Our software for iOS and Android helps asbestos surveyors speed up report writing and focus on what matters. Join the hundreds of surveying companies saving hours creating asbestos survey reports with Flow Mobile Surveying.
In this guide we'll provide everything you need to get started with the Flow Mobile Surveying app; from setting up a job, to carrying out the survey, and creating an asbestos survey report.
Flow Mobile Surveying uses pre-made report 'templates' to help you conduct surveys. If you need something bespoke, that's no problem. Our reports are fully customisable!
The walkthrough is half an hour long, so get settled in!
Inspecting Locations vs Items
While using the mobile app during the survey, you have the option to inspect Locations or Items.
Let's learn the difference between the two...
Learn more:
Use Locations to record general observations about a room. For example; when recording a kitchen description you might write "Plasterboard walls, engineered wood floors", etc. Recording locations shows your client you've actually been into a room. Even if you didn't find anything, it'll show your client that you've done a thorough walkaround and considered everything within the scope.
Use Items to record specific observations within a room. For example; you may record a textured coating ceiling where you suspected asbestos and took a sample.
Numbering Your Locations
Numbering your locations is common practice when carrying out an asbestos survey —particularly among UKAS accredited surveying companies.
Prefixing room names with a location number reduces ambiguity when surveying similarly named rooms. And it makes rooms easier to reference on your floorplans.
Recording Samples and Cross References
During the survey, you may suspect some materials as being asbestos-containing. And you may need to take some physical samples to send to a laboratory for testing. The Flow Mobile Surveying app allows you to record these as samples or cross-references.
Select 'Sample' when taking a physical sample and bagging it up for lab analysis.
Select 'Cross-reference' to reference an existing sample rather than taking a new one. Surveyors often refer to this as “visually identical”
Sending Samples to the Lab
During the survey, you may have collected samples to send to a UKAS-accredited lab for analysis.
When sending sample bags to the lab, it's often helpful to include a list of the samples you’ve taken and where you found them. Use the ‘Samples for Lab’ layout to create a list of samples taken during the survey.
Adding Sample Results
Once your site work is complete and the lab has analysed any samples, you must add the sample results to your report. There are two steps to adding sample results to your Flow Mobile Surveying report:
Step 1 - Upload the Bulk Certificate It's common practice to embed the Bulk Certificate (sent from your lab) within your survey report. This backs up your findings and recommendations. Our 'Import PDF' feature makes this process straightforward. Importing the PDF file automatically converts each page into images and embeds them within your report.
Step 2 – Manually Input the Sample Results Now you'll need to enter the sample results to tell Flow Mobile Surveying which sampled items contained asbestos and which were negative. Entering sample results is a manual process. You'll do this within the Sample Results section of the report.
Uploading Floorplans
Floor plans are an essential part of your asbestos survey report.
Flow Mobile Surveying doesn’t have an in-app floorplan drawing tool (it's a requested feature), but you can upload floorplans created with third-party floorplan drawing software directly to your asbestos survey reports.
Creating a Bulk Sample Report
To keep costs down, your client may want you to just collect samples and send them to the lab for analysis, rather than carrying out a full survey.
In these cases, you can create a 'Bulk Sample Report', rather than just sending clients the lab's bulk certificate, as many surveyors do.
Common Report Warnings
Once you’ve created your asbestos survey report, there may be some warnings that need to be resolved. Here’s how to resolve each error:
"Awaiting final image": An attachment has been added to the report but is missing the final image. Upload an image to the specified attachment.
"Awaiting Quality Control" A quality control sign off is missing Add a new Sign Off and selecting Quality Control.
"Awaiting results (default to Crocidolite)" A sample ID used in an inspection item is not present in the Sample Results section Add a Sample Result with the specified Sample ID.
"Missing: Extent of Damage / Deterioration" An inspection item has 'suspect asbestos' ticked but no 'extent of damage/deterioration' score. Enter an 'Extent of Damage / Deterioration' score into the Inspection Item.
"Missing: Presumed Fibre Type (assuming Crocidolite)" An inspection item has a strategy of 'Presume' or 'Strongly Presume' but no 'Presumed Fibre Type' Enter an 'Presumed Fibre Type' into the Inspection Item.
"Missing: Product Type (or Debris from Product)" An inspection item has 'suspect asbestos' ticked but no 'Product Type (or Debris from Product)' score. Enter an 'Product Type (or Debris from Product) score into the Inspection Item.
"Missing: Sample Id (assuming Crocidolite)" An inspection item has an inspection strategy of 'Sample' or 'Cross Reference' but no sample ID. Enter a 'Sample ID' into the Inspection Item.
"Missing: Strategy (presuming Crocidolite)" An inspection item has 'Suspect Asbestos' ticked but there's no 'Strategy'. Select an 'Inspection Strategy' and complete the fields which appear in the Inspection Item.
"Missing: Surface Type / Treatment" An Inspection Item has 'Suspect Asbestos?' ticked, but no 'Surface Type / Treatment' score. Enter a 'Surface Type / Treatment' score into the Inspection Item.
"Multiple items use this Sample Id" The same Sample ID is used in more than one Inspection Item. Use unique Sample ID's in each Inspection Item.
"Multiple results logged" The same Sample ID is used in more than one Sample Result. Remove duplicate Sample Result(s).
"No inspection item references this sample" The Sample ID in Sample Results is not used for any Inspection Item. Correct the Sample ID in either the Inspection Item or Sample Results.
"There are ACMs present, but you have checked 'Strong evidence room or location does NOT contain asbestos" An inspection item has a Sample ID which contains asbestos, however an inspected Location with the same building/level/location has had the "strong evidence" checkbox ticked. Review the Inspection Record detailed in the warning to determine the best way to remedy this error.
"Unable to calculate Material Score (assuming the worst)"An Inspection Item has 'suspect asbestos' ticked, but no 'Product Type (or Debris from Product)', 'Extent of Damage / Deterioration', or 'Surface Type / Treatment' score. Enter the missing score(s) into the Inspection Item.
"Unable to calculate Priority Score (assuming the worst)" An Inspection Item has 'Priority Assessment?' ticked, but not all corresponding scores have been recorded. Enter the missing score(s) into the Inspection Item.
Exporting the Asbestos Register
Occasionally, you may need to export your asbestos register into a spreadsheet program like Excel, Open Office, or Google Sheets.
This can save you time re-keying data when creating asbestos management plans or importing data into third-party software.
