Asbestos and Certification about it

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Author Message Doug Frank FCSI, CCS Senior Member Username: doug_frank_ccs Post Number: 269 Registered: 06-2002 Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 07:57 am:    Folks, the state of Texas has a Law on the books that requires all projects involving renovation must, in order to receive a Building Permit, provide documentation about asbestos. The Law requires either: “(A) an asbestos survey…or (B) a certification from a licensed engineer or architect, stating that: (i) the engineer or architect has reviewed the materials safety data sheets for the materials used in the original construction, the subsequent renovations or alterations of all parts of the building affected by the planned renovation or demolition, and any asbestos surveys of the building previously conducted in accordance with this Act, and (ii) in the engineer’s or architect’s professional opinion, all parts of the building affected by the planned renovation or demolition do not contain asbestos.” Obviously we’re hesitant to provide any “Certification”, and our insurance guy tells us not to, but the Law seems to require it. Our legal team will come up with some less onerous wording but I’m just wondering if those of you in other states have encountered similar requirements. It’s obvious to anyone in our business that we certainly can’t be sure that there’s no asbestos in any building. Even IF we were smart enough to recognize it in MSDS, and actually were able to review MSDS on each and every material installed in the building, there’s no way to ensure subsequent Owner or Tenant work is asbestos-free. I can only hope that the AIA and its local components are lobbying hard to get this law rescinded. Doug Frank FCSI, CCS, SCIP Affiliate FKP Architects, Inc. Houston, TX Richard A. Rosen, CSI, CCS, AIA Senior Member Username: rarosen Post Number: 75 Registered: 08-2006 Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 08:54 am:    I have been envolved in some major demolition projects and this is not an unusual requirement, especially with an implosion. Contractually it should be the Owner's responsibility to provide the asbestos survey as part of a complete hazardous materials survey. Asbestos isn't the only thing to be concerned with in a renovation project. What about PCBs, lead paint, mold and on and on. Richard L. Hird (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 08:26 am:    I have a similar concern. Ever since I had to deal with asbestos problems, I was led to believe that a General Contractor's Commercial Liability Insurance precluded them from performing or subcontracting hazardous material abatement. The few times I wrote specifications for abatement it was solely for abatement and contracted directly with qualified abatement contractors. I have a renovation project for a housing authority and they insist on including the abatement work in the Contractor's rsponsibility. They must deal with this on a regular basis, so either their Contractor's have made special provisions, or my assumption is wrong. I am concerned that maybe these guys have no idea what they are doing. We do not have a law like Frank's, but I am concerned about increased responsibility for asbestos by convential construction operations. More parties does not improve anything but the lawyer's fees. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1234 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 09:29 am:    Your assumption may be wrong. Here in Massachusetts general contractors have been hiring certified abatement contractors to do this work for at least 20 years. Commonly, selective demolition subcontractors have crews that do this work. We hire the asbestos consultants, too, by the way, and document the work with drawings and specifications as part of the construction documents, like any other 'trade.' J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 448 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 11:05 am:    The certification issue is a bit different. Tehre are various laws and regulations on the books in Texas that require design professionals to "certify" something or another. The reality is that the design professional rarely has the knowledge or the expertise to certify whatever it is that is required with any degree of integrity. In this particular case, the appropriate documentation may not be available for review. Moreover, just because the documents indicate that no asbestos was used, this does not necessarily mean that the project is asbestos-free. What I have seen most often is that a consultant is retained to investigate the facility and provide a report. The owner may not want to do this with a building that is less than 10 years old, but I would be hesitant to provide such a certification as a part of "normal" design services. David R. Combs, CSI, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: davidcombs Post Number: 318 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Monday, August 30, 2010 - 07:59 am:    Doug, We haven't found anything in the Texas law that states the architect-of-record [who has been engaged by the owner to do the renovation work] needs to be the one who must perform the survey or provide the certification. We typically tell our clients that the survey or ceretification is not a service we provide (or wish to provide), as it is beyond our scope of services and area of expertise; nor do we carry liability insurance for this type of service. We merely advise them of the law, and strongly recommend that they engage an outside consultant to perform this service, and we can assist them in locating companies that do this kind of work.