Asbestos in soils: Ground Investigations · Marian Markham BSc(Hons) MSc CGeol FGS PIEMA 13th November 2019 –EPUK Delivering a better environment for the UK. Important The material

www.jacobs.com | worldwide

Asbestos in soils: Ground InvestigationsMarian Markham BSc(Hons) MSc CGeol FGS PIEMA

13th November 2019 – EPUK

Delivering a better

environment for the UK

Important

The material in this presentation has been prepared by Jacobs®.

Copyright and other intellectual property rights in this presentation vest exclusively with

Jacobs. Apart from any use permitted under applicable copyright legislation, no part of this

work may in any form or by any means (electronic, graphic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise) be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted

without prior written permission.

Jacobs is a trademark of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

Copyright

November 19, 2019

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer

©

2

Agenda

3

• Asbestos in the UK

• Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012

• Desk study information

• Forthcoming AGS Guidance 2019

Marian Markham EPUK seminar 13th November 2019

Mavis Nye https://www.mesothelioma.uk.com/patientstories/mavis-nye/


Mavis and Ray met in 1957. Ray worked at Chatham dockyard in the late 1950s.

Asbestos insulation around the pipes, cables, boilers and engines was removed and

replaced during re-fits. Walking in dust, dust on clothes and in hair was normal. Ray

took his overalls home for Mavis to wash. In 2009, nearly 50 years after significant

exposure to asbestos, Mavis was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

The first medical article on the hazards of asbestos dust appeared in the British Medical Journal in 1924.

Most cases of mesothelioma develop >35 years after first asbestos exposure, so almost all recent UK cases are due to exposure before 1980 when asbestos was still widely used.

Britain’s mesothelioma rate is the highest worldwide and is still rising above age 70.

On this day 20 years ago………


24th November 1999 – UK banned new import and use of all asbestos

UK Imports v deaths

6 Rest of Europe: https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/11/BLT-13-132118-table-T1.html

~5 to 6 million tonnes

Lawyers view

• https://www.asbestoslawpartnership.co.uk/– asbestos lagger / asbestos sprayer or worked with large

amounts of asbestos then 1 year of constant exposure to asbestos dust may be enough to cause asbestosis.

– If you were exposed to asbestos dust on and off for example as a shipbuilder or construction worker then 5 to 10 years of this exposure to asbestos dust may be enough to cause asbestosis.

– Low amounts of exposure to asbestos dust does not cause asbestosis.

– typical UK post-mortem of mesothelioma deaths 100 million fibres in lungs; there are some fibres in all our lungs.

7


https://www.asbestoslawpartnership.co.uk/

Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012


8

• From HSE website (http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/regulations.htm): came into

force on 6 April 2012, updating previous asbestos regulations to take account of

the European Commission's view that the UK had not fully implemented the EU

Directive on exposure to asbestos (Directive 2009/148/EC).

• In practice the changes were fairly limited. They mean that some types of non-

licensed work with asbestos now have additional requirements, ie notification of

work, medical surveillance and record keeping. All other requirements remain

unchanged.

• Type, condition of ACM

• Work categories NLW, NNLW, LW

• Medical surveillance

• Record keeping

• SALI and Control Limit

CAR-SOIL industry guidance – July 2016

•


9

“for use by competent persons”This authoritative document has been prepared with the support of the

Health and Safety Executive and presents the definitive explanation of how

the legal requirements of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR

2012 or the Regulations) have been interpreted to apply to work with asbestos

contaminated soil and construction & demolition materials.

The guidance is underpinned by the fundamental requirements expressed in

the Regulations, in relation to the protection of employees from risks related to

exposure to asbestos, but is set within a carefully considered framework

designed specifically for soil and C&D materials contaminated with asbestos.

In order to be more directly applicable to the risks associated from work on

soil and C&D materials contaminated with asbestos, the Regulations have

been interpreted in order to allow practical guidance to be produced that is fit

for purpose whilst allowing compliance to be demonstrated with the

overarching requirements set out in the Regulations.

Desk Study


10

Site Walkover


11

AGS – Site Investigation Asbestos Risk Assessment In

preparation, publication expected 2019


12

Contaminated Land

Working Group

Safety

Working

Group

Laboratories

Working

Group

Loss

Prevention

Working

Group

AGS – Site Investigation Asbestos Risk Assessment 2019


13

• There remains the potential for asbestos-

containing materials or asbestos fibres to be

present within any Made Ground.

• Ground investigation – trained, competent staff

with right experience and equipment for sampling

as asbestos is Non-Licensable Work provided

SALI and unlikely to exceed Control Limit.


• Pre-construction Information

• Desk study

• Historical maps

• Local knowledge

• Buried service ducts?

• Infilled land / old ponds / raised ground?

• Greenfield / Brownfield / MOD


14

Planned activities – potential to disturb asbestos?


15

• Site walkover

• Ground Penetrating Radar survey

• Surveying fly-tipped waste

• Hand-dug inspection pits

• Trial pits

• Cable Percussion boreholes

• Rotary boreholes

Reg 6

Expected level of

exposure, SALI,

>Control Limit?

Asbestos Work Categories


16

• Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 categories of work:

• CAR not applicable

• NLW = Non Licensed Work

• NNLW = Notifiable Non Licensed Work

• LW = Licensed Work

• CL:AIRE Decision Support Tool



17

Asbestos-containing material – “original form”


18

44

45

Materials that may have been coating, or insulation

material:

• where they are degraded, heavily wetted and

mixed with soil, they no longer may easily be

described as being original form asbestos

coating or asbestos insulation.

• In such situations, as more accurate description

for the material would be “Made Ground

contaminated with loose fibrous asbestos debris”

• ACM may be encountered in a clearly identifiable

“original form” such as when chicken wire is

present .

Excavation work


19

Risk Assessment: CIRIA C733

Marian Markham EPUK seminar 13th October 2019

20

Training


21


• ACM product, condition, mixed into soil?

• Friability, ease to disintegrate, type soil-matrix

• Distribution, % w/w, depth

• Likely / actual respirable fibres in air?

• Separate sampling of suspected asbestos debris

• Sampling of Made Ground for asbestos analysis

• Accurate description on exploratory log


22

AGS – Site Investigation Asbestos Risk Assessment 2019• There remains the potential for asbestos-containing materials or asbestos fibres to be present

within any Made Ground.

• Work to be undertaken by trained & competent persons who can recognise suspected ACMs

• Pre-construction Information – desk study, ground investigation, local knowledge

• CAR-SOIL best available guidance for ground investigation and soils remediation sectors

• AGS SIARA guidance 2019 – practical advice to its membership and GI industry

• Ground Investigation with sampling for asbestos is NLW unless exposure not SALI or >

Control Limit

• Asbestos work category: Notifiable? Licensable?

• Site-Specific RAMS = Risk Assessment (CAR Reg 6) and Plan of Work (CAR Reg. 7)

• Dynamic risk assessments – what is actually being encountered during investigation?

• Sampling and laboratory analysis is the only way to confirm something is asbestos

• Insurance to work with asbestos?


Questions?


24

[email protected]

Documents

Asbestos in soils: Ground Investigations · Marian Markham BSc(Hons) MSc CGeol FGS PIEMA 13th November 2019 –EPUK Delivering a better environment for the UK. Important The material