Should my furnace be off during asbestos abatement in Calgary?

The sources we rely on do not set a furnace rule for homeowners, so treat this as a question for the contractor's plan. The Alberta OHS Code requires the employer to minimize the release of asbestos into the air as far as reasonably practicable and to keep a restricted area controlled, and the Alberta Asbestos Abatement Manual lists work on air-handling equipment and furnaces among high-risk tasks. How the heating system is kept out of the work area is part of meeting those duties.

What to ask about the heating system

Ask the contractor to explain, in writing, what will happen to the furnace and ductwork serving the work area during the job.

A few things worth confirming with your contractor:

• Whether the furnace and ventilation will be running during the work, and how the work area is kept separate from them
• When the system can be used again, and what will be checked first if the work was near ductwork or the furnace
• Whether clearance air testing will be done by a consultant independent of the abatement crew, and which lab will count the samples

On clearance testing: the Manual describes final air results below 0.01 fibres per cubic centimetre for moderate-risk work, and air monitoring below that level during all phases of low-risk work. For high-risk enclosures, the containment stays under negative pressure until air results confirm it is safe to dismantle. Having an independent consultant collect those samples, rather than the abatement crew itself, gives you a cleaner result.

One more practical point: if the abatement is happening in a pre-1990 Calgary home and a building or demolition permit is involved, the City of Calgary's Asbestos Abatement Information Form must be submitted before that permit is released. The 72-hour notification to Alberta OHS is the contractor's responsibility and must be filed before any work that may release fibres begins.

If you are ready to get quotes, the form on this page sends your request to local Calgary abatement contractors listed in the Calgary Construction Network directory. The single most useful thing to get in writing is when the heating system can safely run again.