Join the Asbestos Knowledge Empire Facebook Community : In this episode Neil and Ian discuss asbestos reinspection intervals. When should asbestos reinspections be undertaken, who should undertake them and what should they include.
Ian: Welcome to the Asbestos Knowledge Empire. I’m Ian Stone.
Neil: I’m Neil Munro.
Ian: So today we are talking about Asbestos re-inspections.
Neil: Yes, what is that asbestos re-inspection? Different from a survey.
Ian: Well… Exactly that, that’s what I was going to start with.
Neil: So… and usually that follow on from sort of a survey etcetera, so using base information, so you should really have an existing asbestos register.
Ian: Usually that’s from a management survey.
Neil: Yeah, could have survey information added to it. So it is basically taking the existing asbestos information.
Ian: So you know what it is, where it is, the condition that’s in and then it is re-inspecting that so a visual check, go into the location that it’s in, and looking at the material and comparing it to what data you’ve got, what the photo previously looked like making sure there is no deterioration, there is no cracks, there is no signs of deterioration. You are checking for water leaks, all sorts of stuff. Basically anything that could affect that material in its location.
Neil: And it is part of that process you’d be updating the material risk assessment. So the material risk assessment looks at how easily or how readily that asbestos material will release asbestos fiber should it be damaged. And it looks at the product type so what asbestos product it is. It looks at the condition so whether it is in a good condition or whether it is damaged. It will also look at the surface treatment so whether it is sealed, or unsealed, or it could self sealed. And It will also look at taking to account what asbestos fiber has been identified in them too. So that’s probably the most important is updating that information, that assessment because then that falls in and follows in with your priority risk assessment and then your overall risk on how you manage that material.
Ian: If you are going to re-inspect and last year the asbestos insulating board ceiling was in a lovely condition. It was all painted and it was all fine. This year you have re-inspection undertaken and for some reason, I don’t know, weathering or water leak because the paint is now flaking off.
Neil: Chipped it, damaged it.
Ian: Yeah, exactly, anything that could affect it then that is kind of the first call of the material has changed. So the risk assessment has changed so it might go from a medium risk up into the high risk category. But also with that like you say, it is the priority risk assessment. That’s a very important one to check when you are doing the re-inspection because you could have something that’s low risk, or say medium or high risk but it is in a very low risk area. However, in the course of the last 12 months that use of that area has changed. I’ve seen that before in school halls where you got a store covered and they store hockey sticks in there, so the hockey sticks come out once a year for one week and that’s the only time they play hockey. However, in the last 12 months they’ve cleared all that out, put it somewhere else and now that is the caretaker store, and they are in there at all day every day. Or they are in there that now becomes their material store so the risk of damaging stuff when they are dragging equipment and getting it out, it’s kind of increases the risk of any asbestos being damaged in that area.
Neil: Yeah. So the golden question and the question we get asked quite a lot, and it is a bit of a gray area when it comes to putting some specific down. So that is when and how often should these re-inspections be undertaken?
Ian: Yeah, and from an industry standpoint it is kind of always been 12 months.
Neil: Yeah, which I think is probably the benchmark.
Ian: A good minimum.
Neil: Yeah, the benchmark for if you are going to do something set in 12 monthly inspections is a good place to start.
Ian: Yeah, I mean if you think about a year it is a hell of a short period of time. The older I get the quicker my life is flashing through my eyes. Twelve months is going by and that’s Christmas comes quicker every year, summers get shorter.
Neil: I think that comes down from previous guidance, documents, the proof card practice, you kind of stated re-inspections or inspection of materials should be done annually. However, when the new proof card practice was put up in whenever it was, 2012, it kind of sort of…
Ian: It reworded that section.
Neil: Yeah, reworded that element.
Ian: This section, have you got it?
Neil: Yes, so it kind of just pointed towards any identifia
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