Asbestos was widely used in many industries until the mid 1980’s and was still used in some imported construction materials until 1999, so can crop up in the most unexpected places.

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 make it necessary for commercial building duty holders to identify possible asbestos in their buildings and to maintain a register that notes the location and condition of the material concerned.

As part of our asbestos surveying service, we routinely take samples for analysis, having previously undergone thorough training to ensure that the risk of exposure to microscopic asbestos fibres is minimised.

Problems arise because in many cases, people simply aren’t aware of which products might contain asbestos, such as floor tiles, linoleum, old toilet cisterns and the like.

These types of materials present such a low risk, that it’s easier to presume that they contain asbestos. Only when they are damaged do they need to be tested.

Testing for asbestos is a specialist job and from November 2004 can only be carried out by officially licensed laboratories.

The cost is not as expensive as you might think and can not only save your company large amounts of money, it can also save lives.

All asbestos surveys now involve some sampling of materials as a matter of course, though in the case of management asbestos surveys, sampling can be restriced in accordance with clients’ needs.

WARNING

Asbestos surveyors are specifically trained and experienced in safely sampling asbestos containing materials in the work place.

An untrained person should not attempt to take a sample from materials suspected of containing asbestos.

Asbestos is made up of millions of microscopic fibres, that if disturbed can become airborne, presenting a major risk to the health of you, your employees and your visitors.

The consequences of disturbing asbestos could result in the total closure of your business until the area is declared safe by the Heath & Safety Executive.

If you suspect that your commercial premises contain asbestos, we will be pleased to provide a quotation for an asbestos survey.

Unfortunately, our services are available only to commercial property landlords or tenants – we do not work on domestic premises.

However, we do offer an asbestos testing facility via our dedicated asbestos testing web site, though visitors are reminded that sampling materials suspected of containing asbestos is not recommended without specialist training.