Identification of any material containing asbestos, is a specialised process which involves samples of the material taken by competent persons and analysis by accredited laboratories.

Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations states:

'An employer shall not undertake work in demolition, maintenance or any other work which exposes, or is liable to expose your employees to asbestos in respect of any premises unless they identify what type of asbestos, contained in what material and in what condition is present or is liable to be present in those premises". This is complied with by way of survey and analytical identification by a UKAS accredited laboratory.

Blue and Brown asbestos products were banned within the UK in 1985. However, White asbestos was not finally banned until 1999. It is sensible to assume then, that any building built before 2000 could potentially contain asbestos.

 

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 In this module you have learnt:

1. That asbestos is a natural mineral that was mined

2. That asbestos fibres are either needle shaped or curved in appearance

3. That there are three main types of asbestos known as blue, brown and white

4. That there are also three rarer types of asbestos that were not commonly used

5. That the most common type of asbestos used in buildings was white

6. That asbestos can only be identified by specialist techniques

 

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