Hiring a licensed asbestos abatement contractor

Hiring an asbestos contractor is a license check plus a scope check. EPA’s page on protecting your family says that if you hire a professional, you should ask about training and accreditation before the work starts. It also says not to dust, sweep, or vacuum debris yourself in a way that spreads fibers. The hire is how you avoid becoming the person who does that.

There is no single national asbestos contractor license. EPA’s state contact list is the map of who to call. Some states put the license in an environmental agency. Georgia’s environmental division licenses contractors who abate friable material above 10 square feet or 10 linear feet. Alabama’s environmental department certifies abatement contractors who remove regulated material. Other states use a health department. Texas’ state health services agency runs licensing and a licensee lookup from its asbestos program page. Nebraska’s health department publishes lists of licensed firms and licensed inspectors. Connecticut’s public-health unit licenses contractors and limits consultants to named disciplines. New Jersey’s labor department licenses employers, and workers and supervisors need permits. Virginia uses an occupational licensing board that is separate from the labor department’s NESHAP contact. Washington’s labor department certifies contractors and publishes a list, and it says the list is not an endorsement.

A license in one state is not automatically a license in the next. Arkansas says out-of-state firms that work in Arkansas still have to meet Arkansas licensing. Louisiana accepts some out-of-state training and then requires an extra two-hour state regulations course. New Hampshire’s statute allows a license based on another state’s substantially equivalent standards, but the New Hampshire license still has to be issued and kept on the job site. Ask “are you licensed here,” not “are you licensed somewhere.”

Check the person and the company. Minnesota’s health department has a contractor search and an individual search. Mississippi says a certificate should be verified on the agency’s list of certified individuals, not trusted as a photocopy. California’s Cal/OSHA page registers contractors who remove more than 0.1 percent asbestos covering 100 square feet or more, and it links a registrant search. A business card that says “certified” without a state file is not the check.

The license does not replace the inspection or the notice. The contractor should be working from a survey by the kind of inspector the state requires. Washington requires a good-faith survey by an AHERA building inspector before work that could disturb suspect material, and it sets a $600 per day penalty if that inspection is skipped. The survey is handed to bidders and posted on site. North Carolina requires its own accreditation for people who remove regulated material and a permit above the amounts on its health-department page. Filing a notice is often the owner’s or the operator’s duty, which can mean you, the contractor, or both. Ask who will sign it and which agency receives it. EPA’s NESHAP overview is the federal reason that notice exists.

Ask which workers will be on site and who the competent person is under OSHA’s construction standard. Class I and Class II removal need a competent person trained to the EPA supervisor level. A company can hold a state license and still send an untrained helper if you do not ask. Ask where the waste will go. Maine requires a licensed transporter for friable waste and a landfill approved for it. Maryland’s environment department permits landfills that take asbestos. A contractor who says “the dumpster” has not answered the question.

Get the scope in writing: what will be removed, what will be left, the dates that will appear on the notice, and whether the price includes the notice fee, clearance sampling, and disposal. If your state uses a separate project monitor for clearance, do not let the removal firm be the only checker.

Watch for conflict of interest. Wyoming’s environmental agency, which does not license inspectors, warns about hiring the same person to find asbestos and then remove it. Even in states that do license both roles, you can hire the inspector first, get the report, and only then bid the removal.

Before you pay a deposit, you should have the state credential checked, the survey in hand, the notice plan named, and a disposal site that is allowed to take the waste. If any of those are “we’ll figure it out after demo starts,” choose a different firm.