When asbestos turns up in public space
Since the 1990 ban on placing on the market and supply, asbestos in Austria counts as a legacy burden, not a closed chapter: it remains in existing buildings and, as the recent cases in Burgenland and Vienna show, in installed gravel and asphalt on roads, car parks and open spaces. For municipalities that means a double responsibility: for your own properties and for the public space in which people move.
We support municipalities through exactly these cases: as the independent technical authority that surveys, samples, measures, controls the remediation quality analytically and issues a documented release recommendation, without remediating ourselves and without an in-house lab. What you take away is not just a finding, but a documented basis that holds up before the council, the authorities and the public.
What a municipality really needs in such a case
In a suspected case, what counts first is not the remediation but a basis that holds. Three things decide it. First, a fast, honest read on whether there is a problem at all, without drama and without downplaying. Second, a finding that holds: independently taken, cleanly documented and defensible before the council, the supervisory authority and the public. And third, understandable knowledge for residents, before rumours fill the gap.
What comes out of this is therefore a neutral finding with a traceable assessment: what is present, what it means and what follows from it. On that you can base decisions in the council, the tender and the communication with the public.
The first steps when asbestos is suspected
When suspected asbestos material turns up on a public surface or in a building, the approach in the first hours decides a great deal. This order has proven itself:
- Secure it, do not raise dust. Cordon off or mark the area as a precaution. Do not sweep, do not clean with a leaf-blower, avoid driving over it when dry. The danger comes from fibres in the air, that is, from raised dust.
- Document. Record the find location, material and circumstances, ideally with a photo and a site sketch.
- Sample properly. Only laboratory analysis gives a reliable statement. We take the sample by the standard, for asphalt with dust-reduced core drilling, and have it analysed at an accredited testing laboratory (to ISO/IEC 17025).
- Decide only on the basis of the finding. Whether and which measures are needed follows the actual result, not the first impression.
Asbestos-containing material is hazardous waste under the waste catalogue ordinance; handling, transport and disposal follow fixed rules. For the actual remediation, Austria requires an employer authorised under § 26 Grenzwerteverordnung (statutory term: ermächtigte Arbeitgeberin bzw. Arbeitgeber). We help you set the case up cleanly from the start. More background: the Burgenland page and the find-location map.
What we do for municipalities
Surveys and pollutant reports
On-site recording of suspected asbestos components in municipal buildings, as a basis for remediation or demolition planning, tender and works contract. We cover asbestos in all typical components (fibre cement, floor coverings, floor adhesives, sprayed coatings, fire protection, joint sealants) and deliver a structured report with a material list, lab results, risk assessment and recommended disposal routes.
Sampling of gravel roads and open spaces
Proper sampling at suspected spots in public space, that is, on gravel roads, car parks, playgrounds and schoolyards, and analysis at the accredited partner lab. You receive a report with a sampling plan, lab result, method documentation and a clear risk assessment, archivable for the municipal file.
Asphalt sampling with dust-reduced core drilling
Bound asphalt cannot be sampled like loose gravel. We take the sample with dust-reduced core drilling: a targeted drill core instead of breaking up the surface, with dust suppression (wet or with extraction), so that the sampling itself releases as few fibres as possible. That gives you a reliable statement about the asphalt structure, as it became relevant in the Vienna case, without endangering the surface. Analysis at the accredited partner lab.
Real-time air monitoring
Our own sensors for continuous monitoring of air quality during the remediation works (particulate matter and further parameters). Problems are identified immediately, not days later in the lab. This is especially relevant in inhabited or used surroundings (residential estates, schools, inner courtyards).
Independent quality control
During and after the remediation we prove, independently and by measurement, whether the executing firm reaches the remediation goal: with real-time air monitoring at the edge of the work area, control sampling of the cleared surface and subgrade, clearance measurement of the indoor air, and a review of the disposal documentation under the waste catalogue ordinance. We record anomalies and report them to you. This documented separation of execution and independent control is often the decisive point for public bodies.
Clearance measurement and release recommendation
How a remediation is concluded depends on the location. Indoors: clearance measurement, i.e. measurement of the fibre concentration in the room air of the remediated area by the sampling and evaluation logic of VDI 3492, with a documented release recommendation. A documented clearance measurement is the recognised basis for demonstrating that interior spaces can be used again; it documents whether the remediation goal is reached at the measuring points. Outdoors, on gravel and asphalt: control sampling of the cleared surface and subgrade as proof that the contaminated layer has been fully removed, accompanied by real-time air monitoring at the edge of the work area.
Info-evenings: knowledge for residents
The best remedy against rumour is understandable knowledge. An info-evening is a scientifically grounded but plainly told lecture on asbestos in construction and the environment: what asbestos is, where it occurs in everyday life, when it becomes dangerous and when not, and what a lab finding actually means. It is not a sales event but knowledge transfer, and paid for exactly that reason. A municipality can book such an evening for the council or for the general public; we tailor content and scope to the occasion.
| Info-evening | Price |
|---|---|
| for the council | €290 |
| public, up to 100 people | €590 |
| up to 250 people | €890 |
| up to 1000 people | €1,290 |
| over 1000 people | by request |
The Burgenland case, and what it means for every municipality
In Burgenland, asbestos-bearing diabase gravel was installed over three decades on roads, paths and properties; a number of find locations are currently being worked through. We keep the status, the verified facts and the open questions up to date on the Burgenland page.
But this is not a Burgenland-only matter; it is a question of the installed material. In Vienna and its surroundings, asbestos-bearing road asphalt has been detected; where the gravel there came from is not established. Wherever regional gravel or recycled construction material was installed, asbestos-bearing rock may be in it. Which places are documented so far is shown on the find-location map.
For a municipality the lesson is simple: a calm, independent clarification up front is cheaper and less burdensome than working through it once a suspicion becomes public. Whoever checks early and cleanly acts from a defensible position.
Costs and funding
What does it roughly cost? The price calculator lets you combine deployment, sampling locations and travel and see the estimate immediately.
The cost question is real for municipalities. We help place it realistically and point you to the responsible bodies for funding and cost matters (contaminated-site and provincial funding schemes, depending on the case). We do not obtain funding and give no legally binding advice. Two lessons from experience: early clarification by measurement protects health first, and is almost always markedly cheaper than cleaning up after an incident. The documented, independent finding additionally protects you in the later dispute over responsibility and costs.
About us
Responsibility and structure
| Contracting party Austria | Ungiftig FlexCo · Talgasse 43, 2620 Neunkirchen, Lower Austria |
| Management | Dr. Maximilian Mandl |
| Scientific direction | Dr. Maximilian Mandl, geochemist (ETH Zurich) |
Laboratory independence
We run no laboratory of our own and hold no stake in any laboratory or remediation firm. For each assignment we select the most suitable accredited partner lab under ISO/IEC 17025, documented transparently in the report on request. That ensures our findings and release recommendations follow the facts and not an internal capacity or sales interest. We take no commissions, in either direction; the laboratory is passed through at cost, and we are paid solely by the client.
Legal framework
Our work follows the applicable Austrian asbestos law (Grenzwerteverordnung (GKV) in its current version, ÖNORM M 9406, ÖNORM B 3151 (demolition), the waste catalogue ordinance/SN 31437g, ASchG) as well as the EU asbestos directive 2009/148/EC and the EU directive 2023/2668, which takes effect in stages (transposition with a first lowered limit value by 21 December 2025, a further reduction from 21 December 2029). For the work procedures we add the German TRGS 519, drawn upon in Austria as the state of the art.
Why municipalities get the on-site assignment only
Sending in samples and the virtual inspection both rest on the client taking the sample. We do not offer either to municipalities. The reason is practical before it is legal.
At a playground, a gravel path or a school building, the people exposed are usually not staff but children, visitors and neighbours. A sample sent in answers exactly one question: what is in that piece of material. Where the same material also lies, how large the area is, what condition it is in and whether fibres can be released can only be established on location. For a decision about a public space, that is the actual substance of the matter.
Then there is protection for the people who work there. The ASchG does not apply to municipal staff not employed in a Betrieb, a commercial operation of the municipality (§ 1 Abs 2 Z 1 ASchG). Responsibility for their worker protection lies with the Länder, as long as they do not work in Betrieben (Art 21 Abs 2 B-VG). The Grenzwerteverordnung in turn applies to workplaces, construction sites and external work sites within the meaning of the ASchG (§ 1 Abs 1 GKV). As soon as a contracted company works on municipal ground, however, the 4th section of the Grenzwerteverordnung applies to its employees once they may be exposed to asbestos dust (§ 21 GKV), including instruction before the activity begins (§ 25a GKV). Before demolition or removal work, a written work plan is also required (§ 23 Abs 1 GKV). What makes such work plannable is the survey on location: where the material is, how much of it there is, and what condition it is in.
A municipality can of course send material to an accredited laboratory itself and does not need us for that. We simply do not offer these two routes, because their core is the client doing the sampling.
Availability
On-site visits in Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland and Styria. Other regions by arrangement. For municipalities with ongoing need, framework agreements with fixed response times are possible.
You are a construction or remediation business? For the private-sector construction and remediation context there is a dedicated page: Asbestos compliance for businesses.
Common questions from the municipal context
Secure the area as a precaution and avoid raising dust (no sweeping, no leaf-blowing, no driving over it when dry), document the suspicion, take a sample properly and have it analysed at an accredited lab, and decide on measures only on the basis of the finding. We handle the sampling and the assessment and tell you honestly whether there is any need to act at all. Asbestos-containing material is hazardous waste under the Austrian waste catalogue ordinance; its handling and disposal follow fixed rules.
With dust-reduced core drilling. Instead of breaking up the surface, we take a targeted drill core; the drilling is done with dust suppression (wet or with extraction), so that the sampling itself releases as few fibres as possible. That gives you a reliable statement about the bound asphalt, as it became relevant in the Vienna case, without endangering the surface. The core goes to the accredited partner lab.
We are the independent technical authority: site survey, sampling of gravel and asphalt, accredited analysis, real-time air monitoring, measurement-based quality control of the remediation, and clearance measurement after the remediation. We do not remediate ourselves and run no laboratory. The actual remediation is carried out by an authorised employer (the statutory term is ermächtigte Arbeitgeberin bzw. Arbeitgeber, § 26 Grenzwerteverordnung, a precondition for demolition and asbestos-remediation work); we prove, independently and with samples and measurements, that the remediation goal is reached.
Because the executing firm is at the same time the firm whose work is being checked. An independent quality control proves, with control samples, air measurements (real-time monitoring and clearance to VDI 3492) and a review of the disposal documentation under the waste catalogue ordinance, whether the remediation goal is actually reached, records anomalies and concludes with a documented release recommendation. For a public body, this documented separation of execution and independent control is often decisive vis-à-vis the council, the supervisory authority and the public.
Yes: info-evenings on asbestos in construction and the environment. This is a scientific lecture for the general public, not a sales event, and therefore deliberately paid: you get well-founded, independent knowledge transfer, not acquisition disguised as a talk. A municipality can book an evening for the council or for the public; the rates are on this page in the Info-evenings section. For the specific case communication we additionally provide the technical basis (what was measured, what the value means); the outward communication stays with the municipality.
Yes. The current occasion is often roads and open spaces, but the municipality's responsibility for its own buildings stands regardless: schools, kindergartens, administrative buildings, works yards and fibre-cement roofs from the period before the end of placing on the market (asbestos cement for building construction: end of 1993). Before remediation or demolition we survey, sample under accreditation and provide a basis for tender and works contract.
We help you place the cost question realistically, and point you to the responsible bodies for funding and cost matters (for example contaminated-site and provincial funding schemes, depending on the case). We do not obtain funding and give no legally binding advice. Experience shows that early clarification by measurement is markedly cheaper than cleaning up after an incident. The initial consultation is free.
Sampling typically within a few days, prioritised in the acute case. We clarify availability and response time in the initial consultation; for municipalities with ongoing need, framework agreements with fixed response times are possible. On-site visits in Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland and Styria.