Not all asbestos needs to be removed and often if the material is in good shape it is more cost effective to manage in place. EPA has provided guidance to assist building owners and managers in understanding how to develop and maintain an operations and maintenance program for the management of asbestos-containing materials in their buildings. It is important to note that school buildings have separate and distinct regulatory requirements for the management of asbestos under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA).
An Operations and Maintenance (O&M) program is a formulated plan of training, cleaning, work practices, and surveillance to maintain asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in good condition within buildings. The goal is to minimize exposure of all building occupants to asbestos fibers. This information is primarily for owners, managers, workers and other key building staff of office buildings, shopping centers, apartment buildings, hospitals, and similar facilities that may contain asbestos materials that can be managed in place and do not require control and abatement procedures that are outside the scope of an operations and maintenance program.