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Asbestos Survey
Asbestos survey - do I need one?
Asbestos survey - who can do the survey?
What type of survey should I have?
How should I record the survey?
What is asbestos and why was it used?
See also asbestos testing and analysis page and asbestos information page
Asbestos survey – do I need one?
In 2002 The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations (CAWR) introduced a specific requirement to "manage" asbestos in non-domestic premises. Since then the law relating to asbestos has been reviewed but the requirement to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises has been retained in Regulation 4 of The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. The Approved Code of Practice and Guidance issued by the Health & Safety Commission states that Regulation 4 requires dutyholders to:
- take reasonable steps to find materials in premises likely to contain asbestos and to check their condition;
- presume that materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence to suppose they do not;
- make a written record of the location and condition of asbestos and presumed asbestos containing materials (ACMs) and keep the record up to date;
- assess the risk of the likelihood of anyone being exposed to these materials; and
- prepare a plan to manage that risk and put it into effect to ensure that:
- any material known or presumed to contain asbestos kept in a good state of repair;
- any material that contains or is presumed to contain asbestos is, because of the risks associated with its location or
condition, repaired or if necessary removed; and
- information on the location and condition of the material is given to anyone potentially at risk.
The Approved Code of Practice gives a five step approach to managing the risks from asbestos; the second step is an inspection or survey to find the asbestos containing materials and assess their condition; most non-domestic premises built in the UK before 2000 will need an asbestos survey.
Asbestos survey – who can do the survey?
The organisation undertaking the survey should:
- have adequate training and experience in asbestos surveying;
- be able to demonstrate independence, impartiality and integrity;
- have an adequate quality management system.
Guidance issued by the Health & Safety Commission recognises that accreditation to ISO 17020 is likely to indicate that the organisation has the requisite knowledge and experience. It also recognises that an organisation accredited by UKAS is likely to be competent. Environmental Evaluation is accredited by UKAS to both ISO 17020 and ISO 17025.
Environmental Evaluation is a totally independent consultancy, wholly owned by the directors of the company and with no links to asbestos removal contractors; our aim is to provide impartial, practical advice to our customers.
As well as our accreditation to ISO 17020 and ISO 17025 Environmental Evaluation has ISO 9001 registration for its quality management system, ISO 14001 registration for its Environmental Management System and OHSAS 18001 registration for its Health & Safety Management system. Details can be found through links on our accreditations page. Details of our team of asbestos specialists, together with their qualifications and capabilities can be found on the asbestos team page of this website.
What type of survey should I have?
The presence of asbestos can only be confirmed by taking a sample and returning it to the laboratory for analysis. All samples taken by Environmental Evaluation are analysed in-house in our UKAS accredited laboratories.
In the UK asbestos surveys should be undertaken to the requirements of Guidance Note MDHS 100 "Surveying, sampling and assessment of asbestos containing materials" published by the Health and Safety Executive. MDHS 100 defines three types of asbestos survey:
Type 1 - Location and Assessment Survey (Presumptive Survey):
The purpose of this survey is to locate, as far as is reasonably practicable, any suspected asbestos containing materials (ACMs)
and assess the risk. This survey will involve the visual identification of materials likely to contain asbestos and defers the
need for sampling until a later time. As a result, some non-asbestos containing materials may be identified and presumed to
be asbestos when carrying out the risk assessment. Although there will be no samples taken, all parts of the premises will be
inspected in accordance with client requirements. A typical survey will include inspections above false ceilings, inside risers,
service ducts, lift shafts etc.
This survey will not involve inspection by destructive means.
Type 2 – Standard Sampling, Identification and Assessment Survey (Sampling Survey):
The purpose and procedures used to identify ACMs will be the same as for a Type 1 survey, except that representative samples will
be taken where deemed necessary and analysed for the presence of asbestos. These samples will be used to confirm or refute the
Surveyor’s opinion as to the presence of asbestos thus reducing the risk of non-asbestos containing materials being identified. There
may, however, still be a need to identify suspected ACMs during this type of survey, in particular where areas are inaccessible
for safe sampling.
Type 3 – Full Access Sampling and Identification Survey (Pre-demolition or Major Refurbishment Survey)
The main difference between this survey and Type 1 and 2 surveys will be the adoption of destructive means of gaining access to
undertake inspections.
Therefore this type of survey will be used to identify, as far as is reasonably practicable, all ACMs within the premises. The sampling and inspection procedures will involve the use of intrusive equipment to gain access to areas that would be otherwise difficult to inspect. In addition to the identification of all ACMs the survey will include estimates of the volume and surface area of these materials found. This type of survey is intended for use as an aid to tendering for the removal of asbestos prior to demolition or major refurbishment of a building and, therefore, material risk assessments will not be provided within the report. In premises where a partial or staged refurbishment is planned, a Type 3 survey would be required to include risk assessments, the recommendations of which should be adopted for those areas of the building not immediately subject to major refurbishment or demolition.
A Type 3 survey, by its nature, is destructive and may involve significant damage to walls, ceilings, floors, voids, etc. in order that concealed spaces can be inspected. A Type 3 survey can normally only be undertaken in a building that is not occupied, and where occupancy is not proposed between the survey and refurbishment or demolition. Whilst reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure that the risks have been minimised, the damage caused by the survey will not have been made good by the survey team, and subsequent visitors to the building must be made aware of the possibility of damaged floors, walls, ceilings etc.
Environmental Evaluation recommends that for management of asbestos in buildings a Type 2 survey is undertaken. We will normally be able to provide a firm and fixed price for a survey that will not increase, no matter how many samples we need to take and analyse.
Where demolition or refurbishment is planned a Type 3 survey of the building will be required. If localised building work / refurbishment is to be undertaken localised type 3 surveys can be undertaken in the area(s) where the proposed work is planned, avoiding damage to the rest of the building.
How should I record the asbestos survey?
The asbestos survey is likely to form the basis of the management plan required by the regulations. This can be a paper document or one that is stored electronically on a computer database. The asbestos register must be kept up to date
Many dutyholders, particularly those with several premises, find that electronic asbestos registers are the easiest to maintain and keep up to date, avoiding the dangers of out of date documents being in circulation. Environmental Evaluation provides a secure on-line asbestos management database, "elocate" for customers, allowing access to the latest information by authorised users anywhere in the world. Please click on the link for information on ELocate
Am I a "dutyholder"?
The Control of Asbestos Regulations place obligations on “the dutyholder” to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises; there can be more than one dutyholder. The duties rest with the person(s) in control of maintenance activities in the premises; that can be the owner, the occupier, the managing agent or all three. The extent of this duty will be determined by the degree of responsibility over matters concerning the fabric of the building and maintenance activities carried out there. Anybody who can instruct staff or contractors to undertake maintenance work should consider themselves to be a dutyholder under the regulations; the work could be as simple as running new cables through a ceiling void or decorating.
What is asbestos and why was it used?
Asbestos is a name given to a group of naturally occurring fibrous minerals. Geologists classify the parent rocks as being Amphibole or Serpentine and chemists classify them as silicates. Asbestos ore was extracted from the ground by both open cast and underground mining in much the same way as coal and other minerals are mined. Once the ore had been taken from the ground it was crushed to release the fibres and the fibres were then sized and packaged.
Asbestos has properties that made it very useful; it was being used in China at least three thousand years ago. It is widely known that asbestos doesn’t burn and can be woven so it has had applications such as fire blankets and flame proof clothing as well as in the oil burning lamps of the ancients. It is also a very good thermal insulator making it useful in pipework and boiler insulation as well as in fireproofing on structural steelwork; the fibres are strong and bind well with cement and other building materials so it was used to reinforce textured coatings, cement products (such as corrugated cement sheets) and insulating boards. Resistance to chemical attack, ability to withstand relatively high temperatures and being an electrical and acoustic insulator has added to its usefulness.
As well as having these very useful properties asbestos was also cheap and so was widely used in a massive range of products. The peak use of asbestos in the UK was in the period 1950 – 1980 but its use continued in lesser amounts right up until 1999 when its use was effectively prohibited. Millions of tonnes of asbestos were imported into the UK and it was recently estimated that 10 million properties in the UK contain asbestos materials.