Managing Asbestos
For many years asbestos was very widely used as a construction material and as a heat resistant material in mechanical and electrical equipment. Although its use has been banned in the UK and Europe for several years, asbestos remains in huge numbers of domestic, commercial and public buildings.
In good condition and undisturbed, asbestos poses no risk to health. However, if disturbed, fibres can be released and people's health can be put at risk. Thousands of people still die from asbestos-related cancer each year.
Many organisations therefore need to manage the asbestos in their properties to comply with changing legislation and maintain a healthy workplace. We can reliably deliver the cost-effective service you require to help you.
How can IOM Services help?
The IOM, from our HQ in Edinburgh and our offices in London, Chesterfield and Stafford, helps many clients manage asbestos. We have extensive experience in asbestos surveys of properties of all sizes, including multiple site surveys such as housing stock and schools. We provide our clients with asbestos registers, either as paper documents or, if appropriate, in the form of a computer database that can be readily updated as circumstances change. Our expertise allows us to advise property managers on how to deal effectively with any asbestos found. We routinely liaise with both regulators and customers' staff to ensure that issues can be resolved with a minimum of fuss.
In addition, we can help you set up and manage short and long-term asbestos removal contracts. We monitor asbestos fibres in air and undertake asbestos clearance surveys. We provide flexible cover for operations at any time of day or night, seven days a week to meet our clients' requirements.
All samples are analysed on-site by our own staff or in our specialist laboratories at our Edinburgh HQ. Our specialist analytical services are also available as a stand-alone service.
Many of our staff have over 15 years of experience providing asbestos services and consultancies and a number are known nationally and internationally in the field. Analysts, surveyors and managers are trained in house and have formal qualifications with the appropriate BOHS modules.
We have UKAS accreditation in all our laboratories and offices, covering sampling, surveys, fibre counting, four stage clearances and asbestos analysis. This, together with our vastly long and varied experience and expertise, provides you with the assurance that work will meet excellent professional standards, satisfying both those potentially exposed to asbestos and those with responsibly for managing it.
Services include:
- Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 surveys of asbestos in buildings
- Collection of materials for asbestos analysis
- Production and maintenance of asbestos registers and asbestos management databases
Air monitoring and fibre counting - Management of asbestos – policies, plans, auditing etc.
- Management of removal works, including method statements and health and safety during removal
- Four stage clearance inspections, testing and certification
- Asbestos analysis in bulk materials
- Scanning electron microscope analysis of trace contamination and airborne samples.
- Quantitative risk calculations following specific incidents (such as uncontrolled removal or disturbance of asbestos)
- Expert witness services