Asbestos Management Plan
In accordance with Section 4.12 of the Department of General Service's "Construction and Professional Services Manual," a Virginia licensed asbestos management planner shall prepare or update an Asbestos Management Plan as required by the Code of Virginia. General requirements and components of the plan include:
- Inspection for the presence, location, and condition of the asbestos-containing materials.
- Initial sampling was conducted in the 1990s for the presence of asbestos-containing materials in campus buildings, and information is available from Environmental Health & Safety or the departmental safety representative.
- Subsequent sampling is conducted by the departmental safety representative for renovation or demolition projects.
- The condition of friable asbestos-containing materials is assessed periodically by the designated asbestos inspector/designated safety representative or adequately trained personnel.
- Development of a building asbestos profile for each building found to contain asbestos-containing materials.
- Building asbestos profiles are maintained by Environmental Health & Safety.
- Aggressive air sampling conducted after completion of an asbestos project for Class I or II (where fully contained).
- The responsible project monitor assures that proper air sampling is conducted prior to re-occupancy after renovation projects.
- Development of an Operation and Maintenance Program.
- This program shall serve as the Operations and Maintenance Program.
- The management planner(s) interprets and evaluates the data for the purpose of setting abatement priorities and ranking areas for response actions.
- Designation of personnel to serve as liaisons for buildings containing asbestos-containing materials
- The departmental safety representatives serve as liaisons for their respective buildings, projects, and personnel.
- Environmental Health & Safety serves as the liaison for buildings not assigned to a departmental safety representative.
Responsibilities
Assessing the hazard potential of asbestos-containing materials is one of the key activities of the management planner. Working with the results of the physical assessment conducted by the asbestos inspector (or trained designee), the management planner interprets and evaluates the data for the purpose of setting abatement priorities and ranking areas for response actions. Federal regulations refer to this process as a hazard assessment. The hazard assessment combines the level of potential disturbance with the current condition of the asbestos-containing materials to indicate an overall hazard potential to building occupants, and custodial and maintenance personnel.
Hazard Assessment and Response Action
The degrees of the current condition of asbestos-containing materials and damage rankings are explained here.
To assign a designation for the potential for disturbance, the following table provides guidance. For example, any "high" value for any of the three criteria would result in a "high" ranking (i.e. "potential for significant damage"). Any "moderate" value for any of the three criteria would result in a "moderate" ranking (i.e. "potential for damage"), and in order to receive a "low" ranking, all three criteria must be ranked as "low".
| Level of potential disturbance | Frequency of potential contact | Influence of Vibration | Potential for air erosion |
| HIGH (significant damage) | Any high value | ||
| MODERATE | Any moderate value | ||
| LOW | All low values |
The two criteria are then combined in the table below to assign a hazard ranking. There are seven hazard rankings for the classification of asbestos-containing material for overall hazard potential. Both the current condition (i.e. degree of damage) and the potential for disturbance of asbestos-containing material are considered.
| ACM condition | ACM disturbance potential | ACM disturbance potential |
| 7 | Significantly damaged | Any |
| 6 | Damaged | Potential for significant damage (HIGH) |
| 5 | Damaged | Potential for damage (MODERATE) |
| 4 | Damaged | Low |
| 3 | Good | Potential for significant damage (HIGH) |
| 2 | Good | Potential for damage (MODERATE) |
| 1 | Good | Low |
Response actions are then assigned a priority for removal ranking. This ranking will be documented by Environmental Health & Safety and updated as necessary for each periodic surveillance/assessment for hazard rankings 5, 6, and 7. A recommended response action for removal, enclosure, encapsulation, or repair must be selected from the options for rankings 4, 5, 6, and 7. Any specific operations and maintenance procedures or practices for interim control must be specified.
| Hazard rank | Removal priority | Categories | Recommended response actions |
| 7 | 1 | Significantly damaged | A. Evacuate or isolate the area if needed. B. Remove the ACM. C. Enclose or encapsulate, if sufficient. D. Repair of TSI is allowed, if feasible. E. O&M required for all friable ACM |
| 6 | 2 | Damaged and potential for significant damage | A. Evacuate or isolate the area if needed. B. Remove the ACM. C. Enclose or encapsulate, if sufficient. D. Repair of TSI is allowed, if feasible. E. O&M required for all friable ACM. F. Take steps to reduce potential for disturbance |
| 5 | 3 | Damaged and potential for damage | B. Remove the ACM. C. Enclose or encapsulate, if sufficient. D. Repair of TSI is allowed, if feasible. E. O&M required for all friable ACM |
| 4 | 4 | Damaged | B. Remove the ACM. C. Enclose or encapsulate, of sufficient. D. Repair of TSI is allowed, if feasible. E. O&M required for all friable ACM |
| 3 | 5 | Potential for significant damage | A. Evacuate or isolate the area if needed. E. O&M required for all friable ACM. F. Take steps to reduce potential for disturbance |
| 2 | 6 | Potential for damage | E. O&M required for all friable ACM |
| 1 | 7 | All remaining ACM | E. O&M required for all friable ACM. Note: Measures need not be as extensive as above. |
Operations and Maintenance Procedures
Where friable asbestos-containing material will not be effectively removed, enclosed, encapsulated, or repaired, or where TSI is present, specific procedures and/or practices must be implemented to ensure interim control until it has been removed.
Contact Information
Robin McCall-Miller, Occupational Safety Program Manager
Phone: 540-231-2341
Email: rmmiller@vt.edu