What should the reaction of an insurance company be in a situation where asbestos has been disturbed. The situation A leaking water pipe has disturbed the ceiling. It is an artex ceiling of considerable age so at this moment assumed asbestos. Unfortunately, during drying parts of the artex ceiling are dropping onto the kitchen and into the sink. Thoughts appreciated in advance

Hi Brett, I think that the insurance company may be un-interested in this. Of course you should have procedures in place to remove/repair the ceiling, the first part of which may be establishing the asbestos content, if any, of the artex ceiling. As for the insurance company expecting a claim, this is highly unlikely at this stage. If, and its a big IF, anyone has been exposed to asbestos, and even if it is in the artex, it will be well contained, (ie not frayable into fibres) then the liklihood of anyone inhaling it and getting asbestosis is unlikely. For a claim to be submitted, the asbestosis needs to be diagnosed, and since the condition usually shows up over a long term ie years, then a claim is unlikely? Are you a housing association or tenanted association? If you are, then you will probably be aware that a proportion of your residents will expect compensation for anything and everything? By all means tell your insurance company, but so long as you deal with the artex, and remove it safely, there is little to worry about! Holmezy

Difficult to get too excited about this to be honest. Involvement of the Insurer could range from giving you money to get things fixed, or they may be engaging competent contractors to fix it. Depending on the scale of damage this could be a patch, patch and skim or the whole ceiling might have to be replaced. Loss adjuster would make that assessment. As regards the textured coating debris, in an entirely domestic context, I would expect the householder to put it in the bin. Fibre release potential (presuming this is ACM) is I think negligible.

Oops found a useful link here: http://www.southampton.g...ment/Asbestos_advice.asp Your local council advice may be slightly different but similar Des

Edinburgh Council must be very far ahead of the game in ACM collection and disposal! In reality, beyond this little emergency scenario, the gross amount of textured coatings removed (or sanded!) every year by householders will be highly significant. I think it unlikely that any of that DIY (and local trade) material ever sees a special waste disposal stream.

The removal of Artex and textured ceilings is covered in "The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006", which changed the rules on the removal of Artex. Previously it had to be done by a licensed firm and notified in advance. This legislation changed all that, much to the annoyance of the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA), as this had been a good source of income for its members. Under this legislation, the removal of artex and textured ceilings no longer requires it to be :- • carried out by a licensed contractor, • to give 14 days notification to the enforcing authority prior to the work commencing, • submission of the plan of work, risk assessment and related documents to HSE / EHO. As such, work on textured coatings can now be carried out by general building contractors, for example, without the need for full control measures or independent assessment and certification of reoccupation.

I think the only claim here on insurance is the owner of the building claiming against their own building insurance for remedial work to be done as a results of the water damage. The only confounding factor was that the ceiling, being artex and a certain age was likely to contain asbestos. Interesting point though JFW, with the impending changes to the CAR, would it be in the future that this activity moves into the notifiable non-licensable work (NNLW) category? The reason being that you are degrading or damaging the product during removal. Des

Interesting observations, I have had little dealing with artexed ceilings although I'm aware of the potential for ACMs, glad to see most consider it low-risk and non-licensed work. 'Special waste'? I think that it a term still used north of the border but down south we use the term 'hazardous waste' for ACMs, correct me if I'm wrong. Merry xmas.