Asbestos in States buildings (FOI)

Request

Following on from this recently published Freedom of Information (FOI) response:

States owned buildings containing asbestos (FOI)

I would like to know:

A

The type of asbestos (chrysotile / crocidolite and so on) found in each States owned building listed in the above FOI response

B

Please list any States owned buildings where the severity of the asbestos is not known.

C

How many States owned buildings have been shut down due to asbestos?

D

How many States owned buildings known to contain asbestos are still in use / used by the public?

E

The estimated cost of asbestos removal per States owned building, if known.

F

Have health checks been carried out on each building known to contain asbestos? If so, what did these checks involve and when / how were they carried out?

G

Did the States of Jersey knowingly use asbestos material after health risks connected to the material were unveiled in the UK?

H

What plans are there in place to monitor on-going or future health risks associated with asbestos for staff or people using these States owned buildings?

Response

A

We estimate that it will take us in excess of 12.5 working hours to search, retrieve and extract the information you have asked for in this part of your request. This part of your request, therefore, will not be processed further.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

B

All Publicly owned buildings have Asbestos Management Surveys and subsequent inspections. The regularity of re-inspections is determined by risk levels assigned to each asbestos containing material (ACM) within the building. It is possible that there are ACM’s within the fabric of the building which are not seen, but these pose no risk unless disturbed. Refurbishment and Demolition (R&D) surveys are performed prior to any work taking place that disturbs the structure of any buildings.

C

This information is not officially recorded, but to the best of our knowledge no publicly owned buildings have been totally shut down solely due to the presence of asbestos. There have, however, been temporary partial closures of parts of Fort Regent and the States Offices at South Hill.

In 2007, two buildings at Overdale were closed down due to problems with the pipework beneath the floors. It was not possible to fix the pipework problems due to the presence of inaccessible asbestos on the underside of the ground floors directly adjacent to the pipework.

D

To a certain extent members of the general public access all publicly owned buildings. As well as States employees accessing Public buildings during the course of undertaking their work, there can also be access by various third-parties undertaking maintenance work or cleaning, for example.

E

This information is not held.

F

All buildings constructed prior to 2000 have had an initial “Asbestos Management Survey” to determine the presence of ACM’s and the levels of risk presented. Where asbestos is identified as being present, the building is re-inspected at least yearly. All types of surveys carried out for the States of Jersey conform to the relevant requirements contained in the “UK Health and Safety Executives” publication, “HSG264 Asbestos – The Survey Guide” which can be found at the following link: 

HSG264 Asbestos – The Survey Guide

G

The health risks associated with asbestos were identified many years prior to legislation being introduced in the UK. The first regulations came into force in the UK during 1983, with crocidolite and amosite banned in 1985, chrysotile being banned in 1992 and a complete ban on all types of asbestos in 1999. The “Asbestos (Licensing) (Jersey) Regulations” came into force in 1997, followed by the Management of Exposure to Asbestos in Workplace Buildings and Structures ACOP in 2005.

The States of Jersey have not knowingly used asbestos material in buildings since health risks became evident, however we cannot be certain that building contractors did not use asbestos materials on site in the early years, despite them being aware of the risks.

H

There is no recognised monitoring schedule for staff who work in a building where asbestos material is present. However, where there has been a potential for exposure to an individual a record of this exposure will be kept within the individual’s personal file held by Human Resources.

Article applied

Article 16 A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.