Posted By jervis Need some advice i have just back from a safety inspection on one of our sites. To find out there is a company working taking out asbestos cement panels the men where all geared up with p.p.e. My concern is that where they where taking it down was above the offices with large windows and air conditioning none of which where sealed should they of sealed up all windows because of the chances of any dust etc.

Posted By Safe System imo - YES!! in its current form, it may not be a problem - but if one was to drop and smash the spores would enter the air con system and deploy around the offices... not great... not sure if i read it right but: What is preventing either the operatives OR there tools OR asbestos etc.. falling and going through the windows (if roof lights...) and injuring an innocent party below? just my 2p worth.

Posted By Dave Wilson Should be UKATA trained - Class 2 training Must follow asbestos essentials task cards as well

Posted By jervis Im led to believe they where taking down in sections awaiting to see a copy of risk assessment. Going on what i found out today the asbestos is Chyrsotile and when staff asked they where told it was a low risk!!!!

Posted By Phil Rose With the limited information we have it is difficult to give a definitive answer. However, depending on how they were working etc they would not necessarily have had to seal the windows and it is not clear if the 'air con' was an outlet or an inlet or what! So it is not clear that the 'spores' (I will call them fibres!) could have entered the system or not. I don't see anything inherently wrong with saying that the work was low risk, in fairness if the work was being done correctly and if the material was in good condition, then it may very well have been low risk!!!!!! Indeed arguably if it was being done correctly then it should have been low risk - isn't that why we carry out risk assessments and then manage the risks - to keep them low!!!!! Don't fall into the trap of assuming that all work with asbestos is high risk, asbestos cement panels have been widely used and the risks associated with them can normally be relatively easily controlled. One of the things that you do have to 'manage' is people's 'ignorance' and fear of asbestos. Andymak - do they need a PTW? And who said that they didn't have a risk assessment in place? Try and keep things in perspective.

Posted By Dave Wilson Remember that Fibre type is important however the potential to release the fibre is more important, as Toilet cisterns usually contain BROWN (Amosite) AND AIB ALSO CONTAINS BROWN BUT BOTH ARE VERY DIFFERENT IS RESPECTS TO POTENTIAL RISK LEVEL WHEN REMOVING