If you’re planning renovation or demolition on a building that requires asbestos abatement, you have some decisions to make before you begin.
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In most cases, you’ll need a qualified firm to develop an abatement plan with detailed specifications for performing the work in a safe and legal manner, which should include:
- Drawings of what types of asbestos-containing materials are to be removed and where they are located.
- Details on how to remove them, including physical preparation, types, and amounts of filtration equipment, personal protective equipment, phasing plans, and how to dispose of materials.
- Written protocol for paths of communication during the project.
- Detailed specifications for meeting regulatory requirements, with links to relevant regulations.
- Final clearance inspection and air monitoring requirements.
Once you have an abatement plan, then you need an experienced asbestos removal company to do the work.
What you may not know is that it’s also a very good idea to hire a company to monitor the asbestos abatement process to ensure that it meets specifications and that the work is conducted in a safe and timely manner. Often, the company that developed the specifications can also perform the project monitoring.
Why You Need Asbestos Abatement Monitoring
When you hire a qualified environmental consultant to oversee the process of asbestos abatement, you get a partner who represents your interests and ensures the work is done correctly.
Disturbing asbestos-containing materials in order to remove them can release hazardous asbestos fibers into the air, where they can damage the lungs of workers and building occupants if they are improperly removed. In this way, if the process is not handled correctly, the process of abatement can create the very hazard it’s designed to remove.
To protect your interests and the health and wellbeing of your building occupants, an asbestos monitoring service helps ensure that the people you hire to perform the work do it in the right way, and within both your budget and timeline.
What Does it Cost to Prepare Abatement Plans and Perform Abatement Monitoring?
Without obtaining a detailed quote, it can be hard to estimate precisely, but here are the factors that will impact your cost for asbestos abatement plans and monitoring:
- Public sector vs. private sector. Private sector jobs often require a lower level of detail than public sector jobs. A lower level of detail usually means a lower overall cost.
- Complexity of the project. The number of materials, types of materials, access to materials, and whether the building will be occupied and in use during abatement all impact how complex the job will be. The more complex the job, the more complex the plans and the more they will cost.
- Facility type. Some types of facilities are more complex to abate by the nature of their use and construction. A hospital, for instance, is a more complex structure with more sensitive occupants. An abatement plan might require infection management procedures, to protect the patients and medical staff, and much more, in addition to the complexity of the facility itself. By contrast, a warehouse that can be shut down during abatement will be relatively inexpensive to create a plan for.
- Compliance environment. Some states and municipalities have stricter regulations than others. The stricter the regulations, the more costly to prepare and implement plans for compliance.
As a general rule, the more costly your asbestos abatement plans are to prepare, the more costly and critical it will be to monitor the work.
For an accurate and comprehensive quote on your asbestos abatement project, contact our experienced environmental health consultants today.
