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Asbestos offshore

Offshore installations built before 1999 can contain asbestos-containing materials (ACMs). The older the installation the more likely that the higher risk materials such as lagging and boarding will be present. Other ACMs liable to be found offshore include: external sheeting, brake linings, arc shields for electrical switchgear, and gaskets.

Increased maintenance and fabrication activities, which are required to deal with the aging offshore infrastructure, have resulted in a greater potential for exposure to asbestos. There have been several incidents where asbestos has been poorly managed and subsequently disturbed. This has lead to exposure to asbestos fibres, costly and disruptive clean-ups and in several cases formal enforcement action by HSE.

This picture shows what happened when a duty holder failed to identify ACMs under a freezer floor before ripping it up. The white material is a product known as Caposil, containing up to 25% amosite (brown) asbestos, and it was removed without any control measures. Airborne asbestos fibre levels are likely to have been very high with contamination spread around surrounding areas.

Photograph showing dry fix verge and ridge system

Other examples include:

  • Compressed asbestos fibre (CAF) gaskets not being identified before work began and subsequently removed without any precautions
  • Maintenance work on external panelling, which turned out to contain asbestos
  • Cutting penetrations through accommodation walls, which turned out to contain asbestos
  • Widening a freezer door. The walls were metallic but because an intrusive (Refurbishment and Demolition) survey was not carried out the internal asbestos insulating board was not identified before the wall was cut with a power saw

Guidance

Comprehensive information and guidance on managing the risk from asbestos can be found at the HSE Asbestos site[40].

Although most work with ACMs must be carried out by somebody who holds a license from HSE, not all work requires this.  The manual of task sheets in Asbestos essentials[41] will be particularly helpful for installation maintenance and allied trades on how to safely carry out non-licensed work involving ACMs such as removing an asbestos-containing "arc shields" (PDF) [42]and asbestos-containing gaskets (PDF) [43].

Link URLs in this page

  1. Offshore oil and gashttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/index.htm
  2. How we workhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/how.htm
  3. Offshore health and safety lawhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/law.htm
  4. Workforce involvementhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/workinvolvement.htm
  5. Unconventional oil and gas exploration (shale gas)https://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/unconventional-gas.htm
  6. Overview - Offshore topicshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/topics.htm
  7. Accommodationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/accommodation.htm
  8. Ageinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/ageing/index.htm
  9. Corrosion and materialshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/corrosion-and-materials.htm
  10. Offshore divinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/diving.htm
  11. Electrical and control systemshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/controlsystems.htm
  12. Evacuation, escape and rescue (EER)https://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/eer.htm
  13. Fire, explosion and risk assessmenthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/assessment.htm
  14. Human factorshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/humanfactors.htm
  15. International liaisonhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/liaison.htm
  16. Marine and aviationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/marineaviation.htm
  17. Maritime integrityhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/maritimeintegrity.htm
  18. Mechanical engineeringhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/mechengineering.htm
  19. Occupational healthhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/occupationalhealth.htm
  20. Offshore pipelineshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/pipelines.htm
  21. Process integrityhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/processintegrity.htm
  22. Researchhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/offshoreresearch.htm
  23. Safety caseshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/safetycases.htm
  24. Safety management systemshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/managementsystems.htm
  25. Structural integrityhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/structuralintegrity.htm
  26. Verificationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/verification.htm
  27. Wellshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/wells.htm
  28. Working timehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/workingtime.htm
  29. Overview - Resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/resources.htm
  30. Overview - Publicationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/publications.htm
  31. Operations noticeshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/notices/index.htm
  32. Safety alerts and noticeshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/notices/index.htm#safety-alerts
  33. Offshore information sheetshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/infosheets/index.htm
  34. Research reportshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/researchreports.htm
  35. Statisticshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/statistics/index.htm
  36. Offshore charging informationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/charging.htm
  37. Key programme final reportshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/programmereports.htm
  38. Offshore Directivehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/directive.htm
  39. Subscribehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/ebulletin/index.htm
  40. HSE Asbestos sitehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/index.htm
  41. Asbestos essentialshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/index.htm
  42. removing an asbestos-containing "arc shields" https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/a30.pdf
  43. asbestos-containing gasketshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/a25.pdf
  44. The Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001: Supply and possession of controlled drugs offshore https://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/notices/on_64.htm
  45. Hydrocarbon releases: Consideration of acute health effectshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/notices/sn_04_04.htm
Updated 2024-08-13