Asbestos - still a hazard in the built environment
By Richard Pomeroy, Director, Asbestos Projects, Casella London Ltd.
Asbestos - a known carcinogen - is still a major problem in many buildings where building owners/occupiers have undertaken inadequate risk assessments and have inaccurate asbestos registers. In a recent case study, a building, leased to a company, was riddled with asbestos insulation in poor condition and unlabelled. Both the building owner and the tenant were negligent and have left themselves not only open to prosecution by the HSE in accordance with current legislation but also vulnerable to potential claims from persons who may have been exposed to asbestos in the workplace.
The HSE has recently increased the intensity of their campaign to warn people of the dangers of asbestos and are intent on bringing about prosecutions where building owners and employers have been negligent. To this end, there is also a campaign planned to check up on the asbestos removal companies and air monitoring/analytical companies in order to assess their competence and compliance with current legislation. The cowboys are still out there, but not for long hopefully.
By the year 2010 the HSE have estimated that between 7000 - 10000 people per year will die from asbestos related diseases. This figure is equivalent to approximately 1% of the annual male mortality rate. The current number of asbestos related deaths is approximately 3000 -3500 annually - about a 1000 cases being caused by mesothelioma, the disease of which the only known cause is exposure to asbestos. The above figures are alarming considering that only approximately 100 deaths occurred in the construction industry last year through accidents in the workplace. The current asbestos related fatalities are alarmingly similar to the total number of people killed on the roads last year (3,560).
Recent asbestos surveys undertaken and the compilation of Asbestos Materials in Buildings Registers by Casella in the public and private sectors have highlighted that a significant percentage of building owners/managers are still in the dark when it comes to identifying and managing asbestos in their buildings. All too often the phrase 'well it's only board' is uttered by 'responsible' building managers (and even safety representatives) whilst referring to amosite(brown asbestos) insulation board - AIB. It is this attitude which has led to situations where amosite AIB firebreaks in ceiling voids have been smashed/breached by the installation of fire alarm cables exposing the installation operatives, and other innocent building occupants, to high levels of airborne asbestos. This, incidentally also breaks the integrity of the fire cell which is a hazard in its own right.
Has your building been networked with cable installations recently? Did you conduct an asbestos risk assessment?
The misconception that the removal of amosite AIB is less prone to complication than the removal of pipe insulation or sprayed limpet asbestos is dangerous and misleading. In fact since the introduction of wet stripping techniques in 1994, far higher fibre levels have been recorded when stripping AIB than when removing adequately wetted pipe insulation or sprayed limpet. The HSE have reported that the control limits for amosite can be far exceeded by the simple unscrewing of an AIB ceiling tile. AIB must therefore be removed under controlled conditions - but first you need to know exactly where it is.
For further information please contact:
Richard Pomeroy, Casella London Limited (020) 8880-4561/2
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