Asbestos in Public Services and Procurement Canada-owned buildings

From: Public Services and Procurement Canada

For most of the 20th century, asbestos was commonly used in both residential and commercial building products. Learn how we are reducing asbestos in our buildings.

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Use of asbestos in buildings

In early 2016

We reviewed the use of asbestos in our facilities. We determined that other options were available for use in construction projects and major rehabilitation.

On April 1, 2016

We prohibited the use of asbestos in our new construction and major renovation projects.

On December 30, 2018

The Prohibition of Asbestos and Products Containing Asbestos Regulations came into force to protect the health of Canadians from the risks of exposure to asbestos.

These regulations prohibit:

Health and safety in buildings

To respect the health and safety laws and regulations, we must manage and control asbestos-related risks in buildings that contain it.

We exercise due diligence to manage and control the risks associated with the product in our buildings that contain asbestos. This is done through the Asbestos Management Standard and the Asbestos Management Directive, which describe the requirements for:

We remove or encapsulate asbestos when there is a:

As per the regulations, we conduct annual inspections and reporting on identified asbestos-containing materials within the buildings.
The combination of these activities ensures that we manage and control the health and safety risks associated with asbestos.

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