Asbestos is a natural fibre which, until the 1990s, was widely used in building products because it is a good, fire-resistant insulator. However, when products containing asbestos get old or damaged, they can release fibres into the air which may cause serious lung disease when breathed in at high levels.
Homes built since the mid-1990s are unlikely to contain asbestos because of changes in health and safety laws. However, there may be asbestos in your home, although there is little risk unless it is damaged.
How to tell if a product contains asbestos
Since 1976, British manufacturers put labels on their products to show they contain asbestos. Since 1986, all products with asbestos carry the European label. The supplier or manufacturer may also be able to tell you if a product contains asbestos.
Remember: products that contain asbestos can look very similar to those that don’t.
You may find asbestos in these common building materials:
- Sprayed asbestos, generally used as fire protection in ceiling spaces, ducts and structural steelwork
- Lagging around pipes and boilers
- Wall, ceiling, and door linings
- Roofing tiles and felt
- Some ceiling tiles
- Some flooring
- Decorative textured coatings, generally applied before 1990
- Bath panels
- Boarding and gaskets in electrical mains fuse cupboards and some gas fires
- Asbestos cement products, such as flat or corrugated roofing sheets and wall cladding on garages and sheds
- Gutters, rainwater pipes, water tanks and flues
What to do if you think there is asbestos in your home
If you have asbestos in your home that is in good condition and cannot easily be damaged, it is best to leave it where it is. Removing it can lead to high levels of fibre in the air that last for some time. We‘ll check the condition of the asbestos regularly to make sure it isn’t damaged or deteriorating.
Do:
- Contact us straight away if you think there is damage or deteriorating asbestos in your home
- Contact us if you think your warm-air heating system, electrical storage heating system or flameless catalytic gas heater may contain asbestos
Do not:
- Disturb or damage asbestos that is in good condition
Call us on 01594 838 000.
You can get more information on asbestos from the Health and Safety Executive’s website (you may want to scroll down to the section called general advice for members of the public) or by calling them on 0300 003 1747.
What we’re doing to reduce the risk from asbestos
We’ve surveyed a sample of our homes to see where asbestos is. This helps us to manage it and reduce any risk to you.
If the asbestos is damaged, we remove it. If it is not damaged, we leave it to do its fire-resistant job. However, we will make sure that everyone knows the asbestos is there and that nobody damages it.
When we repair or improve your home, we will treat the asbestos with the caution it deserves and never put you or our staff at risk.
