Asbestos kills 3000 people each year through accidental exposure, knowing where it is located through an asbestos survey and the effective management of those materials, will help reduce these preventable deaths by identifying these materials before they are disturbed.

An asbestos survey (type 2) is a visual check of a building (together with sampling) for asbestos containing materials to establish asbestos material content and asbestos risk within a property. This enables the building 'duty holder' to prevent asbestos exposure by ensuring people don't disturb the asbestos materials and by making sure they stay in a safe condition.

It is not a requirement to remove any asbestos (only in extremely rare cases) and it is not a reason to panic, it is the process of gathering the correct information in order to reduce the risks of asbestos exposure from the material based on a detailed report. You will be expected to follow any recommendations listed in the report to ensure the safety of the materials and those working in the building.

Common mistakes

Asbestos materials are not as easy to spot as some people might think, it is not just the common well known asbestos materials that may be present, many people have been exposed because of their limited knowledge or because of bad advice from someone unqualified.

Asbestos materials were still being used in buildings as late as 1999, any property built before that date should still have an asbestos survey, even if its a 'no suspect materials found' survey.

The way you reduce the risk of asbestos exposure from the asbestos hazard is to know where it is and to manage it (sealing, labels, damage prevention, inspections), the best way to find it is in an accurate asbestos survey, thereby make it much easier to avoid disturbance and exposure. Before you carry out any work to the property you refer to the survey/register to make sure the material you are going to disturb is not asbestos, if it is asbestos then you either work around it, change the scope or have it safely removed by licensed contractors.

Why do I need an inspection?

The main reason for asbestos surveys is to prevent unnecessary exposure, not to make money and not to inconvenience employers and building/house owners. With over 3000 deaths each years from asbestos exposure the requirement for a survey is aimed at reducing the number of deaths from preventable exposure.

Knowing where it is in your building's and knowing what condition its in is a good start. It's actually a fairly logical development of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Both of these require employers, landlords etc  to provide a safe place of work for their staff, visitors or tenants, in order for them to comply with that requirement they need to assess the risks and hazards that exist in the workplace/building and use all practical methods to reduce the risk of harm to its lowest practical level.

So what can I expect during the inspection?

The most common type 2 survey involves a walk around to estimate samples and access problems (high level, locked doors etc), the survey is scheduled for a certain date when the most practical access is available. I usually work top to bottom and access the loft or roof space first, using a powerful torch to seek materials that are historically known to contain asbestos, corrugated cement roofs can be strongly assumed to contain asbestos if access is a problem (98%) are proven positive for asbestos content when sampled.

Discretion is an important part of surveying and if questioned by staff etc a 'general building condition survey' is given as a reason for nosing around and if challenged openly about asbestos materials we usually explain the real risks from materials that are in good condition are actually very low.

Any suspect materials found are sampled using approved techniques to reduce the risk to the surveyor and staff etc. Where necessary a small sheet of PVC is placed under the sample point, you don't take huge chunks of anything, just a small sample about the size of a thumbnail or smaller, the material can be sprayed with a PVA solution to suppress any fibres or use a surfactant (my choice) which a liquid designed to maximize moisture penetration into the material also as a fibre suppressant, when the material has been sprayed etc a small sample is carefully broken from the material.

For pipework insulation I have a core sampler (metal tube) that is used together with moist cloths (baby wipes) acting as plugs in the tube and insulation material. All sample points are made good with tape and resealed. I used the same tubes for textured ceilings (after cleaning it of course), the open end of the tube is sealed with the sample bag, the sharp end of the tube is pressed against the ceiling and rolled from side to side to release small amount of material, all the material travels down the tube into the sample bag and not everywhere else. 

Cement based and composite (plastics, resins, bitumen etc) are low risk because of their low friability and can be sampled using a pair of pliers (with the teeth ground off to avoid contamination)  or sharp tool, cement based materials are usually sprayed anyway by default.

The samples descriptions are written on the sample bags which have writable panels on them, the sample bag is then placed in another sample bag (double bagged) for sending to an accredited lab.

A photo or several photos are taken of each sample location and the photo number is used to match the sample on written on the sample bag.

A sketch may be made of each floor and sample locations marked for including in the final report

The Dangers of Asbestos Exposure?

The first 'wave' of asbestos related deaths from exposure was mainly the people who mined it and made materials with it, this also includes the people who installed it in factories and ships etc.

The second 'wave' of asbestos related deaths are expected to be the tradesmen who disturb it on a regular basis, mainly without knowing the nature of the material. Plumbers, electricians, shop fitters, carpenters, builders, maintenance engineers, pipe fitters, roofers, caretakers, laggers, in fact anyone who disturbs building materials on a regular basis, the more exposure the higher the risk of asbestos related health problems.

A legal survey must include various details about the materials: material type, asbestos type, amount of material, location in building, condition, surface treatment (sealed etc), location assessment (number of people, how long occupied, how often occupied, likely disturbance by main activity) disturbance assessment (likely disturbed by maintenance, air volume of location, accessibility).The above parameters need to be assigned a weighted score based on the risk factors so that the total risk from each material can be calculated and used to provide a priority assessment. The priority assessment is just that, a list of materials that need to be dealt with in order of priority based on the scoring, most materials will be low scoring (in my experience) and will simply require an annual inspection.

If you have materials that produce a high score then the required action will be obvious and stated in the surveyors comments e.g.: "Encapsulate and label, prevent further damage, install mechanical protection" etc, once these measures are implemented then the scoring will be reduced accordingly.

The survey should also include a photo with description and the surveyor's comments and/or recommendations for ensuring continued safety of the material and any remedial measures required.

If samples are taken then the certificate of analysis should be included with a clear written description of where the samples were taken from and correspond with the sample numbers in the survey.

The drawings should also clearly show the extent of the asbestos materials and where the samples were taken from, showing sample numbers.