How and When To Work With Asbestos

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Asbestos Regulations states that employers and self-employed are required to prevent exposure to asbestos fibers when working with asbestos or doing work that may potentially disturb asbestos in any way. When it is not reasonably practicable, the Regulations state that they must make sure that exposure is kept as low as reasonably practicable by any other measures other than using respiratory protective equipment. Also, further spreading of asbestos fibers must be prevented at all costs.

If the Control of Asbestos and Regulations enforcers, the HSE, know that you are potentially working with asbestos or your employees are exposed or working with it, they will go and specify the work methods and controls that should be used to prevent exposure and spreading of asbestos fibers.

Below are a few airborne exposure limit, also called Control Limits, that Asbestos Regulations have set:

1. 0.1 fibers per cm3 - for all kinds of asbestos fiber for four hours of exposure

2. 0.6 fibers per cm3 - for short term exposures lasting for ten minutes

Exposure and working with asbestos should require protective equipment so as to minimise risks as much as possible.

How to Remove Asbestos

HSE requires that only HSE-licensed contractors remove asbestos or asbestos-containing materials. However, decisions on whether a particular job or work needs a license depend on the RISKS that it involves.

Licensing is not required if:

1. The exposure that workers ought to asbestos fibers are sporadic and of minimal intensity. But exposure is not considered sporadic or low intensity if the asbestos concentration in the workplace air exceeds 0.6 fibers per cm3, over a duration of 10 minutes.

2. Risks assessment confirms that the worker will not exceed the Control Limit's exposure to asbestos. This generally indicates that the work involed is:

a. Maintenance activities that are short and non-continuous. The following occurs whenever the job entails one individual, and the actions last less than an hour, in a seven-day time period. The total number of hours spent by all the workers to remove asbestos or asbestos material should not exceed two hours;

b. When the asbestos fibers in the material to be removed are firmly linked in a matrix. These materials include: asbestos cement, rubber or resin that contains asbestos, and plastic. Supplies which contain asbestos for their thermal and acoustic properties, like vinyl floor tiles, roof covering felt, and electrical cables, and also insulating material products that are used for high temperatures but have no insulation purposes, like gaskets, washers, seals and ropes, are also included;

c. Encapsulating and sealing asbestos-containing materials in good conditions; and

d. Collecting and examining samples for control and air monitoring.

In retrospect, under the Asbestos Regulations, workers who work on asbestos insulating material, asbestos fiber coverting, or asbestos insulating board (AIB) requires a license from the Health and Safety Executive.

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