging - http://www.topasbestosremoval.co.uk/

Loose Fill Asbestos – used as insulation and found in cavity walls, in floors and loft spaces. Due to its loose nature this is possibly the most dangerous form of asbestos used in buildings.  Its appearance is blue/grey in colour or sometimes off white and is often made of pure asbestos.  Although much of this form of asbestos has now been removed it is still likely to be discovered and should only be inspected and dealt with by a specialist wearing and using the correct protective equipment.

Loose fill asbestos in roof space - Source: http://www.torontorealtyblog.com/

The information and images discussed above and within last week’s article provide some typical examples of the use and identification of asbestos containing materials and components within buildings.  Please bear in mind that the examples provided are far from exhaustive and asbestos can be found in numerous other locations within buildings.  Having said this I hope these articles have provided a good introduction to asbestos is buildings.

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and colleagues who you think would be interested

Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.

Asbestos - Part 2 - Where to find asbestos in buildings

Asbestos in buildings is not easy to identify even for those with experience of buildings and construction.  This is not only due to the vast use of asbestos in buildings but also due to the fact that it is often concealed or decorated, making it difficult to differentiate from other components/products

http://www.house-extension.co.uk/

In last week’s article (Link) I discussed the many positive characteristics of asbestos, which led to the extensive use of asbestos in UK buildings for a wide variety of components/products.  I also explained that due to the serious health risks associated with either working with or being exposed to asbestos fibres, that asbestos is no longer used in building construction in the UK.  Having said that asbestos was so widely used in UK buildings particularly between circa 1950 to 1980 that it’s discovery in buildings is still highly likely today and something that will continue to be an issue well into the future.  It is therefore worthwhile trying to understand how to identify asbestos and where it may be discovered in buildings.

The first thing to make clear is that asbestos in buildings is not easy to identify, even for those with experience of buildings and construction generally.  This is not only due to the vast use of asbestos in buildings but also due to the fact that it is often concealed or decorated, making it difficult to differentiate from other components/products.  The only real way of knowing whether something that may be suspected as asbestos is actually asbestos is to have the component/product tested.  There are very strict procedures for sampling and testing of asbestos as set out in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, which will require the services of a specialist.  As you would imagine this can sometimes prove to be costly, however if you do not follow the legislation you are obviously breaking the law and secondly, possibly compromising the health of yourself and others. 

Without wishing to go into too much technical detail for this article there are six different types of asbestos that may be found in UK buildings; Amosite, Chrysotile, Crocidolite, Tremolite, Actinolite and Anthophyllite, for which the first three were the most commonly used in UK construction. The health risks associated with all types of asbestos are very similar however Crocidolite, sometimes referred to as blue asbestos is considered to be the most dangerous of all.  As stated previously, in order to establish whether asbestos is present and if so which type it is it will be necessary for sampling and testing to take place in accordance with the procedures detailed in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

So where is asbestos likely to be found in buildings? Interesting the answer is pretty much anywhere!  Remember asbestos is not easy to identify so an awareness of where it was used will help those to identify ‘suspected’ asbestos and recommend subsequently sampling and testing to confirm the presence of asbestos, or not.  Asbestos cement products are discussed below and in next week’s article I will provide some further typical examples of where asbestos may be found in buildings. Also, if you want to undertake further research into the uses of asbestos in UK buildings then you will find that the examples provided in my articles are far from exhaustive.

Asbestos Cement - Asbestos cement is ordinary cement mixed with asbestos, in some cases the asbestos can make up over a third of the overall content however, typically however the overall asbestos content is often much lower.  Asbestos cement is generally considered as one of the lower risk asbestos products as the asbestos fibres are effectively held or ‘trapped’ within a ‘rigid’ component, once the cement, water and asbestos has cured (hardened).  Asbestos cement products start to become a problem if they become damaged or disturbed, so it is worth knowing where these could be found.


The photographs below demonstrate that asbestos cement sheeting was a very popular way of providing roof coverings for outhouses and garages in domestic buildings as well as roof and wall cladding for industrial or low specification commercial buildings. Asbestos cement roof and wall cladding sheets are usually identified by their distinctive ‘corrugated’ form and their dull grey colour, (although the colour can sometimes be affected by the impact of weathering and decorations):

Source: http://www.roofersinedinburgh.co.uk/

Source: http://www.asbestostesting.com.au/

Associated with asbestos cement roof and wall cladding sheets were also products such as asbestos cement rainwater downpipes and hoppers. Hoppers are located at the top of a rainwater downpipe, or at the junction of a number of rainwater pipes, as detailed in the image below: 

Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/

Due the excellent fire resistant properties of asbestos, asbestos cement was often used for flue pipes for boilers and heaters.  This enabled combustion waste products, often at high temperatures to be discharged from a building safely and with minimal risk of fire. Asbestos cement pipes were also used for air conditioning and ventilation systems:

Source: http://www.bsafeconsultancy.co.uk/

Source: http://www.biacs.co.uk/

Asbestos cement products and components were used and installed in UK construction for many years and are arguably the most commonly used asbestos product installed.  There were however many other uses/applications of asbestos in UK construction and next week I will provide some examples of these wider applications and how they may be identified.

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and colleagues who you think would be interested

Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.

Asbestos - Part 1 - Is asbestos really a problem in buildings?

Despite popular belief the discovery of asbestos containing materials in a building does not need to be a serious problem.  There is nothing written in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 that states that asbestos must be removed from a building

Source: https://www.nachi.org

Most of the publicity that asbestos has received for many years is negative and would have us believe that anyone who works or occupies a building that contains asbestos are at significant risk, however this is far from the truth. It is also true to say that those who worked with asbestos, whether it’s extraction or use/installation in buildings and were oblivious to the associated health risks at the time are those who are suffering asbestos related diseases such as Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer, Asbestosis and the like for which many have sadly died.  Having said that, the answer to the article title is quite simple, Asbestos is not a problem in buildings as long it is identified, managed and controlled.

Before delving into the many publicised problems with asbestos it is first worth understanding why its use was so popular and why it is still found extensively in buildings throughout the UK.  Asbestos was such a versatile and durable mineral that it lent itself to so many different uses in buildings due to its many positive qualities.  You may be surprised to learn that Asbestos has been used for many centuries in different forms throughout the World however its use became much more widespread in the UK from the early part of the twentieth century and was extensively used in UK buildings between 1950 and 1980. In fact asbestos is still used in some countries today despite the many know health risks associated with it.  There are still vast amount of asbestos deposits present around the World which are extracted using mining techniques which are much the same as processes used for extraction of other minerals.

Source: http://www.nzdl.org/

Positive qualities of Asbestos for use in buildings - Asbestos is chemically inert which means that it does not react with other chemicals, it is heat resistant making it non-flammable even at high temperatures, it is alkaline and acid resistant, water resistant, strong in tension, flexible (it can be used and made into rigid components or spun and woven like cotton), it has no detectable smell, it is resilient and can last for many years and it is extremely resistant to abrasion.  All in all, when you read through these qualities it is easy to see why asbestos was so popular and used for so many different products/components in buildings.

For a number of years in the UK asbestos has been classified as a ‘deleterious material’, which is defined by Longworth Consulting as ‘materials or building techniques which are dangerous to health, or which are environmentally unfriendly, or which tend to fail in practice. Often listed in property agreements, appointments and building contracts where the developer, consultant or contractor is required not to use them’.  The Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE), ‘Working with Asbestos in Buildings’ leaflet identifies the point at which asbestos was banned from use in the UK, ‘blue and brown asbestos (the two most dangerous forms) have not been imported into the UK for nearly 20 years and their use was banned in 1985. White asbestos was banned (except for a small number of specialised uses) in 1999’. Therefore, although asbestos has not been used as a building component/produce for nearly fifteen years we are still seeing deaths and serious illnesses as a result of exposure to asbestos many years ago.

The positive attributes of asbestos described above are conversely the main reasons why asbestos related diseases are nearly always incurable. Working on or near damaged asbestos-containing materials or breathing in high levels of asbestos fibres, which may have been many hundreds of times that of environmental levels could increase the chances of getting an asbestos-related disease.  Due to asbestos fibres being so hard to destroy, the body cannot break them down or remove them once they are lodged in lung or body tissues. They remain in place and over a period of time they can cause disease.  There are many instances where asbestos related symptoms have not manifested themselves for almost 30 years, however this will also depend on the general health of an individual, which can significantly reduce the point in which symptoms will show themselves. 

Source: http://globalnews.ca/

Although the above may seem to be alarmist the truth of the matter is that asbestos containing materials in buildings are perfectly safe as long as they are identified, managed and controlled. Asbestos will only become a problem in buildings if it is disturbed or becomes damaged.  Despite popular belief the discovery of asbestos containing materials in a building does not need to be a serious problem.  There is nothing written in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 that states that asbestos must be removed from a building, in fact If existing asbestos containing materials are in good condition and are not likely to be disturbed, they may be left in place as long as their condition is monitored and managed to ensure that they do not become damaged.

Over the next few weeks I will provide some guidance of the many uses of asbestos in buildings and also provide some examples of where you may find asbestos in a building. For those who are not familiar with asbestos I suspect that some of the uses will come as a surprise.

Please feel free to share this article and other articles on this site with friends, family and colleagues who you think would be interested

Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.

Are Housing Providers doing 'Asbestos' they can?

Guest article from Joe Malone BSc(Hons) ICIOB

Group Investment Programme Manager - WM Housing Group

This is the second of a two part article which considers asbestos.  Part 1 published a few weeks ago focused on legal requirements with this article  considering asbestos management.  It is argued that a knowledge and understanding of asbestos is fundamental to being able to interpret testing reports, and potentially result in significant cost savings

 

Competence

Source: Google Images



In part one of this article we discussed how  HSG264 had placed a key focus on competence. The left hand illustration  highlights the need for competent staff to work with asbestos but what is competence? I have a P402 qualification obtained from the British Occupation Hygiene Society so would I class myself as competent to carry out asbestos surveys? Absolutely not is the straightforward answer, for a number of reasons. Competence is defined as having knowledge, understanding and experience but what is key to this concept is that you must be able to prove it by means of records and documentary evidence. The P402 in itself might prove that I have knowledge and understanding of the subject but it does not prove experience; moreover, even site experience in the form of survey work has to be regularly audited under a quality management system. The expectation now is that site surveyors have a minimum of 5% of their survey work audited for quality. Since my employer has neither an audit system nor a quality management system in place then I could not possibly prove competence and therefore have taken a business decision not to carry out asbestos surveys 'in house'. I firmly believe that there are many asbestos surveys being carried out by surveyors who would find it impossible to prove competence. Is it time to rethink your approach to asbestos survey work?



OK, but what about asbestos removal contractors, how do they prove competence? This in itself is another difficult subject area and I believe that a number of licensed contractors would also struggle to prove competence. In writing my asbestos management plan, I drafted a contractor checklist for inclusion in the appendix and I will share the basic list with you to give you a flavour of what you should be looking for in a licensed contractor.

1. They must have a current HSE license to undertake works with asbestos.

 (check license duration and number)



2. They will have a current waste carrier’s license issued by the Environment Agency. (check and record license number)

3. They will be insured to carry out asbestos removal work and will have a minimum of Employers Liability (£10m), Public Liability (£10m), Professional Indemnity (£5m) and fleet cover for the carriage of Asbestos. (Values will vary with individual business requirements)

4. Improvement or Prohibition notices to be checked and where there are recent or serious breaches you should retain the right to select an alternative contractor.

5. Ask the contractor to provide a record of waste consignment notes for the previous month so it can be checked that contractors are disposing of asbestos responsibly.

6. Request that asbestos company provide a full training record for all site staff including site supervisors so that qualifications can be checked.  All site asbestos removal operatives and supervisors will be qualified to UKATA/IATP or BOHS  category C standard (Licensed work). All three organisations are listed on the HSE website as approved partners though each in turn has a glut of affiliate partners who deliver training to this standard. Note that it is also critical to ensure that trained staff are also receiving annual refresher training.

7. Ensure your contractor agrees to provide documentary ‘self certification’ on removal of asbestos.

8. Ensure your contractor agrees to provide ‘project specific’ risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) and therefore agrees to visit site prior to supplying  RAMS on each project. Far too many supply RAMS without even visiting the site in question and this is completely unacceptable.



Source: Google Images

9. Ensure they are UKAS accredited to ISO17020. This is the internationally recognised standard for the competence of inspection bodies. ISO 17020 should not be confused with the quality management standard ISO 9001:2000: the latter is specific to quality management systems and it does not require evaluation of the technical competence of an inspection body. ISO 9001:2000 is not regarded as an acceptable alternative to ISO 17020. Shockingly many are claiming  UKAS accredited asbestos competence based on holding nothing more than ISO 9001. You can check accreditation of inspection bodies and analytical services, but clicking on this link,



10. Ensure that laboratory/analytical services are also accredited  to ISO 17025 for conducting 4-stage clearance inspections and the issuing of reoccupation certificates following asbestos removal or clearance operations.



If you do apply this checklist I get a feeling you will have a higher than expected

failure rate.

Product Awareness

I have on a number of occasions received lab test results that claim that a material defined as Chrysotile is asbestos insulating board and therefore a notifiable product that costs lots of money to remove. Now note the product description below given for AIB.



'Asbestos Insulating Boards (AIB)(trade names ‘Asbestolux’ and ‘Marinite’) weigh around 700kg/m3 and contain from 16-40% amosite (brown asbestos) or a mixture of amosite and chrysotile (white asbestos.) Crocidolite (blue asbestos) was also used in some boards up to 1965'.



You will note that AIB does not contain only Chrysotile and in any event, Chrysotile is the lower risk Serpentine rather than Amphibole type. We have repeatedly challenged given lab results and found that the claimed notifiable product was in fact non-notifiable. On the last occasion, the quoted £20k removal costs were reduced to £1500 on re-assessment. Two key points arise from this observation.

1. Good product knowledge and awareness will cut  your removal costs.



2. You absolutely have to split the removal and analysis function so analytical services are employed directly by you and completely independent of the removal/remediation company. This removes that very obvious conflict of interest.

I have only scratched the surface of what is an incredibly complex subject area but I hope the guidance given in part one & two will help you work more safely and cost effectively.

Joe Malone BSc(Hons) ICIOB

Group Investment Programme Manager


Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.

 

Asbestos - Will new amended legislation result in higher removal costs?

Guest article from Joe Malone BSc(Hons) ICIOB

Group Investment Programme Manager - WM Housing Group

There are already noises coming from the industry that costs are set to increase but in real terms, how should these changes affect the client? Are we now going to see a massive increase in asbestos removal costs? The potential is there but so long as clients have an awareness of the product then rising costs should be contained.

I have very recently written an asbestos management plan, which was an incredibly complex and lengthy piece of work requiring a great deal of research. If I may, I would like to share some of the key issues uncovered in the process of writing this document. I’ve split the article into two parts, part one will deal with legislative changes whilst part two (which will be published in a few weeks) will deal with competency and product awareness.

Part One

Recent Changes to legislation

Source: Google Images

Actually, a not so recent change in legislation is the move from MDHS100 to HSG264 Asbestos: The survey Guide. HSG264 replaces and expands upon MDHS 100 yet despite being around for a couple of years now I am convinced that the vast majority still do not understand its implications. We have seen the obvious changes in terminology introduced so, the Type 1 and 2 survey are now replaced with the ‘Management Survey’ and the Type 3 survey is replaced with ‘Refurbishment and Demolition Survey’ (RAD).

Competence is a key issue that will be discussed in part two but HSG264 also  defines the wider obligations and provides guidance in situations where surveys may be carried out for other purposes, e.g.,  for ‘managing’ asbestos in domestic premises under wider health and safety legislation and for meeting the requirements of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM). It compliments and supports other guidance on managing asbestos and details the asbestos survey requirements and best practice. It is important to note that prosecutions for asbestos related offences are generally brought under the Sections 2, 3 or 4 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 or the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

The document also establishes the levels of survey compliance that should be achieved by registered providers and establishes parameters for collecting housing related data and this is one of the more poorly understood areas. There is an old chestnut kicking around that dictates that housing providers must survey 10% of their stock but this was never a legal requirement. What you must do is carry out a desktop evaluation of the stock to assess the commonality of the stock. Similar properties based upon design, construction and age should be placed into archetypal groups for further consideration. Once you reach this point you should then undertake sufficient RAD inspections to ensure that variability in asbestos use has been established across all archetypes. ‘Sufficient’ will in my considered opinion mean a minimum of one RAD survey per property archetype.

Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012

Source: Google Images

The '2012' bit of the heading should tell you that there have been some very recent changes to this particular legislation but why?  The ugly truth is that the asbestos industry has been lobbying for these changes for a number of years. Some years back textured coatings were downgraded in risk and became a 'non-notifiable' product. The asbestos industry have been trying to recoup massive losses incurred as a result of that decision for some time and what you'll find within COA 2012 is that some types of non-licensed work have now become notifiable.  There are already noises coming from the industry that costs are set to increase  (Click here for news article),  but in real terms, how should these changes affect the client? Are we now going to see a massive increase in asbestos removal costs? The potential is there but so long as clients have an awareness of the product then rising costs should be contained. Granted, the industry will receive more work in being awarded this newly notifiable work because many non-licensed contractors will not want the additional burden of responsibility, however minor, but the major concern has to be that costs will increase for removing product that was previously regarded as non-notifiable and therefore low risk.

It is a fact that notifiable product costs more money to remove than non-notifiable product and the illustration above highlights some of the additional safeguards and management procedures required for removing notifiable product. However, the HSE guidance for removing these products has not to my knowledge changed and there are no plans to change this guidance, therefore the control measures on site remain the same and should not cost more money. You can review HSE guidance on working with asbestos by following this link. As always, you need good knowledge of the product and the removal guidelines to ensure costs are controlled. Factually, the only immediate change for notification of non-licensed products is a requirement that brief written records are kept, this was not a previous requirement but should incur nothing more than negligible costs. From 2015 non-licensed workers need to have regular health surveillance by a Doctor,  criteria that currently applies to licensed workers.

Joe Malone BSc(Hons) ICIOB

Group Investment Programme Manager

Information/opinions posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright notice at the end of the blog.