| Author: | Cheung, Chun-wa |
| Title: | Management of asbestos in electricity substations |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Subject: | Electric substations -- Safety measures Asbestos in building -- Safety measures Asbestos -- Safety measures Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Multi-disciplinary Studies Department of Building Services Engineering |
| Pages: | vii, 128 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Asbestos has been proven to be harmful to human health and can cause lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma. The uses of asbestos are numerous and can easily be found in various building applications, such as roofing, flooring, and fireproofing products. Three phase of asbestos related health effects have been identified. The first phase was primarily associated with people working in the mining and milling ores and the manufacture of asbestos product. The second phase was usually associated with people exposure to asbestos when using the asbestos products It is of increasing concern of third phase exposure to asbestos. When the buildings constructed with asbestos over the past decades and have begun to age and deteriorate, asbestos exposure hazards shall be related to occupants, residents, and tenants of buildings including school children, office and custodian workers, maintenance personnel - the so called third phase of exposure. This thesis is concerned with the management of asbestos problems in substation buildings of a power company. The areas of concern include the possible third phase of exposure of asbestos fibers to operation and maintenance personnel during routine maintenance, repair, renovation, and demolition of buildings. Also, in order to achieve ISO 14001 international accreditation, the requirement of development of asbestos investigation, asbestos abatement plan and asbestos management plan is critical in order to attain this accreditation. It is important for facility managers to manage asbestos problems inside buildings in a safe, health and environmentally acceptable manner and to ensure the legislative compliance during routine maintenance, building renovation, modification, and refurbishment. The criteria of success starts with planning and executing asbestos investigation, data analysis, risk analysis of asbestos exposure and determination of suitable asbestos abatement alternatives, and finally with application of the risk analysis model as an example to propose the priority of removal of ACM. The development of an asbestos abatement plan and asbestos management plan is essential for the Facility Manager to provide an in-situ management strategy in handling asbestos problems within the company, which has the benefits of improving corporate image. The cost of asbestos abatement shall be enormous if we aimed to have the removal done at a single time. The benefit of managing the asbestos in situ is that we can selectively to remove the ACM in a timely and well-planned order over several financial years. For the case study discussed, the majority (about 97.9%) of the locations with ACM are in good condition and are typically present at penetrations seals of cables (91.07%). Provided there were no issues of immediate health risks to maintenance staff, it was found that asbestos could be successfully managed in situ until a suitable opportunity for replacement arose. An appropriate time for removal was influenced by business management decisions such as availability of an outage window and minimizing inconvenience to customers. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b16040958.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.71 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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