Hiring An Asbestos Abatement Company:
When you have decided you have an asbestos problem that must be remedied, it’s time for asbestos abatement. Asbestos abatement is the contractor’s term for removing asbestos hazards from your home, rental property, or commercial building. There are two ways to do this: physically removing the asbestos-containing material itself, or encapsulating it by sealing it in foam, cement, or other materials that will prevent asbestos fibers from escaping into the air.
Either way, it’s best to call in professional help. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has different abatement rules for single-occupancy homes and multiple-occupancy buildings, and it is perfectly legal for a homeowner to attempt asbestos abatement in his own home by himself. But there’s no good reason to expose yourself and your family to the risks of improper asbestos handling. As the New York Landmarks Conservancy states bluntly: “Do not, under any circumstances, remove asbestos yourself. Asbestos is highly dangerous when it is airborne. It is far more dangerous to remove asbestos improperly than to leave it alone, no matter what its condition” (1990, p. 5).
Qualified asbestos abatement contractors are licensed at the state level. They follow EPA guidelines and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations (U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA, 2007). If you live in a metropolitan area, you can find Asbestos Abatement and Removal, Asbestos Consulting, and Asbestos Inspection entries in your Yellow Pages. You can also get information on asbestos management from the EPA, which maintains an online list of regional contacts at http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/pubs/regioncontact.html#Text as well as a list of state contacts at http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/pubs/statecontactsjan07.pdf.
In many respects, hiring an asbestos contractor is just like hiring any other independent contractor, and the same commonsense recommendations apply. Interview your prospective contractor. Ask him questions about your specific situation. Ask him about his history of experience with similar jobs. Check with the local Better Business Bureau for any complaints lodged. Check references; check applicable licenses.
Beyond the usual, though, contracting for asbestos abatement presents some challenges to you, the building owner. After all, you can’t see asbestos fibers in the air. You can’t feel whether or not they have been removed. It’s imperative to find a contractor who inspires confidence, who communicates, who is responsive to your concerns. As a practical check and to avoid conflict of interest, the EPA recommends that you hire an asbestos inspector to assess the need for abatement, and then an unaffiliated abatement contractor to provide the corrective action (U.S. EPA, 2007). It is also a good idea to have the unaffiliated asbestos inspector examine the property at the end of the abatement procedure to make sure it has been effective.
Above all, remember that this project is too important to assign merely on the basis of lowest bid! John L. Buford, Director of Asbestos Abatement for Remcor, Inc., puts it forcefully: “Even though price is important, the contractor behind the price is even more important. In the abatement industry, unscrupulous ‘rip and skip’ contractors quite often submit the lowest initial price for a project, but the building owner can pay over a 30-40 year period for the corners cut and risks taken with people unnecessarily exposed to asbestos fibers” (1991, p.17).
'Hiring An Asbestos Abatement Company' Sources:
Buford, J.L. (1991, February). Selecting your asbestos abatement contractor [Electronic version]. Professional Safety, 36, 15-17.
New York Landmarks Conservancy. (1990, Summer). Asbestos abatement: a primer [Electronic version]. Common Bond, 6, 3, 4-7.
U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2007). Safety and health regulations for construction. Standards, 29 C.F.R. 1926.1101. Retrieved July 3, 2007 from http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owasrch.search_form
?p_doc_type=STANDARDS&p_toc_level=0&p_keyvalue=U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2007). Asbestos in your home. Brochure. Retrieved July 3, 3007 from http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/pubs/ashome.html#5
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