Qualifications

The value of UKAS

Much is made by some asbestos surveying companies that they have UKAS accreditation, they hold this out as an indication of their competence. However it is not always an indication competence of the individual surveyor as we have witnessed recently.

An example of the difference in competence is a survey we carried out of a Jacobean House which is currently used as a Hotel. It was surveyed in 2001 by a company describing itself as :

..... a professional firm of independent asbestos consultants operating throughout the UK from three strategically placed offices. Established in 1995, our Directors have been involved with asbestos related issues since the introduction of the asbestos licensing regulations in 1983.

..... have a highly effective Quality Control Department, dedicated to ensuring staff are suitably qualified and audited to comply with EN17025, EN17020 and EN45004 through our UKAS accredited procedures.

What we found was that the Technical Director of this UKAS accredited firm surveyed the building and missed 14 asbestos materials ranging from cisterns which contained crocidolite (blue) asbestos to highly friable millboard.

They described real slate as asbestos containing artificial tiles. They assumed that artificial slate was asbestos containing and failed to take any samples to substantiate their assumption, despite the fact that the slate was accessible from ground level in four locations. When sampled we found that some of the artificial slate which was clearly newer was free of asbestos .

The report recommended removal when encapsulation was all that was required and resulted in substantial costs to the client.

The Technical Director had failed in the most fundamental way to use his eyes and (claimed) knowledge to recognise asbestos materials.

Considering the survey was carried out by the Technical Director of the company we'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about the competence of more junior staff they employ.

Who you would trust more, a surveyor who has had years of professional training and is regulated by a professional body or a technician who is required to fill in a lot of forms to ensure that they have completed a job in a prescribed fashion.