What Actually Makes a Poor Asbestos Survey, and How to Spot One Before You Commission It

Article from Darren Chinnery, Senior Consultant and Quality Manager

Survey quality in our industry is all over the place, and honestly, it shouldn’t be. Every surveyor sits the same external exam, whether that is the BOHS P402 or the RSPH Level 3. We are all held to the same standard on paper. So why is the output so variable? Because the minute you put a human being into the equation, you get interpretation, and we all see things slightly differently.

What is meant to iron that out is UKAS accreditation, and this is where I would tell any client to start. Accreditation does not just hand you a badge. It forces you to put a proper training and induction regime in place. We do not take a lad who has passed his P402 and set him out surveying on his own the next morning. Passing the exam tells me he can pass an exam. It does not tell me how he works day to day. So there is a long induction behind it, and a lot of that time goes into material and priority assessment, because that is where surveys live or die.

Now, here is the bit that costs clients money, and most of them never see it. If you want to check a survey company properly, ask for previous examples of work similar to yours. If you have a big building with targeted refurbishment areas, ask to see a report of exactly that nature. Check whether it includes the drawings, an executive summary, and clear caveats that you both agree on up front. Compare it with the Analysts’ Guide as a benchmark. That comparison will tell you more than any sales pitch ever will.

Watch the accreditation mark like a hawk. Many reports come through with a UKAS badge on the front cover, and clients assume that means the survey is accredited. It does not always. We have seen this many times over the years: the company that did the survey has no accreditation at all, and the UKAS mark on the front is actually the accreditation of the bulk laboratory they sent the samples to, which is a completely different company. That flies straight past a lot of people. It is an easy one to check, though. UKAS have a website. You go to the lab search, put the company name in, and it gives you their schedule of accreditation and exactly what they are accredited for. If you still have doubts, there are contact numbers, and you can speak to their quality manager.

Last thing, and this one is on the client as much as us. We need information to do the job right. It is frustrating when you are pricing a big bank refit or a large cyclical job on a housing estate, you ask for plans, and you are told you have not got any. Someone did planning at some stage, so they exist somewhere. Yes, we have our own ways of digging them out, local planning applications and the like, but that is all delay. The two parties have to work together. You give us as much as we give you. We both understand exactly what is being asked and what is being delivered, and you end up with a survey that actually protects you.