Categories of Asbestos Removal

1. It is a short non-continuous maintenance task, with only non-friable materials (friability describes how likely an asbestos-containing materials is to release asbestos fibres when being worked on, non-friable materials will only release a small number of fibres during the removal process).
2. It is a removal task, where the asbestos containing materials are in a reasonable condition and are not being deliberately broken up, meaning the asbestos fibres are firmly contained, e.g. the asbestos is coated, covered or contained within another material. This could be cement, paint or plastic.
3. The asbestos-containing materials being removed are in good condition and are being sealed or encapsulated during the removal process to ensure they are not easily damaged in future.
4. It is an air monitoring and control task to check fibre concentrations in the air. It is the collection and analysis of asbestos samples to confirm if asbestos is present or not.

Notifiable Non-Licensed Work (NNLW)

All non-licensed work needs to be carried out with the appropriate controls in place. However, for some types of work, employers must meet additional requirements. This is known as notifiable non-licensed work or NNLW.

If the work being carried out is not licensable, the company then need to decide if it is NNLW. In order to do this the following must be considered.

The type of work you are planning to do

• Maintenance: Drilling holes to attach fittings or pass cables through, painting, cleaning etc. Maintenance includes removal where it is incidental to the main task, e.g. removing an asbestos-containing ceiling tile to enable an inspection of the above area.
• Removal: This would be part of a refurbishment or redesign project.
• Encapsulation: Work to enclose or seal asbestos materials which as in good condition.
• Air Monitoring and Sampling: Air monitoring of asbestos fibre levels and the collection and analysis of samples to test for the presence of any asbestos materials.

The asbestos type

• Is it friable? Friable means easily crumbled or reduced to powder. The more friable a material is, the more likely it will release asbestos fibres when worked on, the greater the risk of exposure comes with this. Work which disturbs more friable materials (e.g. asbestos pipe insulation) tends to be Notifiable Non-Licensed Work. Work which disturbs the least friable materials (e.g. asbestos cement) is normally treated as non-licensed work.
• How firmly is the asbestos bonded in a matrix? (For removal work only). Bonded in a matrix means the asbestos is coated, covered or contained within another material (cement, paint or plastic) Asbestos containing materials of this type which are in good condition can usually be treated as non-licensed work. However where they are significantly damaged (more likely to release fibres than asbestos containing materials which are in good condition) they will need to be treated as NNLW.

The material’s condition

• Has the material been damaged or is it in poor condition? Removal of asbestos-containing materials in poor condition (e.g. due to flood or fire damage) will normally need to be treated as NNLW.
• Will the materials’ matrix be destroyed when worked on? Deteriorating textured decorative coatings (also known as artex) using gel or steam to remove them, will normally need to treated as NNLW.