A.T.M.

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A.T.M.

Asbestos Testing and Management

"Independant Surveying, Consulting and Management"

BY LAW , the person or persons responsible for the maintenance of ANY commercial premises has a legal obligation to establish and manage any instances of asbestos containing materials within those premises. The same also applies to communal areas of domestic buildings (ie. stairwells). Failure to comply with regulations under CAWR 2006 regulations could render you liable to a hefty fine, a custodial sentence or both.

How does this affect me?

Even if you strongly believe that there is no asbestos in your premises, there is a strong chance that some of the building or insulating materials used in the construction contain it.

Are you certain that the ceiling tiles in your office do not contain asbestos? - many do.

The pipe lagging in your boiler room might look innocent, but what is it? - asbestos is a very good heat insulator.

The sprayed fire protection coating on steel beams is often asbestos

Your fire doors could contain asbestos panels - if drilled, they could prove to be lethal

What are the roof panels, guttering and down pipes to your factory constructed of?

Are there any office or factory partitioning walls? What are they made of? Are you positive?

Do I need to bother with an Asbestos register?

It is important to have all potential asbestos containing materials tested by a qualified surveyor and the results recorded in a register which is kept on-site and can be referred to prior to any manteance work on the building.

If this register is not present and fully updated and a potential asbestos fibre release is caused by someone being unaware of its presence, this is the result

The entire area has to be evacuated, sealed and decontaminated immediately.

The incident must be reported to the Health & Safety Executive.

Your company will probably be sued and fined heavily.

Valuable production time will be lost while the contaminated area is made safe.

What else could I do ?

The other alternative is to strongly pressume that all materials within the premises are potentially asbestos containing and carry out all maintenance work accordingly.

The following procedure would need to be put in place to change a flourescent light attached to suspended ceiling tiles.

A minimum of two people would be required.

Both would need to wear protective clothing and approved respirators.

The room would have to be emptied of all people (no exceptions).

Asbestos warning signs would have to be placed at all entrances to the area.

The floor area beneath the ceiling tiles would have to be protected with plastic sheeting.

As one person changes the light, the other has to shadow vacuum with an approved H-Type vacuum cleaner (a normal vacuum cleaner is not acceptable).

The whole area would need to be thoroughly cleansed upon completion.

If one of the tiles was accidentally broken, the room would have to be sealed, professionally cleared and air monitoring carried out before anyone could return.

Is it expensive?

Testing suspected or unknown materials is a safe investment that can save more than just money. It can save lives too. As you can see from the above example, the cost of an Asbestos Survey could be recouped very quickly.

Even if asbestos is found, it doesn't automatically mean that you have to have it stripped out. It is often the best solution to manage it in place

When properly contained and managed, asbestos presents little risk to health and the CAWR regulations only state that you have to identify the asbestos and manage it accordingly.

This means ensuring that it is not disturbed by maintenance or refurbishment works.

Asbestos Testing and Management, are able to offer a complete management service for all asbestos problems, whether that be Consultancy or Surveying and Management Reports. We have no ties with any asbestos removal companies so the practical advice is independent and can provide clients with solutions to problems that result in substantial long term cost savings. A relatively small expense could fulfill the legal obligations of the duty holder, prevent potentially disastrous exposure to asbestos fibres and reduce possible high future costs caused by the Asbestos deteriorating unnecessarily.

All our personnel have qualified with BOHS Building Surveying and bulk sampling for asbestos (P402) and will carry out surveys in a non-obtrusive and sympathetic manner. They will give you a step by step guide to complying with current regulations working towards a healthier workplace. Our commitment is to deliver a professional report along with suggestions for the most economical remedial action.

Following our survey, we can also work alongside your health and safety management team to compile a management action plan containing details of the best methods of dealing with any current issues as well as ensuring that any asbestos containing materials are dealt with to prevent them being a problem in the future.

All our samples are tested by UKAS accredited laboratories