asbestos survey - where do we stand??

[Oops_my_bad]

During the half term we had a contractor request access to the server room whilst he “tested” for asbestos.

 

When we realised he was about to start drilling it was at this point he was sent away

 

My main concern is this contractor had no hesitation in drilling and potentially disturbing asbestos whilst we where in the nearby vicinity. Which is frankly shocking.

 

I am not a stickler for health & safety but as far as asbestos is concerned I am not taking any chances with myself or my colleagues.

 

What should I do?? As I think they will be back to drill - I dont know how safe it is to be around when they're "drilling" - even if they've drilled in other areas of the school and when it's safe to go back in

 

Are we right to be concerned?? Or am I just being stupid? Surely as a contractor employed by the LEA they will know what's safe???

Edited November 7, 2008 by Oops_my_bad

[MrPstv]

Had a contractor in the summer who done just that, have to find out somehow,filled the holes up afterwards.any asbestos will be labeled if found. They only take small samples to get tested. Not a problem. No need to worry.

[Ric_]

You just need to raise the concern with your head pointing out both the ill-thought-out safety precautions (wandering into a room and drilling a hole because he thinks that there is asbestos there!) and the fact that any drilling in that particular room will require the shutdown of the servers... servers + brick dust = BAD!

[enjay]

As I understand it, the effects are cumulative, so the tiny exposure you would get if the guy did hit asbestos wouldn't do you any harm.

 

He would also only be making a very small hole, which would only generate a minute amount of dust (so your servers are safe, too).

[MrPstv]

Dont worry. Brick dust?(tiny amount) i dont think they will be doing a demolition!

Why do the odd few blow things out of proportion?

[Andrew_C]

From the Gov:-

 

Asbestos fibres are present in the environment in Great Britain so people are exposed to very low levels of fibres. However, a key factor in the risk of developing an asbestos-related disease is the total number of fibres breathed in. Working on or near damaged asbestos-containing materials or breathing in high levels of asbestos fibres, which may be many hundreds of times that of environmental levels could increase your chances of getting an asbestos-related disease.

 

When these fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases which are responsible for around 4000 deaths a year. There are three main diseases caused by asbestos: mesothelioma (which is always fatal), lung cancer (almost always fatal) and asbestosis (not always fatal, but it can be very debilitating).

 

Remember, these diseases will not affect you immediately but later on in life, so there is a need for you to protect yourself now to prevent you contracting an asbestos-related disease in the future. It is also important to remember that people who smoke and are also exposed to asbestos fibres are at a much greater risk of developing lung cancer.

[Oops_my_bad]

Dont worry. Brick dust?(tiny amount) i dont think they will be doing a demolition!

Why do the odd few blow things out of proportion?

 

Ah.. good to see we have an asbestos expert on the forums.

 

It is a pre-rewire asbestos survey so it will be pretty indepth And pardon me for being concerned about the welfare of myself and collegues, but it's not as if we're trying to find excuses to not do our job is it...............................

[Andrew_C]

See also the Asbestos Watchdog site, who are less reactionary than most.

[Gatt]

We've had an asbestos survey - most of the floors and the science rooms have the stuff - all contained in the Asbestos Register with the Site Manager.

[MrPstv]

Ah.. good to see we have an asbestos expert on the forums.

 

It is a pre-rewire asbestos survey so it will be pretty indepth And pardon me for being concerned about the welfare of myself and collegues, but it's not as if we're trying to find excuses to not do our job is it...............................

Thanks

[sidewinder]

Im no expert at all but surely they have to drill at least a small hole else how would they find out?

 

Personally I'd just let them and not be anywhere near while they were doing it.

 

We had a complete Asbestos survey done, I've got a copy, but they have called every block and room different names, so its almost impossible to find out if it is in certain rooms

[Ric_]

Dont worry. Brick dust?(tiny amount) i dont think they will be doing a demolition!

Why do the odd few blow things out of proportion?

 

Brick dust is horrible... you may be lucky and not have the horrible bricks that we do. Whenever anybody drills into a wall here, you end up with a disproportianately large amount of incredibly fine red dust.

 

We had some work done over a term break... ALL the servers were shut down and the entire rack was encased in bin bags. A week later the room had been cleaned and the servers were switched on again... there was still sufficient dust in the air to be sucked through the air intakes of my servers!

 

I think I'd rather air on the side of caution and protect my £40k-worth of servers!

[CyberNerd]

All contractors on site should sign a register to say that they have read the asbestos survey and that they will not be disturbing/removing asbestos. All staff (including teachers) should have access to the survey so that they can see if there is any asbestos damaged, and so that they do not unwittingly damage it by sticking drawing pins etc in it.

If you know that asbestos has been damaged, you need to fill in an accident report form.