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Asbestos Risk when installing
We fitted a fascia sign last week, nothing startling, just 3mm composite with cut vinyl, screwed into the wooden fascia boards, that were in surprisingly good condition.
Just walked past the shop today, to find it covered with yellow and black and tape, and a hand written warning notice about asbestos. :blushing:
Looks a little amateurish so I’m more concerned it’s an attempt to get out of paying the balance, than the asbestos risk to health 😆 .
But it did get me thinking… We’ve never asked about asbestos, most of the customers (like this job) probably have no idea what’s in the building, we just assume it’s wood/plasterboard etc, and crack on installing.
As we’re only a small company, we’ve no legal obligation to produce a Risk Assessment for each job (although would be the best practice)
What’s the consensus with other installers? Do you Consider the asbestos risk, or just get on with it?
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16 Replies
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Are you sure it was wooden boards? How long were the screws and tbh unless you were breaking the boards apart and fibers were flying around I wouldn’t have thought there would be any damage done.
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I believe that the use of asbestos was banned in the 90’s
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Certainly wooden boards, screws were only 20-25mm, no pilot holes, just self tapping through the composite into the wooden fascia.
Just never given it a second thought… the sign painted on the fascia was old enough to have the old area dialling code painted on it 😆
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Asbestos in the paint [emoji40]
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Nothing to worry about for you but maybe the owner had some other work done and it was discovered.
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Perhaps… they paid their deposit in November, and only approved the sign in Jan, installed last week.
Perhaps something we should ask when installing, especially inside older buildings?
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Was it the sign that was covered in warning tape – or the shop entrance itself?
If it was the sign – perhaps someone has mistaken the polyethylene composite core material thinking it was asbestos and so condemned it 😆
But in answer to your question, I have been asked to provide proof that I had been given training on asbestos awareness by supplying an asbestos awareness certificate when fitting signs in a public building. Perhaps local government officials are becoming preoccupied by this just now?
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The tape was across the shutters, but the asbestos warning, was just written in a marker pen on a bit of a paper 😆
If it’s legit I need to find the company and give sell them some proper signs 😆
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Been here. Old building. High up. Could not get a fixing for love nor money. First time we were behind for the day, so it was dark and we have the van lights pointed roughly in our direction. Fixings just came right out as soon as they were in. Called the customer, explained we needed a longer screw which we didn’t have. Went back a few days later armed with a workshop or screw variations. Few attempts later gave up. Quick google. Asbestos was the answer by looks of it. Customer knew, or at least wasn’t surprised when I called.
As far as I can gather short term exposure won’t cause any long term harm. I think it’s the poor guys that worked with it day on day our, breaking it up etc.. so am hoping anyway
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This is quite an interesting subject….
We recently fitted a sign on the grey concrete corrugated type cladding, I suspected it was asbestos and asked the customer who insisted it was but was removed about 10 years ago, however the cladding looked much older than 10 years old.
My question is how do we recognise potential asbestos without sending it away for testing?
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quote Stephen Ingham:This is quite an interesting subject….
We recently fitted a sign on the grey concrete corrugated type cladding, I suspected it was asbestos and asked the customer who insisted it was but was removed about 10 years ago, however the cladding looked much older than 10 years old.
My question is how do we recognise potential asbestos without sending it away for testing?
I may be misunderstanding here but the client said yes it was asbestos but it had been removed yet the cladding was still there.
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Just looked on the HSE website (which is quite good actually)
If you’re not sure if it is asbestos and don’t want to test it, you should assume it is.
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Interesting article that came up on one of my news feeds today
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/best … 43.article -
quote :Building owners, or those responsible for repair and maintenance, are required to assess whether a building contains asbestos and make this information available to anyone working on it.
Good luck with that.
Where we’ve done work with larger companies the risk assessment is requested as a matter of course… but for the remainder of the jobs, some customers don’t know the what day of the week it is, let alone if there’s asbestos in their building, and don’t particularly care, so long as their sign is up, and don’t care how it’s put up.
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I fitted some Xmas window displays for a major High St retailer at the end of last year.
I had to pass a 2hr online asbestos awareness training course in order to be allowed on site……we were not allowed drills on site because they were so paranoid about asbestos.
John
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I have an asbestos report for both my units which I got when I started leasing them 4 years ago. They said because it was found in one sample in a different unit, everything should be assumed to have asbestos in it….
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