ASBESTOS & HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

Hazardous Building Materials
Due Diligence

Conduct a Hazardous Building
Materials Assessment

Helia EHS offers a Hazardous Building Materials (HBMS) assessment to meet legal occupational, health and safety (OHS) requirements. An HBMS helps locate problem areas that could impact employees, other building occupants and the environment. Such assessments are typically conducted for two reasons to meet local compliance:

Accordion #1

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notifying anyone conducting works on a structure or a building (e.g. a contractor) that may contain HBMs (especially asbestos), listed in a register (prepared and/or updated at regularly defined intervals prescribed in legislation such as within five-year frequencies)
for pre-demolition or refurbishment purposes to ensure any HBMs that may be impacted by such works are identified prior to any work commencing.

Helia EHS provides consultancy advice from the initial identification of HBMs to clearance (occupational hygiene) monitoring during and after the removal of such HBMs.

The Identification and Assessment of Hazardous Materials

A material and/or substance, whether in solid, liquid or gas form, is considered hazardous if it has the potential to harm human health in any capacity. Such substances can range from disinfectants and pesticides to hydrogen peroxide and propane cylinders. Helia EHS’s Due Diligence assessment of hazardous materials carefully inspects the type of substance employed in the building and the risks that may arise from its application. Complications may occur at different times – depending on the level and duration of exposure to hazardous materials. Helia EHS considers some of these factors with due diligence during the assessment of a building for appropriate control measures.

Preventative Measures to Take Before a Risk Assessment

Safety procedures will have a different set of guidelines depending on the hazardous materials existing in the building.

As an employer, it is of the utmost importance that certain basic safety regulations are encouraged and enforced in the workplace to reduce due diligence risks:

Conduct an assessment of the work environment and identify potential risk factors.
List possible hazards and implement basic safety measures.
Contact an environmental and safety consultancy to do a thorough sweep of the building and guide your business on improving safety standards and regulations to implement.

Limit the use of hazardous materials to their intended purpose.
Ensure hazardous materials are always marked and stored correctly.
Immediately report any hazardous materials leaks or spills and contact a medical professional in case of contact.

Emergency Procedures and Hazardous Building Materials

Accidents may still occur despite taking every precaution with hazardous building materials. Helia EHS can advise you on health and safety standards to implement in your building for such cases. Under legislation in Australia (e.g. Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011), it’s recommended to follow safety measures that should be enforced in businesses and workplaces:

Ensure entry

Ensure entry and exit signs are properly in place.

First aid kit

Provide a first aid kit that is easily accessible in the building.

PPE

Supply appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) for the workforce when dealing with hazards.

Correctly labelled

Ensure all hazardous materials are correctly labelled and stored.

No food

No food consumption should be allowed near hazardous substances.

Employees should

Employees should wash and disinfect their hands after handling such materials even if they wore protective equipment.

Evacuation

Evacuation procedures should be set in place in case of an emergency.

Emergency training

Provide emergency training to employees or building occupants

Preventative measures are essential to managing any incidents (that could lead to personnel injuries) that could occur in buildings or workplaces.

We Conduct Assessments Across a Range of Hazardous Building Materials

Based on client requirements, part of Helia EHS’s building (transaction) Due Diligence investigation services is conducting an assessment on the following materials:

Asbestos-containing materials
Lead-based products (including lead-based paint on walls/other structures)
Ozone depleting substances (ODS)
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
Mercury
Synthetic mineral fibres
Treated pine materials

We carry out assessments in and out of due diligence periods and ensure that safety processes your business or organisation needs to meet are addressed. Especially in pre-purchase Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) assessments – where we can act for a potential asset buyer and inform them of potential environmental and/or OHS liabilities that they should be aware of prior to sale.

Contact us to get in touch

Interested in finding out more about Hazardous Building Materials Due Diligence?