It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure the safety of the public and of public employees by creating an interdepartmental task force composed of representatives from the State Department of Health Services, the Department of Industrial Relations, the Department of General Services, and the Commission on Building Standards, which shall be known as the Asbestos Assessment Task Force to analyze the magnitude of the asbestos problem in public buildings.

The State Department of Health Services shall be responsible for coordinating the work of the Asbestos Assessment Task Force and compiling a report to include all of the following:

(a)  A statewide inspection plan and a schedule for assessing the presence and condition of asbestos in public buildings. In developing the inspection plan the Asbestos Assessment Task Force shall do all of the following:

(1)  Inspect a representative sample of public buildings and utilize the data to project priorities and costs for inspection and asbestos abatement and control required for public buildings.

(2)  Design a uniform reporting form for building inspection to document the presence of asbestos and their location within the building. The form shall contain an evaluation of the extent to which any asbestos materials are loose, friable, flaking, dusting or otherwise show evidence of damage, deterioration, or disturbance and the causes, if ascertainable, of such problems.

(3)  Develop criteria to rate buildings according to the degree of hazard posed by the presence and condition of the asbestos materials in the buildings. The criteria shall include, but not be limited to, considerations of the exposure potential for the type of public and employee use of the building and the condition and location of the asbestos material. The criteria shall include a designation of an emergency situation in which the condition or location of the asbestos materials constitutes an imminent and severe threat to human health.

(4)  Design an emergency procedure for buildings in which the condition of the asbestos materials constitutes an imminent and severe threat to human health.

(5)  Design an information system which will provide building maintenance personnel, employees and the public with information about the asbestos materials in the building. The information system shall include a notification procedure for employees and the public concerning any activities to contain or remove asbestos materials or to renovate, repair, or engage in construction activities in buildings containing asbestos materials.

(6)  Design a statewide register which contains information, including, but not limited to, reports of any inspection for asbestos and any containment, abatement, encapsulation or other asbestos control measures.

(b)  Review the relevant research, laws and regulations and develop methods and standards to accurately assess the potential for employee and public exposure to asbestos in public buildings. These methods and standards shall include recommendations for effective asbestos control which may be taken to minimize employee and public exposure and recommendations regarding standards for minimum levels of asbestos concentration in ambient air in public buildings. In developing the methods and standards the Asbestos Assessment Task Force shall hold public hearings to obtain testimony from the scientific community and the public.

The duties to inspect public buildings and to report to the Legislature which are imposed on the state pursuant to this chapter shall not be interpreted to impose on the state, the University of California, or any local agency any duty to repair buildings if that duty does not exist on the date this chapter becomes operative.

Local agencies are urged to provide the Asbestos Assessment Task Force with data needed by the task force to complete the duties imposed pursuant to this chapter.

(Added by Stats. 1986, Ch. 116, Sec. 1. Effective May 28, 1986.)