Established 1986 - P402 Qualified Surveyors - HSE Licensed
47A Strand St, Sandwich, Kent CT139EU - - 29 St Lawrence Ave Ramsgate CT110HZ
Offices: 01304 614647 / 614453 (24hr) 01843 592243 - For a Prompt Service First Call Direct - 07712068424
Email for quote or specific help: asbestossurveys-kent@yahoo.co.uk
"Ah, now that's more like it, that's much clearer"
Survey Upgrades, Updates and Re-inspections
(Type 4 Asbestos Surveys)
Why Re-Inspect
Asbestos materials may change over time, either damage from minor accidents, floods, fires, severe weather etc or general deterioration of the materials or their coverings may occur. Asbestos re-inspections will keep your survey up to date and keep you in compliance with regulations, an old survey is no good if it is out of date and changes to the materials have occurred that increase the risks of exposure without you knowing. Having an asbestos survey carried out in the first place is just the first step to proper asbestos management, the date of your survey should be checked by the duty holder etc before its checked by HSE etc.
Frequency of Inspection
Most of the asbestos materials found in surveys will require at least an annual inspection as recommended in MDHS 100 and the current asbestos regulations. The frequency of the inspection should be determined by the results of the material assessment report (if you have one). The higher the score (risk) the more frequent the inspection should be.
Material Assessments
Material Assessment = The material
assessment is dealt with in detail on the Envacs page, basically it is an
assessment of the risk from a particular material based on various parameters as
detailed in MDHS100 "Surveying, Sampling and Assessment of Asbestos-Containing
Materials" 
which should be included in the asbestos survey to enable
accurate asbestos management.
Its not enough for the survey to state "its asbestos" and that's it, you need to know where the material is in relation to the workforce and what the chances of of it being disturbed are, a large section of AIB wall boarding in a busy factory is different from an AIB clad fire door in an seldom used store room.
The factory has 10 people driving fork lifts past the material every day and some minor damage has occurred, the draught caused by the constantly opening warehouse doors and the forklifts driving past is also relevant, on the other hand the store room fire door is painted, labelled and only used by one person twice a week. Although they are both the same material (AIB 40% brown asbestos)one has more chance of being disturbed than the other and the risks from the material therefore are very different. This why you need that level of information to manage the risks correctly.
The range of information that should be included in every survey/re inspection is:
Asbestos type, likely content, material type, material use, surface treatment (sealed), general condition (damage), material amount, material location, occupation level of area, occupation frequency of area, occupation duration of area, size of area, likely disturbance through normal use of area, likely disturbance through maintenance of item/plant/area.
Photos (colour), drawings (marked), asbestos register, material assessment scores, analysis certificates (from independent UKAS labs only not 'in-house') all these are used to calculate the risk and priority (priority of remediation not removal) of the material.
Upgrading / re inspecting to this level of information should seriously be considered.
High Friability Materials
Materials that have a high 'friability' (see gallery) and are located in a well occupied area or are prone to regular damage will require more regular inspection because the risk of disturbance and/or exposure is greater.
Cement Based and Composite Materials
Cement based and composite materials will be fairly straightforward but anything more friable will require an expert eye to inspect it, to ensure the risk from the material hasn't increased significantly due to damage or deterioration.
Changes to the Materials
A material that was ok last year may now represent a risk and will need remediation (encapsulation etc) to reduce the risk back to acceptable levels, this is what asbestos management is about.
Re-inspections do not take as long as the original survey and should not cost as much, they are usually based on the number of samples in the original survey to re-inspect and the appropriate admin time needed to update the report.
Envacs has a section designed for Type 4 re-inspections and the 'sample history report' it produces allows you to see a comparison between the sample comments between surveys indicating any changes to the material.
Upgrade Yours
We can upgrade your existing survey to an Envacs asbestos survey with a re-inspection of the materials, although it makes economic and legal sense to have them re-inspected at the due time. The quality and accuracy of many existing surveys leaves a lot to be desired (insufficient material assessment information - see samples and compare your survey to it and the MDHS100).
Existing Surveys
If you have any doubts about the survey you already have, please compare it to the sample survey or the downloadable MDHS 100 to see if it contains all the required information (you could even fax or email me a copy for appraisal). A bad or inaccurate survey is all but useless for complying with the law and safeguarding the occupants and tradesmen that work in the building.
Scheduled Re-Inspections
It is advisable to have the upgrade carried out during the scheduled re-inspection period for materials that contain asbestos and materials that have been removed since the last asbestos survey / inspection.
PDF Survey Reports
The cost would be a fraction of the original survey and would have all the benefits of the Envacs system including the PDF version for emailing to interested parties.
Web Browser Asbestos Reports
The survey could also be converted to the web browser version for instant access and distribution via an internal network.
Call us to get a quotation and a further explanation of the benefits
01304 614647 - 0771 2068424