Sapienza owns and continuously updates the mapping of MCAs. This is available at the USPP-AV and is sent to the Employers with a special annex (SF06 Materials Containing Asbestos) to the Documento di Valutazione dei Rischi Parte II.

In order to overcome the asbestos problem, a control programme, procedures for custody and maintenance activities and priorities for the reclamation work to be carried out are drawn up periodically; these are included in an integrated contract for the removal of MCA managed by the Building Maintenance Area.

Items that could contain asbestos, and therefore require special care in the event of maintenance and/or damage, are the following:

• masonry and roofing;
• vinyl flooring and adhesives;
• old laboratory benches;
• technological installations;
• old electrical or thermal cabins;
• disused equipment and materials;
• old fire doors;
• old mastics.

For the purposes of risk management related to Asbestos Containing Materials at Sapienza the following figures are involved, each for their respective competences. For more details on each figure please click on the Italian version of this section.

• Employers
• Security Managers
• Responsible for Teaching and Research in the Laboratory
• Prevention and Protection Service Managers
• Asbestos Safety Expert
• Persons in charge
• Workers

In order to avoid the occurrence of asbestos-related risks, everyone should adopt the following behaviour:

1. avoid any damage or abrasion of the MCA;
2. immediately report any damage and/or deterioration, possibly through the Persons in charge and the Managers, to the Employer who shall contact the Asbestos Safety Expert and the Prevention and Protection service; while waiting for the latter to intervene, do not enter the room concerned and prevent access to the area, making sure to close the doors and taking care not to block emergency routes;
3. in the presence of materials suspected of containing asbestos, the Employer, if necessary through the Persons in charge and Managers, shall contact the Asbestos Expert and the Prevention and Protection service for the necessary checks and investigations. In the meantime, do not carry out any intervention or action on these materials.

Given the age of most of Sapienza’s structures, additional asbestos-containing materials could potentially be present (asbestos cement, even embedded in masonry or old counters/chemical tanks, plant flange coupling gaskets, mastics/sealants, even of fixtures, mastics on ventilation/thermal-hydraulic plant collars/flanges, disused equipment and materials, old fire doors, vinyl flooring and related adhesives, even underneath current flooring, etc.).

Click on the Italian version of this section for more information.

The Employer or his Delegate must provide correct information to the occupants of the building on the presence of asbestos in the building, the potential risks and the behaviour to be adopted by means of the MCA information sheet. In addition, an information manual (in Italian) on the asbestos issue within Sapienza can be consulted and downloaded at the portal of the USPP-AV.
The USPP-AV, through the Asbestos Safety Expert, is available to carry out information and training meetings with the occupants and visitors of the premises, as well as their representatives, directly at the various facilities.

From 2020 to date, Sapienza has earmarked about 4.5 million euros specifically for the removal of asbestos-containing artefacts present in the University, and to date removal work has been carried out for about 1,300,000 euros. 

The Building Maintenance Area has signed a framework agreement for the removal of asbestos, worth over 2,000,000 in order to implement the Remediation Programme and meet the various needs and priorities defined with the USPPAV and the University Asbestos Expert.

If an Employer requires the urgent removal of Asbestos Containing Materials, as an exception to the removal schedule set out in the Programma di Interventi di Bonifica, it may contact the Building Maintenance Area at Direzione.AGE@uniroma1.it to verify the possibility and timeframe to carry out the removal and remediation under the above mentioned Plan.

If an Employer, on the other hand, proceeds with removal with facility funds, they must contact the Asbestos Safety Expert prior to the assignment of the works, to receive the necessary assistance.

For any information on this matter, you can consult the Asbestos Safety Expert's page, or email espertoamianto.ssl@uniroma1.it.