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Mr
Austin presented the report. He said that the Health and Safety
Board met a week ago. The main topics for discussion were Beckenham
Place Park, an incident involving a Council tree falling and
progress works regarding fire risk.
Mr
Austin introduced Mr Damri who leads the asset management team. He
was in attendance because this Committee had previously identified
asbestos as one of the main topics for discussion. Members asked
for more information about the risk of asbestos and how it is
managed. He said that there is an asbestos register but it is not
available as a single document; asbestos registers are held
individually on all council buildings
At
6.30pm, Councillor Hall arrived and the meeting became
quorate.
Mr
Damri said that in the past, asbestos was used widely in
construction. Its use was restricted in the 80’s and
90’s and abolished from March 1999. Lewisham’s building
stock is very likely to contain asbestos. It was used because it
has many good qualities; it is strong, good for insulating and
cannot be dissolved by water or chemicals. It was used in a lot of
products.
The
only way to identify asbestos is through a survey and Lewisham
employ external people to identify it. The HSE have replaced the
type 1 and type 2 survey with R and D survey which is intrusive. An
action plan may recommend removal of asbestos even if it is
dangerous but usually the recommendation is to leave it and
encapsulate it.
Mr
Damri confirmed that there is not one asbestos register, this
information is kept separately for each individual building
corporately. The documents are large but this information could be
printed out for each building if requested. The information in each
document explains how the asbestos should be treated. When asbestos
is found it triggers certain action. If the information does not
cover all the building, an additional survey will be undertaken in
that area.
Councillor Best referred to remedial works at the Sydenham
Centre. She asked what prompted this action. Mr Damri explained the
action that would have been taken if asbestos had been identified
but he did not know the reasons for the works at the Sydenham
Centre. He agreed to investigate the matter and advise Councillor
Best accordingly. Councillor Best said that because of the
pre-election period, the assembly meeting to have been held on 7
November had been cancelled. It was hoped that the meeting could be
re-arranged in January if the Centre is open.
Councillor Hall said that the presence of asbestos had been
focussed on buildings, but asbestos could be anywhere. He said that
local residents were concerned about asbestos found in soil in
Beckenham Place Park. There were claims that it had been floating
in the air. He asked what action had been taken by officers. Mr
Damri said that asbestos occurs naturally in the ground and could
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