The following guidelines should be adhered to to minimize asbestos exposure:
- Know about the potential asbestos materials like joints looking like a plaster cast.
- Don’t be in contact with friable asbestos; a material having more than 1% of asbestos in terms of volume or weight that hand pressure can crumble, pulverize or reduce to powder when dry. It also includes any material that becomes pulverized through breaking, chipping, crumbling, crushing or other means of rendering fibers available to the ambient air.
- Blower door test must be avoided in a building having the presence of friable materials. In the case of Steam boilers with radiators, asbestos may still be in wall cavities.
- When Asbestos Cement sidewall shingles are removed and reinstalled as part of a wall insulation procedure, the Mass Save Contractor must complete the work as per the procedures prescribed by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
This information is referred to as general guidance for Weatherization personnel and doesn’t serve as the detailed specifications for proper handling of possible asbestos-containing material. Refer to the State law concerning asbestos abatement in Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Public Health Asbestos Abatement Regulation; CMR 410.353 and 453 CMR 6.00, THE REMOVAL, and CONTAINMENT OR ENCAPSULATION OF ASBESTOS.