Asbestos

Asbestos is a natural mineral that was widely used as a building material in the UK between the 1950’s and 1980’s due to its heat and fire resistant properties, as well as being a good insulator and very hard wearing. It can be found in any building built or refurbished before 2000.

In Scotland asbestos is classed as Special Waste and therefore requires to be disposed of by a licensed waste carrier at a site licensed to accept asbestos waste. All movements of special waste must be accompanied by a Special Waste Consignment Note. Contact SEPA (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) for more information.

Small quantities of Asbestos Roof Sheeting may be accepted for disposal at Comhairle sites; however, you must contact your nearest waste facility for advice on what they require from you when disposing of asbestos:

Bennadrove Landfill Site : 01851 706 744
Market Stance : 01870 604 998

Working With Asbestos

Asbestos can be found in any building built before the year 2000 (houses, factories, offices, schools, hospitals etc.) and causes around 5000 deaths every year.

Why Is Asbestos Dangerous?

When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. When these fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer. These diseases will not affect you immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything. This is why it is important that you protect yourself now.

There are 3 main types of asbestos still found in premises. These are commonly called:

Blue Asbestos (crocidolite)
Brown Asbestos (amosite)
White Asbestos (chrysotile)

All of them are dangerous, but blue and brown asbestos are more hazardous than white. You cannot identify them just by their colour.

More information on where you can find asbestos in industrial (below left) and residential (below right) buildings is available from the HSE website.

An industrial property that highlights where asbestos may be found

A residential property that highlights where asbestos may be found

What You Need To Do When Working With Asbestos

Before starting work you need to check what asbestos is present, in commercial properties there should be a plan/register – ask to see it. You need to check that the plan covers the area of the building that you will be working in, and if you are doing refurbishment work that it includes a survey that tells you what types of asbestos is present and its condition.

If there is no register or survey or the report is not clear – do not start work. Alternatively, you can assume that any material you need to disturb does contain asbestos. The client also needs to see your plan of work to understand what work you are going to do, and how. They must also tell you where any asbestos containing materials (or materials presumed to contain asbestos) are, that you are likely to meet, and this information should be specific.

Everyone who works with, or may disturb asbestos, must be properly trained (including the self-employed).

What Is The Difference Between Non-Licensed And Licensed Asbestos Work?

Non-licensed Work

Some materials are lower risk and you can work on them providing you take the right safety precautions – this is known as non-licensed asbestos work.

Non-licensed work includes work on asbestos-containing textured coatings and asbestos cement.

Is it notifiable non-licensed work?

All non-licensed work needs to be carried out with the appropriate controls in place. However, for some types of work, employers must meet additional requirements. This is known as notifiable non-licensed work (NNLW), and requires employers to:

notify work with asbestos to the relevant enforcing authority
designate (identify) areas where the work is being done
ensure medical examinations are carried out
maintain registers of work (health records)

To decide if the work is NNLW, you will need to consider the type of work you are going to carry out, the type of material you are going to work on and its condition.

More information is available on the NNLW section of the HSE website (Opens in a new window or downloads a file).

Licensed Work

Some materials are too dangerous for you to work on and only a licensed asbestos contractor can carry out these jobs – this is known as licensed asbestos work.

Do not touch the following materials, they should only be worked on by a licensed asbestos contractor:

Asbestos loose fill insulation
Asbestos sprayed coating, known as limpet
Pre-formed insulation e.g. asbestos pipe lagging
Asbestos insulating board (AIB) e.g. removing ceiling tiles or panels, where the job takes more than two hours from start to finish
Large amounts of asbestos-containing debris or material e.g. clearing up after a fire, flood or water leak

The HSE website also has a page listing all the Asbestos Essentials (Opens in a new window or downloads a file) for advice and information for those carrying out non-licensed work.

REMEMBER

Three simple things will help keep you safe when doing asbestos work:

Keep dust down
Use the right kit
Clean up properly