Asbestos in PWGSC-owned buildings

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) has health and safety policies in place to ensure that federal buildings are safe for the public and employees.

For most of the 20th century, asbestos was commonly used in both residential and commercial building products. For more information on asbestos, please visit Health Canada's Web site.

PWGSC takes great precautions to manage and control the risks associated with asbestos in accordance with regulations and departmental policy.

PWGSC has an asbestos abatement and encapsulation program to ensure that building occupants are not exposed to asbestos in their work environment. Asbestos is removed or encapsulated when there is a requirement for maintenance or renovation that results in unavoidable disturbance of the asbestos. For projects requiring asbestos removal, PWGSC ensures that the work is executed in accordance with its policy and applicable regulations.

For every PWGSC-owned building that contains asbestos, regional asbestos coordinators ensure that asbestos inventory and assessment reports, training records, notification letters and work records are maintained and made available to PWGSC's facilities managers.