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Is There Asbestos in Your Building? The Control of Asbestos At Work Regulations 2002 (CAWR), requires those with resp onsibilities for the repair and maintenance of non-domestic premises to find out by means of a survey, if there are, or may be, asbestos-containing materials within them. It also requires them to record the location and condition of such materials, and then assess and manage any risk from them, including passing on information about their location and condition to anyone liable to disturb them. The surveys are carried out in ac cordance with the requirements of the Health and Safety Executive guidance document MDHS 100 – Surveying, Sampling and Assessment of Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs). This will be undertaken in order to locate and identify the presence or suspected presence of any asbestos containing materials within all reasonably accessible areas of the defined site required to be inspected.
| What is Asbestos? Asbestos is the name given to a number of naturally occurring, fibrous silicate minerals mined for their useful properties such as thermal insulation, chemical and thermal stability, and high tensile strength. Asbestos is commonly used as an acoustic insulator, thermal insulation, fire proofing and in other building materials. Many products are in use today that contain asbestos.Asbestos is made up of  microscopic bundles of fibers that may become airborne when asbestos-containing materials are damaged or disturbed. When these fibers get into the air they may be inhaled into the lungs, where they can cause significant health problems. Types of Asbestos
There are three common types of asbestos:
• Chrysotile (white)
• Amosite (brown)
• Crocidolite (blue)
Asbestos cannot be identified by product colour alone. Professional microscopic analysis is required for material type confirmation. All forms of asbestos are now banned by law and are not being imported, supplied or manufactured in the UK.
| So where am I Likely to Find Asbestos? Building materials containing asbestos were widely used from 1930 to around 1980, particularly from the 1960s onwards. So, houses and flats built or refurbished at this time may contain asbestos materials. Asbestos has also been used in some heat-resistant household products, such as oven gloves and ironing boards. The use of asbestos in these products fell around the mid-1980s and, since 1993, the Government has banned the use of asbestos in most products.
Insulating board
(asbestos content 20% to 45%)
Insulating board has been used for fire protection and heat and sound insulation. It is particularly common in housing built in the 1960s and 1970s.
Lagging
(asbestos content 55% to 100%)
Asbestos lagging has been used for thermal insulation of pipes and boilers. It was widely used in public buildings and system built flats during the 1960s to early 1970s in areas such as boiler houses and heating plants. Sprayed coating
(asbestos content up to 85%)
Sprayed asbestos coatings were used to protect structural steel from fire. They are often found in system-built flats which were built during the 1960s. The coatings were mainly applied around the core of the building such as in service ducts, lift shafts, and so on. Builders stopped using asbestos coatings in 1974, and the spraying of asbestos has been banned since 1986.
Asbestos-cement products
(asbestos content mainly 10% to 15%, but sometimes up to 40%)
Asbestos cement is the most widely used asbestos material. It is found in many types of building as shaped sheets for roofing and wall cladding, in flat sheets and partition boards for linings to walls and ceilings, in bath panels, soffit boards, fire surrounds, flue pipes, cold-water tanks and as roofing tiles and slates. It has often been used as roofing and cladding for garages and sheds and also in guttering and drainpipes. It has not been used as much since 1976.
Other buildings materials and products
Asbestos has been used in a variety of other building materials, for example, in decorative coatings such as Artex, textured paints and plasters. These are still widely in place, but since 1998, the Government has banned supplying or using these. Plastic floor tiles, cushion flooring, roofing felts, tapes, ropes, felts and blankets can also contain asbestos. Health Effects of Asbestos Exposure Exposure to inhalation of asbestos fibres can lead to a number of diseases including:
Asbestosis or fibrosis (scarring) of the lungs
Lung cancer
Mesothelioma
There are no known cures for asbestos related diseases. It is possible that repeated low-Ievel exposures can lead to asbestos related diseases, although high exposure for long periods is linked more clearly to these illnesses. It is reported that many of those suffering today from asbestos related diseases historically worked with the manufacture of asbestos containing products and building trades.
Asbestos related diseases are currently responsible for about 3000 deaths a year in Britain.
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