Contractor management

Hazardous building materials

Hazardous building materials are present throughout the university, rather if it is a new or old building. It is imperative that the health and safety of all on campus is protected when hazardous building materials are required to be disturbed. This page describes the processes and requirements of both SFU and regulators.

Contractors that reveal hazardous building materials

If you discover mould or damaged suspected hazardous building materials during your work activities, please do the following:

1. Stop work immediately;
2. Ensure access is limited and close off the area to prevent anyone from entering the immediate area; and
3. Contact the SFU Project Manager and Environmental Health & Safety (778.782.6558, 778.782.4978 or 778.782.3011)

These materials must be assessed for the presence of hazardous building materials prior to disturbing them.

Contractors working with hazardous building materials

Before you start

Prior to impacting any building material on SFU campuses, the material needs to be assessed for the potential presence of asbestos, lead, silica and mould.

Some materials may already be assessed and SFU will have records of this, which can reduce or eliminate the requirement for an assessment report.  For more information, email EHS at hazmat_work@sfu.ca along with a copy of your scope of work.

If the materials are not assessed or only portions of them are, then SFU will retain a third party qualified consultant to assess all materials that will be impacted as a part of your scope of work.  This can be done by requesting it through the SFU Project Manager.

Assessment report and submittals

When you have the hazardous building materials assessment report and are ready to begin work, ensure that the following checks have been made prior to beginning the work:

1. The hazardous building materials assessment report accurately reflects your scope of work, and every known material is accounted for within the report.
   
    If this is not true, and the consultant missed a material, there is an uncommon or concealed material discovered or the scope of work has changed, then a reassessment of the materials must be conducted prior to impacting them
   
   
2. If there are hazardous building materials identified, a WorkSafe BC Notice of Project (NOP), along with site-specific risk assessment(s) and safe work procedure(s) for each type of hazardous material is required.  Ensure these requirements are met and that EHS and the Project Manager have had a full 48 hours (only business days, Monday - Friday) to review these prior to starting work.

Small scope of work

If the work is limited and small in scope (example: anchoring a TV on the wall), is an assessment report still required?

Yes, this still requires the materials to be assessed.  Depending on the type of wall, it could contain asbestos and/or silica, it could be painted with Lead-based paint, or there could be mould growth on the backside.  Even though the size of the work and the impact to the materials may be relatively small, it still requires assessment so that adequate controls may be implemented to limit the risk of exposure.

Disposal

If asbestos-containing materials are removed as part of your scope of work, ensure that the materials and any contaminated materials are disposed of as hazardous waste.

If non-asbestos materials applied with Lead-based paints are removed as part of your scope of work, check the assessment report to see if a TCLP (Leachate) test was conducted on the materials.  If it was conducted it will tell you whether the materials can be disposed of as regular waste or as hazardous waste.  If no test was conducted, contact your SFU Project Manager to determine whether the waste should be assumed to be hazardous waste, or if it should be tested prior to disposal.

All hazardous waste must be disposed at a recognized landfill that is approved to accept hazardous waste.

A waste manifest must be used for transporting any quantity in excess of 5 kg. Hazardous waste shipments requiring the use of a hazardous waste manifest must be transported by a transporter licensed by the Ministry of Environment.

Silica-containing and mould-impacted materials can be disposed of as regular waste, provided there is no asbestos or Lead contamination.