Asbestos removal (FOI)

Request

Please provide answers to these questions.

A

How much asbestos is removed in Jersey each year?

B

What is the capacity of the asbestos treatment site at La Collette?

C

Is all the asbestos treated on island or is some of it sent abroad, if so how and to where?

D

How much asbestos is registered in the asbestos log books for the buildings at Overdale and how much at Les Quennevais?

E

How many companies in the island are able to treat large quantities of asbestos?

F

Will experts from abroad have to be brought in either as consultants or as operatives?

G

What are the plans for asbestos removal at Overdale and Les Quennevais?

Response

A

The annual quantities vary based on market demand for construction, demolition and refurbishment projects.

The following quantities of asbestos waste have been disposed at La Collette in the last three years:

2020 – 926 tonnes

2019 – 587 tonnes

2018 – 659 tonnes

B

Based on modelling of the remaining void and accounting for intermediate covering the remaining capacity of the asbestos cell at La Collette is approximately 14,000 tonnes.

C

All asbestos waste is disposed of in Jersey. None is sent off Island.

D

There are 20 buildings within Overdale, and each has an Asbestos Management Plan or Asbestos Refurbishment and Demolition Survey which sets out the extent of asbestos in the buildings. Out of the 20 buildings, 18 contain varying amounts of asbestos. Currently, a total amount has not been calculated. The amount at the old Les Quennevais school has been estimated at 45m3.

E

There is no limit on the quantity of asbestos that can be treated at any one time.

Asbestos-containing materials are categorised based on risk. Most materials are low risk and do not require a license to work with (such as roof sheets in good condition); many construction and demolition companies on the island specialise in work with low-risk materials or one material type.

Companies need a license from Jersey’s Health and Safety Inspectorate (HSI) to work with the highest risk materials including insulating board, pipe lagging, flock and loft insulation. The list of licenced asbestos removal contractors can be found at the link below:

Licensed asbestos removal contractors

This information is therefore exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as the information is available to you by other means.

F and G

For the removal, the design and delivery partner ROKFCC JV will employ Rhodar Limited. Their asbestos-trained operatives will remove the asbestos in accordance with Method Statements and Risk Assessments that meet Government of Jersey Health and Safety requirements and guidelines.

Article applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.