The Eurocontrol company, with extensive experience in areas such as industrial inspection, regulatory inspection, testing, technical assistance, engineering, etc., has recently obtained ENAC's accreditation, becoming the first accredited body for asbestos inspection according to the criteria established in the new UNE 171370-2 standard.

Eurocontrol has especially demonstrated its technical competence for locating, identifying and valuing asbestos materials in buildings and industrial installations in order to estimate their potential level of risk, as well as for preliminarily identifying asbestos materials for removal.

Having accreditation for these activities will offer administrations and companies using asbestos inspection services the maximum guarantees, since Eurocontrol has demonstrated that it carries out standardized method inspections and that it has the necessary technical solvency by complying with the requirements of the international standard UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020.

This is highlighted by Manuel Alonso Sánchez, Development and DGA Manager at Eurocontrol: "Analysing the possible existence of asbestos in buildings and facilities and identifying the risk helps those in charge make appropriate decisions and understand how to manage this risk, which directly impacts the health and well-being of workers and users of the inspected facilities. This accreditation enables us to offer reliability to our inspection services users in identifying the presence of asbestos in their facilities so they can adopt the appropriate measures in the presence of this compound”.

He also explains the value of having services with proven technical competence: "Our customers obtain a quality guarantee in the service provided. The reports are clear and accurate and ensure the traceability of the measurements made. All inspection activity is governed by a quality assurance system recognized by ENAC”.

 

Asbestos detection in health

The use and marketing of asbestos have been banned in Spain since 2002. Therefore, Manuel Alonso Sánchez states that "it is essential for public health that all construction elements prior to that date containing asbestos are identified and that they are assessed to evaluate if their existence entails a danger to users' health; an area where the Apave Group, which Eurocontrol joined in 2020, has extensive experience as an accredited inspection company outside Spain".

This new accreditation is a step forward in asbestos control in Spain: "We believe that there is a long way to go in this area in Spain and part of our mission is to offer our customers the possibility of carrying out an inspection guaranteed by accreditation", he concluded.