| 55 CONTRACTING ACM Removals Regulations need to be enforced around asbestos Sue Russell Rob Barton, general manager of asbestos management company ACM Removals, says asbestos management needs to be handled by experts. Clearance Certi icates Management Surveys Refurbishment Surveys Demolition Surveys Air Monitoring Management Plans Asbestos Awareness Courses Asbestos Removal Guidance Proudly supporting ACM Removals 0800 LAANZ 4 U (522 6948) | www.laanz.co.nz | 2A/28 Market Pl, Auckland Laboratory analysis of materials suspected of containing asbestos is the only recognised and IANZ accredited method for determining the presence or absence of asbestos in NZ We offer: Independent laboratory testing services IANZ-assessed laboratory analysts Auckland-based asbestos testing facility Affordable testing of all samples for asbestos Same day laboratory results Samples may be submitted either in-person or via courier to our Auckland-based laboratory ASBESTOS TESTING SERVICES IANZ ACCREDITED LABORATORY For further information: Tel: 027 464 5225 Email: lab@prolabs.co.nz Address: Unit 13, 22A Kalmia Street, Ellerslie, Auckland, 1051 Established 22 years ago and initially based in Christchurch, asbestos management company ACM Removals is now based in Auckland, servicing the North Island Region. The business was purchased by its current day directors in 2015. General Manager Rob Barton says ACM Removals Ltd has a well-established track-record offering asbestos solutions including consultancy, encapsulation and removal of the highly dangerous material. “We understand that asbestos management, in its various forms, needs to be handled by experts. We maintain a certified health and safety management system, meeting ISO 45001 and AS/NZS 4801 standard,” says Rob. Dig a little deeper into the conversation with Rob and he’s not so much pushing the message to use the company’s services, understanding its reputation speaks for itself, he would far rather use the word-count to deliver some pretty powerful messages about the state of some aspects of the industry. You don’t have to go back too far in New Zealand’s construction building history to discover that asbestos was widely and commonly used, in homes for instance in ceiling panels, wrapped around hot-water cylinders and outside in cement cladding base boards. “Prior to 1990, which isn’t long ago, asbestos products were used as a standard. When you look around and consider how many people today are living in homes built before then, you start to get a picture of the potential and real risk environments people are living in every day.” Products containing asbestos were routinely imported until 1999, and at that time while the country had no legitimate systems in place to monitor, evaluate or regulate the uses of asbestos products. For the most part, left undisturbed, the material is inert. It’s when it is disturbed, as in the removal process, or tampering with it in-situ that the greatest risks present. “If you want to take a saw or power-tool to it you are going to create fibres which are friable and can easily and unknowingly be inhaled,” says Rob. And the serious health risks that inhaling asbestos fibres presents, strikes close to home for Rob, who lost a mate to asbestosis, having worked reconditioning ships in Malta. Rob’s involvement in raising the bench-mark around standards and professionalism in the sector goes beyond leading ACM Removals Ltd. In his role as Vice-President of New Zealand Demolition and Asbestos Assn (NZDAA), Rob’s out there pushing the message on two key fronts. To the everyday person, he and the team at NZDAA are working hard to raise awareness and educate people out about asbestos “do’s and don’ts” while at the same time pushing for regulations to be grounded and, more importantly, enforced around those working in the sector. “We have the situation here that company’s like ACM Removals, tick all the boxes in terms of safety procedures, handling and disposal of asbestos products, while those out to underpin legitimate licensed operators are free to undertake dodgy, unsafe work in people’s homes.” And for evidence of this, Rob says, discovering raw asbestos dumped on the outskirts of towns, when the regulations require its very careful disposal, speaks volumes as to the challenges good operators face everyday. “I’ve got photos of my guys working during the COVID lockdown vacuuming the road out at Kumeu where asbestos had just been dumped.”
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