Positive asbestos result: what do I do next?

When an asbestos sample comes back positive, leave the material intact, stop any demolition, sanding or drilling at that spot, and have the removal carried out by a company authorised for asbestos removal work. Intact asbestos-containing material poses no particular hazard, so there is rarely any rush. What matters most is that the material is not broken before the work has been planned as asbestos work.

How to read the report itself is explained in the article interpreting an asbestos result. This article is a practical action plan: what to do straight after the result, how to work out what the result covers, what to tell the removal company, who needs to know and what happens after removal.

Straight after the result

1. Stop work on the material. Do not sand, drill, saw, chisel or rip out the material in which asbestos was detected, or similar material elsewhere.
2. If the material has already been broken, keep other people and pets out of the room and close the door. Do not use an ordinary vacuum cleaner and do not sweep, as both stir the fine dust into the air. Do not carry loose pieces to other rooms. Cleaning up broken asbestos material and its dust is part of asbestos removal work, so leave it to a company authorised for that work.
3. Mark the spot. Put tape over the sampling spot if it is not already covered, and tell everyone else in the home what not to touch.

If the material is intact and in place, you can live in and use the space as normal. The risk arises mainly when the material breaks or deteriorates and dust comes loose.

Does the material have to be removed?

A positive result does not by itself create an obligation to remove the material. Intact asbestos materials do not have to be removed from a building unless demolition or other work that breaks them affects them. In practice the decision depends on your renovation plan:

• The renovation will break the material: according to the Finnish occupational safety authority's guidance, asbestos-containing material is primarily removed from the work area completely. Removal is planned and carried out as asbestos work before the other jobs.
• The renovation does not touch the material: it can be left in place intact. Write down where it is so that the next person renovating knows about it.
• The plan can be changed: sometimes the renovation can be scoped so that nothing is done to the asbestos-containing material at all. Note that fixings and drill holes also break the material, so an asbestos-containing board cannot simply be covered with a new structure fixed through it. Assess this with the removal company or a designer.

Work out what the result covers

The result applies to the sampling spot and to similar material. If the same vinyl flooring, filler or tiling continues into other rooms and was installed at the same time, it is treated as asbestos-containing there too. If the sample contained several layers, the whole layer build-up is treated as asbestos-containing, even if asbestos is in only one of the layers.

The other materials in the renovation area are still untested. Before asking for quotes, it is worth testing them too, so that the removal company can plan everything at once and the work is not interrupted by a new find. The article how many asbestos samples explains how to estimate the number of samples.

• Mark the asbestos-containing areas on a floor plan or in photos.
• Estimate the quantity to be removed, for example square metres of floor or metres of pipe insulation.
• Note which materials have been tested and which have not.

Get a quote from an authorised removal company

Removing asbestos-containing material is licensed work that may only be done by a company authorised for asbestos removal work. Your request for a quote will be accurate if you give the company, from the start:

• the laboratory's analysis report,
• the sample locations and photos,
• an estimate of the quantities to be removed,
• what other work the renovation includes and the timetable,
• access routes, occupants and any neighbours affected by the work.

Ask whether the quote includes the removal plan, the notification to the authorities, enclosure and negative pressure in the work area, packing and transport of the waste, final cleaning and air samples before the space is put back into use. The removal company notifies the occupational safety and health authority before work starts, so leave a gap in your timetable between the result and the removal. Permits and notification are covered in more detail in the article asbestos removal permits.

Who should you tell?

• Your contractor: if someone else is doing the renovation, they must know about the find before anything is demolished.
• The property manager and housing company: in a block of flats or terraced house, asbestos removal affects work arrangements, stairwells and neighbours. Read more in the article asbestos in blocks of flats.
• Everyone else in the home: they all need to know which material must not be touched.
• A future buyer: if you sell the home later, it is sensible to be open about known asbestos finds and any removal work done. See the article asbestos when buying or selling a home.

What not to do yourself

• Do not remove asbestos-containing material yourself, even if the area is small.
• Do not sand, drill or saw the material, not even as a test.
• Do not put the material in with ordinary construction or mixed waste. Handling asbestos waste is covered in the article asbestos waste disposal.
• Do not leave a broken spot exposed; cover it with tape or plastic until removal.

After removal

After asbestos removal, the work area is cleaned and the cleanliness of the space is confirmed with air samples before it returns to normal use. Air samples are explained on the page asbestos air sample. Ask the removal company for the following and keep them with your other renovation documents:

• the laboratory analysis reports,
• the removal plan and confirmation of the notification to the authorities,
• the air sample results,
• the waste transfer document showing where the waste was delivered.

These documents are useful in the next renovation, when selling the home and in the housing company's maintenance planning.

If you are worried about exposure

If the material was sanded or demolished before the result came in and you are worried about your health, talk to a doctor or your occupational health service. The article symptoms of asbestos exposure gives general information about the health effects of asbestos.

Do you need more samples?

Once one material has turned out to contain asbestos, it is worth testing the other materials in the same renovation before the removal plan is fixed. Onelab analyses samples with a JEOL SEM-EDS electron microscope, and the result is sent by email, typically on the day the sample arrives. The analysis costs €39.90 + VAT per sample, and the price is the same for 1–100 samples. Orders of more than 100 samples can be priced separately. Postage is not included. You can order the analysis online.