Asbestos Farm Roof

[smiffy_99_uk]

Hi Everyone.
Has any one ever installed a system on a Asbestos ?farm roof. If so, How did you do it and what are the health and safety rules?

Many Thanks for your help

Tom

 

[mogga]

Not from a PV side just from electrical side ASBESTOS shouldnt be drilled ,cut,messed about with in ANY way shape or form
As its a farm n I knpow hoe much farmers like spending money NOT!!
Id assume there isnt an asbestos register or report ? if not ask them to get one as it may not be asbestos
assuming it is asbestosthen it will have been there for years n being a farm room Id assume it wont have been protected,painted so the outer layer will be breaking down and possibly releasin fibers
It will also be extreemly fragile and movement ofcrawling boards ect on the surface could disturb fibers Personaly Id steer farmer towards replacing roof with non asbestos corrogated panels then fit your panels
above isnt Healtyh n Safety its just my understanding of what can happen and some of the things iv seen
HSE have a phone number if you are concerened although they tend to just advise getting asbestos specalist in
best of luck tho

 

[stjowen]

Great articles in Farming Monthly about Solar Panels on farm roofs and the associated pitfalls. Well worth a read.

Read from pages 15-24 in the August issue.

http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=91241

 

[goodwilld]

Smiffy
Use this link to HSE website - all about asbestos HSE - Asbestos: Asbestos essentials

 

[SRE]

We use roofers who have been licenced to remove asbestos, although I understand from another thread that drilling the asbestos with the correct H&S precautions is ok.

 

[goodwilld]

yes you can do small works which you don't need to be licenced to carry out but you certainling need to do your home work in protecting your work force and the general public, or they will have you.

 

[stjowen]

You can do small works on your own property and it's recommended that you use the HSE guidelines.
If you employ someone and you ask them to handle / drill asbestos, even if it's in a solid state, then this should be specifically included on your insurance documents.
Very few contractors will have this proviso, but it's more important that they follow the HSE guidelines anyway and use correct PPE, like asbestos grade white overalls, dustmasks and laceless boots.

 

[Cider]

Ive got a job to do where the customer wants a system on their asbestos roofed barn.
What has been decided is the asbestos shall be replaced with a metal roof as it will have to go some day anyway.
A specialist contractor shall remove the old roof and a new one be installed then i can do my bit.

No other way without leaving myself very open to being shafted sooner or later.

 

[JD6400]

A rival company that i rather daftly helped to get started , had a 30kw job locally only a few weeks ago that was on a atcost concrete building with very shabby asbestos sheets on it .
They phoned me up the other Friday to say that someone had shopped them to the hse for not having scaffolding and not taking any precautions when drilling the sheets !
They said that the hse had just phoned them up and this company had told them that the holes were only small and the hse left it like that , no more said or done !!!!
Having said that the site appeared to stop for about 3 weeks until last week .
I don't know for sure all that did happen as the cheeky buggers only phoned me to accuse us or one of our roofing contractors of shopping them !
To be honest with that attitude i wish we had !!!!
If we do get a asbestos roof we always try to persuade the client to change it first .
If you do work on them bear in mind if you hear a crack you are already on the way through and you wont be stopping it , so our roofing contractors say !
And don't forget to factor in down days on these roofs because when wet they are like a skating rink .
And do not ever even think of going on them until fully netted !

 

[SRE]

I spoke to our local asbestos specialist this afternoon and he assured me that the asbestos/concrete sheets had only between 5 - 15% of asbestos in them and that as long at sensible precautions were used ie P3 masks and overalls, because it was outside there was really minimal risk. Didn't mention anything about netting -our roofers are licensed to remove asbestos roofs, but as with many roofers they aren't the best at sticking to H&S.

Our install is next week and I'm asking for their own risk assessment and method statement to go into the customer files.

 

[JD6400]

I am probably wrong but i thought it was a requirement to net them , to be honest you only need to go through that sheet once to appreciate the fact it was there !

 

[SRE]

Does it help that there's straw bales the length of the shed about 2 metres under the roof???

Sodding planners are making us put 16 panels in one long run because it's in an AONB. I haven't shown them my panels on the back of my house in the AONB LOL. The barn would be a great advert because it's a fairly main road but the panels are going to look ridiculous so I'm in 2 minds as to whether to put our scaffold banner on.

We're doing a barn on the other side of the road the same week, not in area of AONB (although only about 100m away!) so landscape all black panels on slate roof - lovely, might blend so well that other punters won't be able to see it - can't win!!

 

[JD6400]

That should help a wee bit with the straw !
Mind , make sure you don't do any grinding in it .
One of our clients lost a nice new barn full of straw last week while he was doing some angle grinding just out side of it !:blush5:
We have the job of uprating most of his system and rewiring the new barn when it gets built .
arty:

 

[stjowen]

According to HSE website you shouldn't use power tools near asbestos sheets anyway.
The nails should be twisted out with mole grips.

Personally I wouldn't touch asbestos sheets and certainly wouldn't walk on them.
Always use nets and crawler boards, at the very least.
I know too many people who have gone through these roofs and have serious or fatal injuries.