Visual inspection before asbestos air clearance in Alberta, what is checked?

Visual Inspection and Air Clearance in Alberta

The sources we rely on for Alberta do not publish a visual-inspection checklist for the end of an asbestos job, so we cannot tell you item by item what the inspector must look at. What they do set is the air result the job has to reach, and who should be checking it is something you can ask about before the work starts.

The Alberta Asbestos Abatement Manual sorts abatement into low, moderate and high risk. For moderate-risk work, final air monitoring results must be less than 0.01 fibres per cubic centimetre, and the Manual says aggressive sampling techniques should be used for that final sampling if a containment was used. For high-risk work, the enclosure stays under negative pressure until air-monitoring tests confirm fibre levels are low enough to dismantle it. For low-risk work, 0.01 is a level air monitoring should stay below during all phases of the work, not a final clearance step.

A few points matter for the homeowner arranging this:

• Ask for the visual inspection and the air sampling to be done by a consultant independent of the abatement crew, and agree that before the job starts.
• Ask the consultant what they will look at before they sample, and ask for it in writing. Since no Alberta checklist is published, their written answer is the scope you are paying for.
• The lab method matters. PCM (NIOSH 7400) counts fibres but cannot distinguish asbestos from other fibres; TEM (NIOSH 7402) positively identifies asbestos. Ask which method the consultant's lab will use and whether the lab participates in a proficiency testing program.
• Ask whether the clearance report will describe what was inspected as well as listing the air results.

Published Calgary-area prices for air clearance testing run roughly $200 to $700 per area, depending on the number of samples collected and whether a written report is included.

Before you commit to an abatement contractor, ask them directly who will conduct the visual inspection and collect the clearance samples, and confirm that person works independently of the removal crew.