Subject 391-3-14 ASBESTOS REMOVAL AND ENCAPSULATION
Unless a different meaning is required by the context, the
following terms as used in these rules shall have the meaning hereinafter
respectively ascribed, except that to the extent terms are not defined in these
rules, the Act's definitions control; and provided, that definitions within any
subsequent rule, or subdivision thereof, which are expressly made applicable to
the rule or subdivision within which they appear, shall apply for purposes of
such specific rule or subdivision thereof.
| (a) |
"Act" means the "Georgia Asbestos Safety
Act", O.C.G.A. Section
12-12-1et
seq. |
| (b) |
"Asbestos" means
any naturally-occurring hydrated mineral silicates separable into commercially
used fibers, specifically the asbestiform varieties of serpentine, chrysotile;
cummingtomite-grunerite, amosite; riebeckite, crocidolite; anthophyllite;
tremolite; and actinolite. |
| (c) |
"Asbestos Supervisor" means any individual who is employed or engaged by a
contractor to supervise the removal, encapsulation, cleaning, or disposal of
friable asbestos-containing materials. |
| (d) |
"Contractor" means any person who
contracts with an owner or operator of a facility or residential dwelling to
perform the removal or encapsulation of friable asbestos-containing material
from any such facility or residential dwelling. `Contractor' shall not include
any employee of such owner or operator. |
| (e) |
"Department" means the Department of
Natural Resources of the State of Georgia. |
| (f) |
"Demolition" means the wrecking or taking
out of any load supporting structural members of a facility together with the
related handling operations. |
| (g) |
"Director" means the director of the Environmental Protection Division of the
Department of Natural Resources of the State of Georgia or his
designee. |
| (h) |
"Division" means the
Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources of the
State of Georgia. |
| (i) |
"Emergency
Project" means the removal or encapsulation of friable asbestos-containing
material from any facility where such activity must be conducted immediately in
order to prevent disruption of a commercial or industrial process or activity
or destruction of property. |
| (j) |
"Encapsulation" means to coat, bind, or resurface walls, ceilings, pipes or
other structures with a sealant to prevent friable asbestos from becoming
airborne. |
| (k) |
"Facility" means any
institutional, commercial, or industrial structure, installation, or building,
including apartment buildings having more than four dwelling units. |
| (l) |
"Friable Asbestos-Containing Material"
means any material which is applied onto ceilings, walls, structural members,
piping, boilers, tanks, pumps, ductwork or any other part of the building
containing more than 1 percent asbestos, by weight, and which when dry may be
crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand pressure. |
| (m) |
"Outside Air" means the air outside
buildings and structures. |
| (n) |
"Person" means any individual, partnership, association, trust, firm,
corporation, county, municipality, or other entity, including the state and
federal governments. |
| (o) |
"Project"
means the removal or encapsulation by a contractor of firable
asbestos-containing material from any facility or residential
dwelling. |
| (p) |
"Removal" means to
take out, strip, clean-up, or dispose of friable or potentially friable
asbestos-containing materials from any facility or residential dwelling as
defined by this chapter. |
| (q) |
"Residential Dwelling" means any family residence or apartment building with
four or fewer dwelling units. |
| (r) |
"Small Project" means any asbestos removal or encapsulation project involving
less than 160 square feet or 260 linear feet of friable asbestos-containing
materials. |
| (s) |
"Structural Member"
means any load supporting member of a facility, such as beams and load
supporting walls; or any nonload supporting member, such as ceilings and
nonload supporting walls. |
| (t) |
"Visible Emission" means any emissions containing particulate asbestos material
that are visually detectable without the aid of instruments. This does not
include condensed, uncombined water vapor. |
| (1) |
Standards for Removal and Encapsulation.
| (a) |
Standard for Asbestos Emission Control.
| 1. |
Each contractor to whom this section
applies shall comply with the following procedures to prevent emissions of
particulate asbestos material to the outside air:
| (i) |
Remove friable asbestos materials from a
facility or residential dwelling being demolished or renovated before any
wrecking or dismantling that would break up the materials or preclude access to
the materials for subsequent removal. However, friable asbestos materials need
not be removed before demolition if:
| (I) |
they
are on a facility or residential dwelling component that is encased in concrete
or other similar material; and |
| (II) |
these materials are adequately wetted whenever exposed during
demolition. |
|
| (ii) |
When
components of a facility or residential dwelling covered or coated with friable
asbestos material are being taken out of the facility or residential dwelling
as units or in sections:
| (I) |
adequately wet
any friable asbestos material exposed during cutting or disjointing operators;
and |
| (II) |
carefully lower the units
or sections to ground level, not dropping them or throwing them. |
|
| (iii) |
Adequately wet friable
containing asbestos materials when they are being stripped from components of a
facility or residential dwelling before the components are removed from the
facility or residential dwelling. In removal operations, wetting that would
unavoidably damage equipment is not required if the contractor or
owner/operator:
| (I) |
asks the Director to
determine whether wetting to comply with this paragraph would unavoidably
damage equipment, and, before beginning to strip, supplies the Director with
adequate information to make this determination; and |
| (II) |
when the Director does not determine
that equipment damage would be unavoidable, use a local exhaust ventilation and
collection system designed and operated to capture the particulate asbestos
containing material produced by the stripping and removal of the friable
asbestos containing materials. The system must exhibit no visible emissions to
the outside air and must be designed and operated in accordance with the
requirements in
391-3-14-.02 (1)(c). |
|
| (iv) |
After components of a
facility or residential dwelling have been taken out of the facility or
residential dwelling as units or in sections, either:
| (I) |
adequately wet friable asbestos
containing materials during stripping; or |
| (II) |
use the local exhaust ventilation and
collection system designed and operated to capture the particulate asbestos
material produced by the stripping. The system must exhibit no visible
emissions to the outside air and must be designed in accordance with the
requirements of
391-3-14-.02 (1)(c). |
|
| (v) |
For friable
asbestos-containing materials that have been removed or stripped:
| (I) |
adequately wet the material to insure
that they remain wet until they are collected for disposal; and |
| (II) |
carefully lower the materials to the
ground or lower floor, not dropping or throwing them; and |
| (III) |
transport the material to the ground by
way of dust-tight chutes or containers if they have been removed or stripped
more than 50 feet above ground level and were not removed as units or in
sections. |
|
| (vi) |
When the
temperature at the point of wetting is below 32 degrees F:
| (I) |
comply with the requirements of
paragraphs (iv( and (v) of this section. The contractor or owner/operator need
not comply with the other wetting requirements in this section; and |
| (II) |
remove facility or residential dwelling
components coated or covered with friable asbestos-containing materials as
units or in sections to the maximum extent possible. |
|
| (vii) |
For facilities or residential dwellings
being demolished under order of State or local governmental agencies, issued
because the facility or residential dwelling is structurally unsound and in
danger of imminent collapse adequately wet the portion of the facility that
contains friable asbestos containing material during the wrecking
operation. |
|
|
| (b) |
Standard for Waste Disposal;
| 1. |
Each contractor to whom this section
applies shall comply with the following procedures:
| (i) |
deposit all asbestos containing waste
material at waste disposal sites approved by the Division for disposal of
asbestos-containing material; and |
| (ii) |
discharge no visible emissions to the
outside air during the collection, processing, packaging, transporting or
deposition of any asbestos-containing waste material, or use one of the
disposal methods as follows:
| (I) |
treat
asbestos-containing waste material with water;
| I. |
mix asbestos-containing waste from control
devices with water to form a slurry; adequately wet other asbestos-containing
waste material; and |
| II. |
discharge
no visible emissions to the outside air from collection, mixing and wetting
operations, or use the methods specified by
391-3-14-.02 (1)(c) to clean
emissions containing particulate asbestos material before they escape to, or
are vented to, the outside air; and |
| III. |
after wetting, seal all
asbestos-containing waste material in leak-tight containers while wet;
and |
| IV. |
label the containers as
follows: CAUTION! CONTAINS ASBESTOS -- AVOID OPENING OR BREAKING CONTAINER.
BREATHING ASBESTOS IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH. Alternatively, use warning
labels specified by Occupational Safety and Health Standards of the United
States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) under 29 CFR
1910.1001(g)(2)(ii).
|
|
| (II) |
Use an alternative
disposal method that has received prior approval by the Director. |
|
|
|
| (c) |
Standard
for Air Cleaning:
| 1. |
The contractor who
elects to use air cleaning shall:
| (i) |
use
fabric filter collection devices doing all of the following:
| (I) |
operating the fabric filter collection
devices at a pressure drop of no more than four inches water gauge, as measured
across the fabric filter; and |
| (II) |
ensuring that the air flow permeability, as measured by ASTM Method D 737-75
does not exceed 30ft³/min/ft² for woven fabrics or 35
ft³/min/ft² for felted fabrics; and |
| (III) |
ensuring that felted fabric weighs at
least 14 ounces per square yard and is at least one-sixteenth inch thick
throughout; |
| (IV) |
avoiding the use
of synthetic fabrics that contain fill yarn other than that is spun. |
|
| (ii) |
Properly install, use,
operate and maintain all air cleaning equipment. Bypass devices may be used
only during upset or emergency conditions and then only for as long as it takes
to shut down the operation generating the particulate asbestos
material. |
|
| 2. |
If the use
of fabric creates a fire or explosion hazard, the Director may authorize as a
substitute the use of wet collectors designed to operate with a unit contacting
energy of at least 40 inches water gauge pressure. |
| 3. |
The Director may authorize the use of
filtering equipment other than described in this paragraph if the contractor
demonstrates to the Director's satisfaction that it is equivalent to the
described equipment in filtering particulate asbestos material. |
|
|
| (2) |
Project
Notification: No contractor shall engage in a project prior to notifying the
Director of such activities at least seven calendar days prior to commencement
of same. Such prior notice need not be provided for an emergency project;
however, the contractor shall notify the Director of the activity within seven
calendar days after the commencement of such emergency project. The
notification shall be made in the manner and form required by the Director and
shall be accompanied by a project fee. The notification shall state the
location of the project, the owner's name and address, the expected dates on
which the project will begin and end and any other information as may be
required by the Director. Upon completion of the project, the contractor shall
certify to the Director, on forms specified by the Director, that the project
was conducted in accordance with the Rules contained in this Chapter. |
A contractor shall remit a fee to the Department of Natural
Resources based upon the following formula:
| (a) |
$0.10 per square foot of friable
asbestos-containing materials plus $0.10 per linear foot of friable
asbestos-containing materials, with a minimum of $25 for any project; but not
to exceed $50 for any small project or residential dwelling project nor to
exceed $1,000 for any other project. |
| (b) |
Such fee remittance shall be made at
least seven calendar days prior to commencement of the project. |
| (1) |
From and after
July 1, 1996, any contractor shall obtain a license prior to engaging in the
removal or encapsulation of friable asbestos-containing materials from any
facility or residential dwelling. |
| (2) |
A copy of the license and evidence of
satisfactory training shall be available for review by the Division at all
projects sites. |
| (3) |
The application
for a license or renewal of a license shall be accompanied by an application
fee of $100, and shall be submitted in such manner, and on such forms, as
specified by the Director. The application shall include information sufficient
to demonstrate:
| (a) |
Satisfactory completion
of an initial training course or required annual update courses, as applicable,
in the removal and abatement of asbestos as described in 391-3-14-.016. The
initial training course must have been completed within 48 months prior to
submittal of the application; |
| (b) |
Reliability in performance of general contracting activities; |
| (c) |
Prior experience in performing asbestos
abatement activities as demonstrated through the submission of information that
the applicant has successfully completed or supervised three previous asbestos
abatement projects; |
| (d) |
Satisfactory in-use written standard operating procedures for employee
respiratory protection, overall work practices, worker and public protection
practices, and bulk and air sampling procedures for asbestos abatement
activities; and |
| (e) |
Applicant's
competence in the performance of asbestos abatement activities, as documented
by:
| 1. |
A description of any asbestos
abatement activities conducted by the applicant that have been terminated prior
to completion including the circumstances of the termination; |
| 2. |
A list of any contractual penalties that
the applicant has paid for breach of or noncompliance with contract
specifications for asbestos abatement activities; |
| 3. |
Identification of any citations levied
against the applicant by any Federal, State or local governmental agencies for
violations relating to asbestos abatement; |
| 4. |
A description of all legal proceedings,
law suits, or claims that have been filed or levied against the applicant for
asbestos-related activities; |
| 5. |
A
training process for applicant's employees in the hazards and procedures of
asbestos abatement activities; and |
| 6. |
The availability of personal and public
protective equipment appropriate to asbestos abatement activity. |
|
|
| (4) |
The Director shall
license contractors whose qualifications meet or exceed the criteria set forth
in this Rule. Any license issued in accordance with this Rule shall be valid
for a period of time not to exceed three years. Any contractor holding a valid
license on June 30, 1996 shall be considered to hold a valid license until June
30, 1996. |
| (1) |
From and after July 1, 1996, no person shall be employed as an asbestos
supervisor unless that person has satisfactorily completed training in the
removal and abatement of asbestos as described in Rule
391-3-14-.06. |
| (2) |
Evidence of satisfactory training shall
be available for review by the Division at all project sites which are being
supervised. |
| (1) |
Contractors and supervisors must have
completed initial and annual update courses approved by the Director in
supervision of asbestos abatement projects and have satisfactorily completed an
examination with a passing grade of at least 70 percent. To be approved, the
training shall meet or exceed the following criteria:
| (a) |
The initial training course shall consist
of 32 hours or more, and provided, at a minimum, information on the following
topics:
| 1. |
The physical characteristics of
asbestos including fiber size, aerodynamic characteristics and physical
appearance; |
| 2. |
The health hazards
of asbestos including the nature of asbestos related diseases, routes of
exposure, dose-response relationships, synergism between cigarette smoking and
asbestos exposure, latency period for disease and health basis for
standards; |
| 3. |
Employee personal
protective equipment including the classes and characteristics of respirator
types, limitations of respirators, proper selection, inspection, donning, use,
maintenance and storage procedures, methods for field testing of the face
piece-to-face seal (positive and negative pressure fitting tests), qualitative
and quantitative fit testing procedures, variability between field and
laboratory protection factors, factors that alter respirator fit (e.g., facial
hair), the components of a proper respiratory protection program, selection and
use of personal protective clothing, use, storage and handling of launderable
clothing, non-slip footwear, gloves, eye-protection and hard hats, procedures
and requirements of 29 CFR
1926.58 and
29 CFR
1910.134, benefits of medical monitoring and
employee access to records; |
| 4. |
Air
monitoring procedures and requirements included under
29 CFR
1926.58 including a description of equipment
and methods, reasons for air monitoring, types of samples and current standards
with proposed changes; |
| 5. |
State-of-the-art work practices for asbestos abatement activities including
purpose, proper construction and maintenance of barriers and decontamination
enclosure systems, posting of warning signs, electrical and ventilation system
lock-out, proper working techniques of minimizing fiber release, use of wet
methods and surfactants, use of negative pressure ventilation equipment, use of
HEPA vacuums and proper clean-up disposal procedures. Work practice
requirements as they apply to removal, encapsulation, enclosure and repair
shall be discussed individually; |
| 6. |
Personal hygiene including entry and exit procedures for the work area, use of
showers and prohibition of eating, drinking, smoking and chewing (gum or
tobacco) in the work area; |
| 7. |
Additional safety hazards that may be encountered during abatement activities
and how to deal with them including electrical hazards, heats stress, air
contaminants other than asbestos, fire and explosion hazards, scaffold and
ladder hazards, slips, trips and falls confined spaces and noise; and |
| 8. |
The requirements, procedures and standards
established by:
| (i) |
40 CFR Part 61, Subpart
M; and |
| (ii) |
40 CFR Part 763,
Subpart E. |
|
|
| (b) |
The annual update course shall consists
of 8 hours or more and at a minimum. adequately review the topics in subsection
(a), update information on state-of-the-art procedures and equipment and review
regulatory changes and interpretations. Such training shall have been completed
within 12 months of completion of previous training. |
|
| 2. |
Approval of initial and update courses.
| (a) |
Any person responsible for conducting
asbestos abatement training and examination who has received approval from the
State of Georgia for such training and examination prior to April 1, 1996 shall
be considered to have approval from the Director under these Rules and
Regulations. |
| (b) |
After April 1,
1996, persons responsible for conducting asbestos abatement training and
examination shall submit adequate documentation of the course content and
coverage, as well as examination practices, top enable the Director to
determine that the course meets the requirements of their Rule. Approval will
be granted by a letter from the Director, with any conditions or term limits
deemed appropriate by the Director. |
|
| (1) |
Any person
requesting licensing by reciprocity shall complete and submit an approved
application form, together with a copy of the applicant's valid license or
certificate or equivalent issued by another State, territory or possession of
the United States. |
| (2) |
Reciprocity
privileges are granted to contractors or asbestos foremen holding valid
licenses or certificates from outside the State of Georgia only when the
standards of such licenses are not less than those in Georgia, and reciprocity
privileges are granted to licensed contractors of Georgia. |
| (1) |
The Director may refuse to grant a
license to an applicant or may revoke or suspend the license of a person
licensed upon a finding that the licensee or applicant has:
| (a) |
Made any false statement or given any
false information in connection with an application for license, including an
application for renewal thereof; |
| (b) |
Violated the Act or violated any rule or
regulation promulgated pursuant to the authority contained in the Act;
or |
| (c) |
Failed to demonstrate the
qualifications or standards for licensure contained in this Chapter, It shall
be incumbent upon the applicant to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the
Director that he meets all the requirements for licensure; and, if the Director
is not satisfied as to the applicant's qualifications, he shall have the power
to deny such licensure. |
|
| (2) |
Review of a decision of the Director
under this Chapter shall be in accordance with Chapter 13 of Title 50, the
"Georgia Administrative Procedures Act." |
| (1) |
Any person who is licensed under Chapter
14 of Title 43 shall be exempt from the licensing and training requirements of
this Chapter when performing asbestos removal or installation which is
incidental to the performance of the business or profession for which said
person is licensed and when the project involved includes less than:
| (a) |
Ten continuous linear feet of material
constructed of asbestos; or |
| (b) |
Ten
square feet of material constructed of asbestos. |
|
| (2) |
Any project involving less than the
amounts in (1)(a) or (1)(b) above shall be exempt from the project notification
required by the Rule
391-3-14-.02(2)
and the project fee required by Rule
391-3-14-.03. |
The Administration of the enforcement of these Rules and
Regulations shall be as prescribed in the Georgia Asbestos Safety Act, O.C.G.A.
Section 12-12-1et seq.
and in compliance with the applicable minimal requirements as described by the
Georgia Administrative Procedures Act, O.C.G.A. 50-13-1 et
seq.
