The exposure monitoring requirements in the asbestos
regulationa, as with other Occupational Safety and Health standards, require
the employer to monitor employee exposures initially and routinely so that
appropriate hazard control measures are implemented
and maintained to protect the employees.
These requirements are intended to have the employer
regularly collect sample sets which accurately measure employee exposures with
statistical significance and a deliberate sampling strategy to demonstrate all
employee exposures in all hazardous work activities.
Employee exposure is measured by collecting
representative air samples whose aggregate sampling time is as close as
possible to the employee's full work shift, not to exceed 8 hours.Exposure
monitoring samples must be analysed by Phase Contrast Microscopy (PCM) in
accordance with the Safety Health and Welfare at Work (Exposure to Asbestos)
Regulations, 2006 Asbestos Location and Condition Surveys Under current
legislation (Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations
2006) there is a duty on employers to identify any Asbestos Containing Material
(ACM) before commencing demolition, building maintenance or removal works. When
working at a third party’s workplace, employers
and contractors must obtain information from the owner regarding ACM. If there
is any doubt as to the presence of ACM, then legislation requires that the
employer take the necessary steps to identify the presence of ACM.OHSS is
accredited by the Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB) to undertake
inspection surveys of asbestos in buildings and for the analysis of asbestos in
materials. In line with legislation, we offer 3 levels of Asbestos Location and
Condition
Surveys:
* All surveys are
carried out in accordance with MDHS 100 and HSG 248 – recognised in Ireland as
best practice from the Health and
Safety Executive in the UK.
* All our
surveyors are trained to BOHS P402 or higher standards with extensive
experience throughout the industry.
Survey Type 1: Location and Assessment Survey
(Presumptive Survey) :
The purpose of the Type 1 survey is to locate, as far as
reasonably practicable, the presence and extent of any suspect asbestos
containing materials in the building and assess their condition. An
experienced, well-trained surveyor, familiar with the range of asbestos
products, can usually, by inspection alone, say that a material can be
‘presumed’ to contain
asbestos.
However, it is much more difficult for surveyors to
presume that some materials do not contain asbestos. Many materials such as
vinyl floor tiles have exactly the same appearance whether they contain
asbestos or not.A Type 1 survey may well list many materials that are presumed
to contain asbestos that would be eliminated from the asbestos register by
laboratory analysis of representative samples of the materials.This survey
essentially defers the need to sample and analyse for asbestos (or the absence
thereof) until a later time prior to any disturbance of the material by
demolition, alteration or maintenance.The duty holder bears the potentially
significant additional costs of management for some non asbestos containing
materials.
Our experience suggests the additional cost of management
of the non asbestos containing materials usually outweighs the additional cost
of a Type 2 survey with representative sampling of such materials for
laboratory analysis.All areas are accessed and inspected as far as reasonably
practicable (e.g. above false ceilings and inside risers, service ducts, lift
shafts, etc) or where not accessible will be presumed to contain asbestos.Any
material which can reasonably be expected to contain asbestos will be presumed to
contain asbestos, and where it appears highly likely to contain asbestos, there
will be a strong presumption that it does.
Survey Type2:
Standard Sampling, Identification and Assessment Survey (Sampling Survey) :
The purpose and procedures used in this survey are the
same as for Type 1, except that representative samples are collected from
suspect ACMs and analysed for the presence of asbestos in order to confirm or
refute the surveyor’s judgement.If the material sampled is found to contain
asbestos, other similar homogeneous materials used in the same way in the building
can be strongly presumed to contain asbestos.Less homogeneous materials will
require a greater number of samples. The number should be sufficient for the
surveyor to make an assessment of whether asbestos is or is not present.We
always recommend Type 2 surveys as the additional cost of representative
sampling means the duty holder has a definitive report on all accessible asbestos
containing materials.This means the non asbestos materials determined from
laboratory analysis can be eliminated from the management plan, reducing the
cost of future management arrangements.
Survey Type 3:
Full Access Sampling and Identification Survey (Pre-demolition/Major
Refurbishment Surveys) :
This type of survey is used to locate and describe, as
far as reasonably practicable, all asbestos containing materials in the
building prior to demolition or major alteration.The inspection will involve
destructive inspection, as necessary, to gain access to all areas, including
those that may be
difficult to reach.This typically involves breaking open
ceilings floors, partitions and internal boxing. It can also mean removing part
of a roof covering that would affect the integrity of the roof covering.A full
sampling programme is undertaken to identify possible asbestos containing
materials and estimates of the volume and surface area of asbestos containing
materials is made.
The survey is designed to be used as a basis for
tendering the removal of asbestos containing materials from the building prior
to the demolition or major refurbishment so the survey does not assess the
condition of the asbestos, other than to note areas of damage or where
additional asbestos debris may be expected to be present.