Development and Validation of an Asbestos Identificationapp

WESTERNAUSTRALIANGOVERNMENT

Development and validation of an asbestos identificationapp

LinktotheNationalStrategicPlan:

Strategy:Identification

Deliverable:

Pilot residential ACMidentificationtoolsandstrategieswithlocalgovernmentpartners

Outcome:

Improvedpracticeintheresidentialsectortoidentifyandminimisetheriskofexposure,inparticularforDIYhomerenovators

Location:

Western Australia,statewide

Theissue

Thereisgenerallyalackofknowledgeandawarenessinthecommunityaboutasbestosidentificationanditssafemanagementinresidentialsettings.TheamountandconditionofinsituACMsremaininginWesternAustralianhousingstockisnotknown.Therefore,theWesternAustraliaDepartmentofHealthaimedtodevelopandvalidateamobileapplication(‘app’)thatcanbeusedbyhouseholders,tradespeopleandenvironmentalhealthofficerstoscreenthehomeforthepresenceofinsituasbestos.

Actiontaken

Amobileapp,called‘ACMCheck’,wasdevelopedtoidentifyandassesstheconditionofinsituACMslocatedinresidentialsettings.TheappwasfirstbuiltontheiOSplatformandtestedonasampleof40pre-1990homeslocatedthroughoutthePerthmetropolitanarea.TheresultsobtainedfromACMCheckwerecomparedtoonsiteinspectionsconductedateachofthehomesbyanenvironmentalconsultant.TheresultsoftheinspectionwereusedtovalidatetheresultsobtainedbyACMCheck.

Feedbackregardingtheappwascollectedfromeachofthe40participantsthroughanonlinequestionnaire.

Results

The app identifies potential ACMs throughaquestionnairethataskstheusersimplequestionsabouttheageofthehouse,renovationhistoryandkeyfeaturesofthebuildingmaterialsused.Basedontheanswers,theappdeterminesifamaterialisunlikely,possibleorlikelytocontainasbestos.UsersratethecurrentconditionandlikelihoodofdisturbingmaterialsthataredeterminedtobepossibleorlikelyACMviatheapp.

Overall,therewasstrongagreementbetweentheappandenvironmentalconsultantwhencategorisingahouseashavinginsituasbestospresentonthe

property.Thestrengthofagreementbetweentheappandenvironmentalconsultantrangedfromlowtohighwhencategorisingspecificmaterialsasunlikely,possibleorlikelyACM.Basedonthefeedback,participantswereeither‘verysatisfied’or‘satisfied’withtheease-of-use,lookandfeel,andtimeittooktocompletetheapp.

Outcomes

TheiOSversionofACMCheckappwasupdatedbasedonparticipantfeedbackfromthevalidationstudybeforebeingreplicatedonAndroid.BothversionswerereleasedtotheAustralianpublicinJune2017andarenowavailableforfreefromtheAppStoreandGooglePlay.

Nextsteps

DatafromcompletedACMCheckquestionnairesiscurrentlybeingcollectedfromconsentingusers.ThedatawillbeanalysedandusedbyCurtinUniversityresearcherstoestimatetheamountandconditionofACMsinWesternAustralianhousing.

MoreInformation

Furtherinformationcanbefoundat

The ACM Check app can be downloaded fromthefollowing:

App Store

Google Play

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