The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Local firm excels in awareness of asbestos
Most people know asbestos can be a deadly product but not everyone appreciates the legal requirements to detect and record the hazardous material within a building.
It isn’t just construction workers who can be affected by asbestos-related health issues, and anyone can come into contact with it in some way on a daily basis.
That’s why you need to employ the services of a company skilled in the ways of asbestos, like Dundee’s Intona Limited.
Ross Duguid is asbestos manager for the well-known local asbestos services and timber preservation company on Fairfield Street.
As part of his role with Intona, Ross is also a fully qualified asbestos surveyor.
“Most people are a bit confused when I tell them what I do for a living,” says Ross.
“An asbestos surveyor isn’t something a lot of people have heard of, let alone know what the job entails. “This is surprising because asbestos is something that all of us can easily encounter in our everyday lives. As most people now know, asbestos can be a deadly product but a lot of folk don’t appreciate the need and indeed the legal requirement to detect and record asbestos within a building.
“Anyone can literally come into contact with asbestos in some way on a daily basis.”
Because of the variety of locations where asbestos-containing products can be found, every survey can be different, which for Ross makes each day and job a new challenge.
There is a high level of responsibility to keep people safe from the hidden dangers of asbestos-containing materials.
“The amount of products in which asbestos can be found in is vast and ranges from ceiling and wall coatings and panels, floor tiles and vinyls, electrical heating components to toilet cisterns and many more,” says Ross.
“A lot of work goes into planning the logistics of carrying out the survey and then preparing the report after the initial survey has been completed.
“This gives a good mix of office and on-site time. No two days are ever the same.”
His Intona role has taken Ross all over the UK.
“Before I started with Intona I hadn’t seen much of Scotland. Now I have visited nearly all of the towns and cities of Britain.
“On a recent survey of a commercial property for example in Edinburgh, we visited an office block that had asbestos insulation board (AIB) wall panels throughout.
“AIB is one of the most dangerous asbestos products and the office staff were pinning notice boards to these wall panels and had been doing so for a number of years.
“In the course of doing so, they were of course exposing themselves to potentially lethal asbestos fibres.
“After our survey, Intona put a management plan into place for the company that made everyone aware of the asbestos risks within their workplace and then put remedial works in place to lower the risks to an acceptable level for the office staff.”