Display activities with asbestos on a company-specific basis
Source: Serviceportal Rheinland-PfalzAsbestos is a carcinogenic hazardous substance. Companies and private individuals are not permitted to manufacture, use or process materials containing asbestos.
Exemptions apply for the following purposes:
- Demolition work
- renovation work
- maintenance work, except for
- fixed coverings, superstructures or elevations on asbestos cement roofs, asbestos cement wall and ceiling cladding, floor coverings containing asbestos
- Cleaning and coating work on asbestos cement roofs that are not fully coated and exterior wall cladding made of asbestos cement
- Research, analysis and testing work
If you as a company wish to carry out this work and materials containing asbestos are involved, you must notify the relevant health and safety authority before starting the work.
Only companies are obliged to notify.
The notification can be company-related or object-related.
- You can submit company-related notifications for stationary or temporary workplaces. Your activities must be in the area of low or medium risk.
- You must submit object-related notifications for changing workplaces (construction sites) if you carry out activities in the high-risk area.
You submit the company-related notification to the competent authority.
You must also send a copy of the notification to the responsible statutory accident insurance institution. Before you start working with asbestos, you must determine whether you must comply with low, medium or high risk protective measures.
In Germany, the risk of asbestos exposure in buildings is divided into three categories:
- low risk: asbestos fiber dust exposure below 10,000 fibers per cubic meter
- medium risk: asbestos fiber dust exposure between 10,000 and 100,000 fibers per cubic meter
- high risk: asbestos fiber dust exposure over 100,000 fibers per cubic meter
In the following cases, you must submit a supplementary notification of place and time:
- Your work involves activities with asbestos-containing materials in the medium risk range, i.e. airborne asbestos fiber exposure between 10,000 and 100,000 fibers per cubic meter.
- In certain cases: You carry out recognized low-emission processes.
The manufacture, use and processing of materials containing asbestos is generally prohibited for both companies and private individuals. Exceptions apply to demolition, renovation and maintenance work.
If this involves working with materials containing asbestos, you as an entrepreneur must notify the relevant occupational health and safety authority before starting the work. This notification can be company-specific or object-specific. Notification is only mandatory for companies.
Company-related notifications can be made for stationary (e.g. company location) or temporary (e.g. construction site) workplaces. For temporary workplaces, a company-related notification is only possible in the following cases:
- Activities with low exposure (No. 2.8 TRGS 519)
- Low-emission work processes (No. 2.9 TRGS 519)
- Work on a small scale (No. 2.10 Para. 3 TRGS 519), i.e. asbestos cement panels in outdoor areas with less than 100 m2. (An additional notification of place and time must be submitted before work begins).
Maintenance measures (No. 17 TRGS 519)