Building Inspectors and Asbestos Risks

Building inspectors faced asbestos exposure while inspecting older buildings with asbestos materials. Learn about exposure sources and legal options.

By Maria Reyes 2 min read
Published: Updated:
Building Inspectors and Asbestos Risks

Overview

Building inspectors, code enforcement officials who inspect buildings for compliance with regulations, faced asbestos exposure while examining older buildings with asbestos-containing materials. Accessing mechanical spaces, crawling through attics, and disturbing building materials during inspections created exposure to asbestos fibers.

Moderate
Risk classification
Ongoing
Current hazard
Pre-1980
Buildings at risk
Continuing Risk

Building inspectors today continue to face asbestos exposure when inspecting pre-1980 buildings. Awareness and protective measures are essential.

How Building Inspectors Were Exposed

Key Facts
Inspected mechanical rooms with asbestos insulation
Crawled through attics with asbestos insulation
Accessed areas with deteriorating asbestos materials
Disturbed building materials during inspections
Took samples of suspected asbestos materials

Types of Inspections

Mechanical inspections:

  • Examining boiler rooms with asbestos pipe insulation
  • Inspecting HVAC systems with asbestos ductwork
  • Checking electrical systems with asbestos components

Structural inspections:

  • Accessing attics with asbestos insulation
  • Examining crawl spaces with asbestos materials
  • Inspecting walls and ceilings for damage

Renovation/demolition inspections:

  • Reviewing asbestos surveys
  • Monitoring abatement work
  • Inspecting demolition sites
Material Disturbance

Even brief inspections can disturb asbestos materials. Moving insulation, touching ceiling tiles, or accessing confined spaces releases fibers.

Buildings with Asbestos

Building inspectors encountered asbestos across residential homes built before 1980, commercial office buildings and retail, institutional schools, hospitals and government buildings, and industrial factories and warehouses. Inspectors working aging school stock in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in the 1980s and 1990s regularly entered mechanical rooms wrapped with Johns Manville and Owens Corning insulation.

Common Asbestos Locations

  • Mechanical rooms (pipe and boiler insulation)
  • Attics (loose-fill insulation)
  • Ceilings (tiles and spray-on fireproofing)
  • Floors (vinyl asbestos tiles)
  • Walls (textured coatings, drywall compound)

Building inspectors work alongside:

Health Consequences

Building inspectors face elevated risk of mesothelioma, a cancer of the chest or abdominal lining; asbestosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs; lung cancer, with risk multiplied among smokers; and pleural disease that thickens the lining around the lungs.

Building inspectors diagnosed with mesothelioma typically pursue several tracks in parallel. Building-material manufacturers including Johns Manville, W.R. Grace, and Owens Corning established asbestos trust funds through bankruptcy reorganization. Trust claims often run alongside product-liability suits against solvent manufacturers, employer-liability claims against agencies that failed to provide protection, premises-liability claims against building owners, and workers’ compensation through a former employer.