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Posted By Dominic Smyth
We have an area where there is known asbestos debris (chrysotile) and this is recorded within asbstos survey. recommendations are that the area undergoes a full environmental clean which has not occured yet. If urgent essential work is required in the area does it HAVE to be by a licenced contractor?
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Posted By paulw71
It depends on the duration of the work, the type of acm and the findings of the risk assessment that should be done to establish fibre release levels.
Also all workers involved in this must be trained and competant and sorry to say this but if your asking the question you are. then I dont feel that you should be tackling it.
No offence meant
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Posted By paulw71
If it is urgent and your worried about the 14 day notification the removal company can allways apply to the hse for a waiver (if theres a good reason.)
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Posted By Dominic Smyth
Cheers Paul and no offence taken. The debris is from insulation and a date for removal hasnt even been given. We're being pushed to go in and deal with emergency maintenance and I dont think we should be
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Posted By paulw71
no dont
asbestos insulation is licensable . Best thing is corden off the area and put signs up warning of the asbestos, get liscensed contractor in. tell them you need it sorting urgently (if that is the case) and write a letter to the hse stating why you cannot wait the 14 days.
the contractor can send that with the asb5 notification and with luck will be granted a waiver to do it asap.
Good Luck
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Posted By lewes
Am I right in thinking that you are permitted to undertake 1 hour of EMERGENCY WORK over a 2 week period and you would be able to tackle this problem without the need for 14 Day notification.
All the usual appropriate safety steps must still be adopted to contain the release of fibres but this may be a suitable way to deal with your problem.
However, if its Chrysotile then this isnt notifiable if I recall. You just have to have a competent persons to undertake the work with appropriate equipment ie. 'H' Type Vac
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Posted By H Baker
emergency work...
NO! Not under the current regs.
Chrysotile isnt notifiable
YES IT COULD BE! Unless it's cement
Get someone to assess what the material is and what the requirements are to remove it.
You'll need to satisfy yourself that asbestos is being adequately managed and why it was damaged which is a potential breach of CAR 06 in itself.
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Posted By paulw71
Lewes
It is not the type of asbestos that defines wether it is notifiable but how securely the fibres are contained within the acm.
Asbestos insulation and insulation board is notifiable as it is easily damaged causing fibre release.
Also the 1 hour time duration relates to 1 person only and includes all aspects of the work including setting up enclosures, clearing the area.
on top of all this a risk assessment needs to be done first, the person doing the work would need to be trained and then post clearance air tests need to be carried out.
Save time and money and get someone who knows what they`re doing and have the right equipment.
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Posted By lewes
Would it not come under Reg 8 - CAR 2006.
Most asbestos removal work must be undertaken by a licenced contractor but any decision on whether particular work is licensable is based on risk. Work is only exempt from licensing if:
- The exposure of employees to asbestos fibres is sporadic and of low intensity (but exposure cannot be considered to be sporadic and of low intensity if the concentration of asbestos in the air is liable to exceed 0.6 fibres per Cm3 measured over 10 minutes).
- It is clear from the risk assessment that the exposure of any employee to asbestos will not exceed the exposure limit, and
- short, non-continuous maintenance activities work can only be considered non-continuous maintenance activities if any one person carries out work with these materials for less than one hour in a seven day period. The total time spent by all workers should not exceed a total of two hours.
- Removal of materials in which the asbestos fibres are firmly linked in a matrix. Such materials include: asbestos cement, plastic etc etc
- Encapsulation or sealing of asbestos-containing materials which are in good condition or
- air monitoring and control and the collection and analysis of samples to find out if a specific material contains asbestos.
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
If the risk assessment foresees the fibre level exceeding 0.01 fibres/ml then the work, whatever it is, has to undertaken by a licensed contractor. You have two choices -
1) Clean the area using a licensed contractor and then use the appropriate contractor to do the other work
2) Use a licensed contractor to undertake the immediate work including cleaning the area first of all.
Six of one or half a dozen of the other!
As to the question of a waiver from the 14 days I think you may find the HSE ratehr reluctant as the need for cleaning has been left for some period of time since the need was identified. In fact the mere asking for a waiver could well lead to an investigation of your Asbestos Management Plan - ther appears to be some elements that are deficient.
If you senior management elect to go ahead then they need to be aware of the consequences - there have been a number of cases through the courts recently, see the HSE press releases.
Bob
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Posted By Dominic Smyth
Many thanks for all replies but Im still confused- Its Friday and admittedly doesnt take much. If asbestos debris is in an area and air monitoring undertaken which falls within acceptable limits, can staff enter the area for short periods of essential maintenance work without notifying HSE?
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Posted By Chris L
Dominic - Entry depends on your risk assessment: Will entry to the area for simple maintenance disturb the asbestos? If not, carry on, but if so the area should be locked off until it can be cleaned.
Obviously the person making this risk assessment must be competent to make that judgment correctly and if there's any doubt, don't go in.
From what I've seen so far, a doubt definitely exists......
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Posted By Liz Maw
Hi Dominic
Just had a very similar situation myself where some of your electricians were going into a roof void to pull cables through. The orignial electrical contractor who we were working for knew about the presence of asbestos but did not pass this information on to us. It was only the actions of a supervisor carrying out a site pre-check that raised concerns about a potential risk (thank goodness I did the asbestos awareness training!)
The other electrical contractors had been in the roof void doing some work, wearing some type of PPE/RPE I assume but we wrote to these contractors stating that we were not prepared to do this because we were highly likely to disturb the material and make it air borne due to our activities, and because our guys are not specifically trained to work with asbestos.
Good luck with it all!
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