Posted By Mitch Is the building scheduled for demolition?

Posted By Mitch Roger, Depending who has given you notice I would contact them or through them the contractor and voice your concerns. If they are a "competent" contarctor they will have carried out a Rislk Assessment and have a SSoW in place which they will be happy to show you. If not..... Regards Mitch

Posted By Chris Harrison we demolish many buildings of similar size and state as a matter of course. as an ex asbestos surveyor and asbestos remover firstly let me assure you that what you are looking at is one of the safer forms we have converted asbestos into, the cement within the sheets is the binding agent holding the asbestos fibres in place, most likely chrysotile (white asbestos) although there was a small amount of crocidolite (blue asbestos)sheets manufactured and used as well, and then to really confuse the issue combinations of both, in even fewer numbers. however as I stated earlier the cement is the binding agent. what should happen on a well run site is that the sheets should be removed by hand, while being wetted by a mist. I have witnessed other sites (not ours) where they were removed mechanically whilst being sprayed down. as we had the equipment available we carried out background air monitoring, which proved our fears to be ill founded. the formation of dust is where the danger lies, providing the sheets are wet there should be no issues with asbestos fibre release. the HSE currently do not require asbestos cement sheets to be removed within an enclosure. I hope that helps you if not contact me direct and i will help where i can.

Posted By db The biggest risk from these sheets is someone falling through them. There is nothing wrong with bringing the building down while the sheets are in place as long as there are adequate control measures in place - e.g. sufficient wetting (I've seen many demolition company's with their own fire engines for this purpose), air monitoring and a planned method of demolition that ensures the sheets are brought down whole without breaking them - as much as possible at least. However, this should only be done where the sheets cannot be taken down safely from underneath from a mewp. Some bolts have to be removed from above and there is much greater risk from people falling through these sheets than from any asbestos fibres. Especially if you are 10 metres away. J bolts can be cut from underneath but I've seen some buildings with so much steel lattice underneath the roof that it can be impossible to work underneath so the only option is to demolish them with the sheets in place. Of course without adequate control measures, HSE are swift to take action! http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2007/gnnwm403406.htm