Ag4Asbestos: Comprehensive Asbestos Lifecycle Management

Numerous scientific studies have shown that, once its useful life – between 20 and 30 years – is over, asbestos cement with asbestos releases fibers whose inhalation is directly linked to serious consequences for people’s health. These include asbestosis (pulmonary fibrosis), lung cancer and mesothelioma, among others. It is estimated that 78% of asbestos-related cancer cases are caused by asbestos. In 2019, this resulted in the death of more than 70,000 workers across the European Union (EU).

Currently, eradicating asbestos from the building stock is one of the priorities of all EU member countries. Standardizing the criteria for management and removal is crucial to ensure the safety of citizens and workers. This is a great challenge: to achieve traceability of a material that constitutes a public health problem. Do you want to find out how we have done it at Agforest?

Regulatory framework: end of asbestos in Europe

In 2018, Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and Council on waste was approved, amending the previous EU regulation. Its transposition into Spanish law resulted in Law 07/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy. In its fourteenth additional provision, it refers to the obligation for all municipalities in the country to carry out an inventory of facilities and sites with asbestos, as well as the scheduling of their removal.

What is Ag4Asbestos?

Ag4Asbestos is the only software in the world that allows the traceability of asbestos in all links of the value chain, from inventory to landfill management. The solution, developed by Agforest, uses geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoIA) to monitor, analyze and manage all operations related to asbestos management, ensuring regulatory compliance and minimizing public health risks.

This platform connects all the actors involved in the process of inventory, inspection, analysis, removal, movement and management of asbestos, among others. It facilitates the documentary work to consolidate the regulatory and operational information necessary to ensure the correct treatment of this material.

Ag4Asbestos functionalities

In its public part, Ag4Asbestos allows you to integrate a public notification mailbox so that citizens can proactively report the presence of asbestos in certain locations that are difficult to access. In addition, the software has a web viewer for simple integration with the website of any city council or other public administration to facilitate the consultation of sites with asbestos, their cadastral reference or removal schedule.

Asbestos management involves not only identification and asbestos removal, but also traceability throughout its life cycle. Ag4Asbestos integrates data such as the cadastral reference, the type of use of the building or the date of construction along with other variables based on geospatial data. Through its modules, Ag4Asbestos users can:

1. Manage files: connect the public administration with private companies involved in the asbestos process. Create an archive that will contain all the information related to site management throughout the process.
2. Perform inspections: connect inspection companies and laboratories to identify the type of asbestos. Improve efficiency in the performance of the inspection through the automation of official reports and the realization of the documentary work through the “smartphone” in an intuitive way.
3. Process the removal: follow up on the necessary documents for the removal and subsequent management to deposit the asbestos in the landfill. Knowing where the material is at all times and whether it has been managed correctly.
4. Surveillance work: Ag4Asbestos applies geospatial data and artificial intelligence for asbestos remote sensing. Applied with certain periodicity, this technology allows to know if the asbestos in a location has been removed in compliance with the necessary processes.
5. Reports and training: platform users can obtain real-time reports on the asbestos situation in a given municipality. They can also access training on asbestos management to ensure its safety.

Benefits of Ag4Asbestos

The software developed by Agforest has numerous benefits for its users, both public and private. On the one hand, regulatory compliance, complying with increasingly stringent regulations on asbestos management. By providing comprehensive management and traceability of asbestos, Ag4Asbestos reduces the risks associated with exposure to this material, protecting the health of workers and citizens.

With all this, Ag4Asbestos helps to improve operational efficiency, allowing the planning of recalls in an efficient way, optimizing resources. Finally, this software facilitates the complete transparency of the process, impacting the reputation of the public administration and companies involved in the process.

Proven efficacy in more than 30 municipalities

Agforest is the leading company in asbestos remote sensing in Spain. The remote sensing solutions developed by the company comply with the guidelines published by the guidelines published by the General Directorate of Public Health and Health Equity for the census of facilities and sites with asbestos; the scheduling of their removal and the removal of installed asbestos.The remote sensing solutions developed by the company comply with the guidelines published by the General Directorate of Public Health and Health Equity for the census of asbestos installations and sites; the scheduling of their removal and the removal of installed asbestos.

With an accuracy rate of over 90%, the company is capable of executing an asbestos census project in just two months. The company has already prepared the census and asbestos removal schedule in more than 30 municipalities throughout Spain. The projects carried out in Terrassa, Ibiza, Valladolid, Pinto and Yecla, among others, stand out .