In many cases, the asbestos surveyor will require access into the fabric of the building and various items such as brickwork, timber, boards and panels. They may have to be removed or broken into. In these cases, the asbestos surveyor could seek professional help from a joiner, builder, maintenance worker, engineer or other appropriate person.
In some situations, if concrete is being sampled or brickwork is being removed, the asbestos surveyor should get advice from a competent person, such as a structural engineer. The asbestos surveyor should enter suspended ceilings not previously accessed eg tiles screwed to wooden battens.
Suspended ceiling voids are often cluttered and full of ventilation ducting, pipework and cables. The ceiling void may contain asbestos debris and other ACM such as sprayed coating, pipe insulation, older ceilings, damaged fire breaks etc.
The asbestos surveyor should consider the need for an enclosure for this entry. Cavity closers are sometimes found around air bricks windows etc. All apertures should be considered and examined thoroughly.
Window frames commonly had packers or spacers where the window frame was attached to the brick wall. Asbestos rope seals as fire breaks are also found. Door frames particularly around fire doors should be inspected for packers where the frame is fitted into the doorway.
The architraves will need to be removed. Carpets and tiles need to be lifted. The floor tile adhesives also frequently contained asbestos. Floor ducts or trenches need to be accessed and inspected for shuttering, services, pipe insulation, fire stops, debris etc.
The inspection includes the duct cover itself, which may have ACM shuttering. The full length of each duct will need to be inspected, unless it is clear that asbestos pipe insulation is present throughout, when the entire run can be treated as containing asbestos. Floor boards need to be lifted to examine the void below.
Sufficient boards should be lifted to ensure that the whole floor void is examined for loose asbestos, debris, packers, fire protection, electric cables etc. It may be necessary to inspect the ends of the joists for packing.
Slab poured concrete floors are known to contain ACM which was used as an expansion joint or shuttering below the surface. These may only be found by drilling core samples through the slab. This will need specialist advice on the structural considerations and on the equipment needed to carry out this type of investigation.
Asbestos cement sleeves were used where cables or pipes run through a slab floor, although these should be visible at the surface. Service risers, including fire stops between floors, if not investigated under a previous survey, need to be inspected. Lift shafts need to be inspected, including the pit at the bottom of the shaft.
Ventilation shafts or ducts have been seen with asbestos acoustic attenuators and with debris from assorted ACM. Ventilation trunking should also be examined. External cladding of tiles or slates which may or may not be asbestos will usually conceal a moisture membrane based on a bituminous ACM panels.
In boiler rooms it may be necessary to look closely at where pipes pass through walls, in sumps and gulleys, behind and underneath tanks and other plant. In particular, the walls and floors should be inspected for insulation debris, which may have been painted over. All plant and electrical equipment must be investigated, but see the note on consumer electrical equipment in Areas for examination.
It may not be possible to locate some or all of the debris until the plant has been removed. It will be necessary to remove the plant under controlled conditions with an appropriate work plan. Cast iron sectional boilers with asbestos between the sections or as a plinth under the boiler will need to be disassembled under controlled conditions.
If the desk-top study reveals that asbestos insulation has been stripped and replaced, a portion of the new insulation should be removed to examine the extent of any asbestos debris on the pipes, bolt-heads and flanges. If any of the pipes have frequent occurrences of asbestos debris, it is likely that the pipes will have to be removed as ACM. If insulation is present in a roof void, the areas underneath it should be inspected, particularly if there is evidence of other ACM.
The desk-top study can show if any previous structures including underground structures remain or may have released asbestos debris into the soil. Whether the desk-top study information is available or not, the site should be inspected visually to identify obvious signs of demolition and associated surface asbestos debris. It may be necessary to treat the external area as a contaminated site for investigation purposes, in which case, trenches and pits may need to be excavated to establish the extent of the debris.
If a sprayed asbestos coating is present or known to have been present at some time in the past, the area needs to be inspected carefully for debris and to establish the extent and location of any overspray. The asbestos surveyor should look out for the use of asbestos insulating board AIB as packing and shuttering in buildings constructed in the s and s.
This was frequently used simply as a convenient piece of board. The asbestos surveyor should carry out sampling when conducting the survey. However, for large premises or occupied areas, the asbestos surveyor can conduct sampling later. The asbestos surveyor should visually examine each area and room in the premises thoroughly to identify the materials and locations for sampling. The asbestos surveyor should conduct the visual inspection systematically see section 7.
Materials should be inspected for apparent differences and variation in appearance. They should take samples of about 3—5 cm 2 in surface area and through the entire depth of the ACM including any backing paper with the aim of collecting one or more samples that are representative of the whole material. The asbestos surveyor should not carry out sampling if there is an electrical hazard, or if it will damage the critical integrity of a structure. Visually inspecting and checking eg tapping and prodding each material will specify the sample numbers and locations.
In general, for homogeneous manufactured products containing asbestos, the asbestos should be uniformly distributed throughout the material. One or two samples should be enough for this type of product. Insulation materials are usually less homogeneous as they were applied on site, and their composition depended on the availability of supply.
Repairs and patching may add to this variability and increase the number of required samples. Repaired and replaced materials should always be sampled as well as the original items. Asbestos debris may have been produced at the time of installation. A favourite practice was to drop off-cuts into voids and sweep debris into lift shafts and other risers.
For homogeneous material, the asbestos surveyor may only need a single sample to confirm the presence of asbestos and to assume it applies to other material of the same type. However, for non-homogeneous materials and for some assumed non-asbestos materials, further sampling may be needed to reduce the possibility of false negatives, which could lead to incorrect conclusions.
The asbestos surveyor needs to complete a site risk assessment and carry out the work according to the risk assessment procedures see Survey planning four-step procedure — Step 4. The person taking the samples should control airborne emissions by pre-wetting the material with water or a suitable wetting agent.
This may involve spraying the surface or injecting. The person taking a sample should shadow vacuum if wetting might not be effective or unsafe eg near electrical installations. The person taking the samples should use special sampling precautions for pipe insulation see Appendix A. The sampling area must be separated from other work areas at the workplace. Sampling should not be done in normally occupied areas, but if the area is in constant use, the person taking the sample should work in periods of minimal occupation.
The nature of the area, the likely release of dust and the proximity and nature of future work will influence the precautions required by the person taking the samples to prevent the spread of asbestos. Other people entering the sampling area should be restricted and suitable warning signs must be posted. The person taking the samples should take care to minimise asbestos disturbance.
Surfaces onto which asbestos debris may fall should be protected with a sheet of polythene which can be easily cleaned by wet-wiping or using a suitable Class H vacuum cleaner. The person taking the samples should individually seal all samples in their own container or a sealable polythene bag. This should be sealed in a second container or polythene bag. The person taking the samples should clean the sampling tools between each sample to avoid cross-contamination.
Cleaning materials must be disposed of as asbestos waste. The person conducting the sampling should leave the sample area clean with no evidence of debris from the sampling operation.
They should seal sampling points to prevent asbestos fibre release. Various methods are used to reseal the sampling point, such as tapes and fillers. The person taking the samples should label each sample with a unique identifier. The person taking the samples can label the sampling position with the same identifier.
Collecting asbestos samples can cause asbestos fibres to become airborne, even when precautions are taken to minimise the release of fibres from the material being sampled. Asbestos-contaminated dust may also be stirred up by movement in the area causing a rise in airborne fibres. Where there is uncertainty about whether the airborne contamination standard is likely to be exceeded, air monitoring is required.
Refer to the approved code of practice Management and Removal of Asbestos for more information about air monitoring. The asbestos surveyor must send the collected samples to an accredited laboratory 4 for analysis and reporting. For each sample, the report should clearly state if asbestos was found, and what type it is.
The laboratory results should be attached to the report. The asbestos surveyor should present the survey report in a form the workplace PCBU can use to base an asbestos record on see section 9. The asbestos surveyor should do a material assessment as part of the survey. See the next section for a standardised assessment tool suitable for a management survey. This is based on a simple additive algorithm for assessing the potential for fibre release.
It is not designed to calculate absolute differences in potency or fibre release or risk potential between ACM. However, it ranks ACM in a simple numerical order. An assessment of the condition of ACM is not normally necessary for refurbishment and demolition surveys but if there is a significant gap between the survey and the event eg more than three months , the asbestos surveyor should do a material assessment so the workplace PCBU can put interim management arrangements in place.
In the material assessment process, the main factors influencing fibre release are scored and added together to form a material assessment rating. The three main factors affecting how much fibre is released from an ACM when subject to disturbance are:. Each factor is scored between 1 and 3. Two factors can also be given a nil score equivalent to a very low potential for fibre release. The value assigned to each of the three factors is added together to give a total score of between 1 and 9.
Assumed or strongly assumed ACM is scored as the most harmful form of asbestos, unless there is evidence to show otherwise. ACM with an assessment score of 7 or more has a high potential to release fibres, if disturbed. Scores between 4 and 6 have a medium potential, and between 1 and 3 is a low potential. Non-asbestos materials are not scored. The material assessment identifies high-risk ACM, or materials which will release airborne fibres the most if disturbed.
ACM assigned the highest score may not necessarily be the priority for remedial action. The priority should be determined by carrying out a risk, or priority, assessment which should consider:. The asbestos surveyor can help with the risk assessment by getting information which will contribute to the priority assessment.
However, the workplace PCBU must make sure that a written asbestos management plan is prepared using their knowledge of the activities carried out in the premises. The workplace PCBU can use the combined material and priority assessment results to establish the priority for ACM needing remedial action, and what the type of action is required.
Various options are available: the ACM could be protected or enclosed, sealed or encapsulated, or repaired. If the ACM is in a poor condition, it should be removed. Further information about managing asbestos is available in the approved code of practice Management and Removal of Asbestos.
The survey report is a record of information about the presence and location of asbestos and ACM. The asbestos surveyor should pay care and attention to producing the report, particularly with data, because it will be the formal record of the survey.
The report will contain information the workplace PCBU will use to prepare the asbestos management plan and to decide on the need for action. Errors in the report could lead to incorrect conclusions and inappropriate decisions. The design, layout, content and size of the report are important. Large reports can be unwieldy and intimidating. The workplace PCBU is likely to be most interested in the summary, results, conclusions and actions.
In hard copy documents, separate the report into different parts, particularly if displayed with accompanying photographs contained in separate appendices. The executive summary should describe the scope, type and extent of the survey.
It should summarise the most important information, including:. The introduction should explain the scope of the work and the purpose, aims and objectives of the survey. It should also contain a description of the nature and age of the building s or other structures plus construction type.
The survey results should be summarised both in table format and as a set of marked-up diagrams showing where asbestos, ACM and assumed asbestos or ACM is located. For a management survey and refurbishment and demolition surveys if work is not imminent the asbestos surveyor should include the following information:. Table 4 is a presentation of survey results.
Figure 2 shows an example of a marked-up building plan. The information in the results table should be presented by individual rooms. Any rooms or areas not accessed and assumed to contain asbestos should be included in the results table.
For priority assessment, the asbestos surveyor should list the priority scores and highlight recommended actions. Note: the priority assessment should only be carried out in consultation with the workplace PCBU, who should provide accurate information about all the activities carried out on the premises.
If suspect material is proved not to be asbestos, this should be recorded in a separate table. This will help in any future discussion over the nature of these materials. The conclusions section should summarise the rooms where asbestos is present and the products or items which contain asbestos.
It should also contain a list of any recommended actions identified in the material or priority assessment and indicate their urgency. The survey report should include the certificate of analysis for the analysed samples.
Locate it in an appendix with the following information:. Photographs are informative and should be included in the report. Photographs can show the sampled material, its condition, location and surrounding environment.
They provide a context for the sample and can help the workplace PCBU manage their asbestos, for example by providing a benchmark for comparing condition over time.
Photographs can also be used to identify the actual sampling points. Note: photographic detail can be obscured in photocopied reports. The workplace PCBU should examine the report and check to make sure the survey was adequate and the report is suitable and accurate. This appendix provides information about asbestos and ACM in buildings. Loose asbestos may readily become airborne if disturbed. If dry, these materials can give rise to high exposures.
Although loose asbestos was not known to be used as a cavity insulation material, wall cavities should be inspected with an endoscope to check for the presence of any asbestos materials or debris such as AIB.
Entry points should be agreed with a competent person eg a builder, joiner or structural engineer. Walls should also be examined thoroughly where insulated heating pipes pass through brick or breeze block walls. Check for insulation or residues within the wall cavity itself. In some larger spaces, sprays were also applied to walls and ceilings for acoustic and decorative purposes theatres, cinemas, studios, halls etc.
These are normally homogeneous coatings sprayed or trowelled onto reinforced concrete or steel columns or beams as fireproofing. Sprays were also used on the underside of ceilings for fireproofing and sound and thermal insulation in high-rise premises. The depth of the spray depended on the fire rating and substrate, and may vary from 10 to mm thick. Those with higher proportions of well-tamped Portland cement can be quite hard.
Surfaces may be sealed with an elasticised paint or proprietary encapsulant, sometimes reinforced with calico or fibre mesh, or left completely unsealed.
Spray coatings are vulnerable to accidental damage and delamination due to water leakage releasing debris onto the floor and other horizontal surfaces. Spray coatings may have deteriorated significantly since installation and needs to be treated with caution. The spray coating may be concealed by over-cladding with a non-asbestos board, wood or metal sheet.
Inspect all columns. If the material appears uniform and consistent, two samples should usually be enough, if taken at either end of the sprayed surface.
Samples should be taken from all patches of repairs or alterations. If the coating is encapsulated, it can be pre-injected with liquid around the sampling area then carefully cut with a sharp knife to lift a small flap to retrieve a sample. If the spray coating is not covered, both wetting spraying surface and injection and shadow vacuuming may be necessary to reduce airborne asbestos.
As spray coatings are generally homogeneous, a surface sample should be sufficient. Pipe insulation composition is often highly variable, especially if there is a change in colour, size, texture or evidence of repairs or modifications. For example, asbestos may have been stripped from long runs of pipes but left around pipe elbows, taps and valves. Asbestos was widely used to insulate pipes, boilers and heat exchangers. There are several types and forms of insulation, often with multi-layer construction.
Pre-formed sections of asbestos insulation were made to fit the diameter of the pipe. Other types of asbestos-containing felts, blankets, tapes, ropes and corrugated papers were also used. For bends, joins, small sections of pipe and repairs, an asbestos-containing plaster was wet-mixed on site and hand-applied to the areas.
Larger installations were also insulated with asbestos-containing plaster. Larger thicknesses of insulation would use pre-formed blocks wired in place, then other coatings or layers were applied, depending on the insulation required. External pipes may also be clad with sheet metal or painted with bitumen for additional weatherproofing.
Installers often used whatever materials were available to hand or in stock, so it is common to find variations on the same pipe or boiler. Pay particular attention to bends and valves, or where it is evident that repairs have been made. Various ad hoc mixtures were hand-applied on joints and bends and pipe runs.
In general, take one sample per 3 m run of pipe, paying particular attention to different layers and functional items valves etc. Photos are captured and linked to samples automatically and you can capture both a general and a close-up photo.
Every item of data can be geotagged to record automatically the location for future analysis or plotting on Google Maps or Google Earth. With Tracker Mobile data collection screens tuned for maximum speed and consistency, asbestos surveying with Alpha Tracker is the most efficient and effective it can be. Because we use Android and Apple devices, you and your surveyors have the full range of drawing, CAD and floor plan apps available to use.
If you forget to take your specially-installed mobile device to site, you'll be unable to complete your survey. Software providers let you use their app on any device. You won't need to invest in a new phone or tablet, you can just use your personal one. As a surveyor, you'll often carry out surveys in areas with no internet signal. Since an internet connection isn't guaranteed, your app needs to have excellent offline support.
Completing a survey should take the same time with-or-without an internet connection. When you get an internet connection, your data should sync up automatically. If you provide other inspection services, make sure your software has pre-built templates for those services too. You'll need to make tweaks to match your own templates and processes. So templates need to be flexible and allow changes.
Surveying is repetitive work. You'll inspect similar materials in similar rooms. The report follows the guidelines set out in HSG, where a point risk assessment calculation is used to arrive at the actions you need to take regarding asbestos management. See Sample Report. Our inspection system is different to anything else you may have seen!
The Asbestos mobile app lets you sample asbestos-containing material ACMs , log non-asbestos items, and document excluded areas on-site quickly and easily. You do not have to swipe endlessly to get to the correct statement or scroll down long pages to find the correct input fields. The software displays configurable checklists to guide you to the right place, automatically and effortlessly.
Download Trial Asbestos App. The professional asbestos report includes an executive summary, full risk scoring, recommended actions, exclusions, asbestos statistics, non-asbestos items, photographs, site plans, sample certificates, and finally, a hyper-linked photographic gallery in the appendix.
Each report is initially produced in Word so you can do final edits if you really need to before creating the PDF to send to your clients.
Your own reports will be customised with your logo and organisation details.
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