Meet The Lab Team

At Acorn Analytical Services we thrive thanks to the amazing efforts of our team. Without them we wouldn’t be able to be as successful as we are – so we wanted to tell you a little bit about them all.

In the first of a series of blogs, we’re going to focus on the incredible Laboratory (Lab) Team.

Why do we have an on-site lab?

The Lab Team is an integral part of the business, analysing various samples of materials found at sites and then evaluating if asbestos is present and the risks they carry. This analytical process of checking a small sample for microscopic contamination is key for the safety of a building and any people who use it. Therefore, knowing what it is can lead to its eventual management or removal, which can potentially save lives.

Who is in the team?

The team is led by Laboratory Manager, David Fearnley, who has been with the company for five and a half years. He’s supported by laboratory analysts Maria, Kristina, Danni, and Gen.

Danni has worked in asbestos for around 20 years and was instrumental in setting up the Acorn lab. Maria has been with the company for two years but in that time has completed all of her training to become fully qualified. Kristina, a five-year stalwart, had never worked in an asbestos lab until she started at Acorn. Gen started in the industry 10 years ago but has been with Acorn for around a year and David, working in his third asbestos lab, has had his P401 for 10 years. The P401 qualification gives analysts the knowledge and skills they need to analyse bulk samples containing asbestos, identifying the specific asbestos components using polarised light microscopy (PLM.)

A typical day

For a lot of people, day-to-day office life consists of meetings, emails and typing. But for our lab team, they start the day in a completely different way. The first thing on their list is deploying their hot wire anemometer (a device that measures airflow,) to check that the fume cabinets have a negative pressure of at least 0.5m/s. After that, they check a quarter of the samples analysed from the day before to make sure the readings were right. Then, they analyse samples brought in by surveyors and enter the results into AlphaTracker. This system is key in helping the reporting team who take the results and turn them into full reports to send to clients. On top of this technical analysis, they also book in, invoice, and analyse samples brought in by members of the public directly to the lab.

But this analytical process of checking and finding the most microscopic levels of contamination – which then leads to its management and removal – is what keeps our amazing team happy. What could be better than potentially saving lives as your day job?!

Despite having decades of experience, our lab team still comes across things that surprise them, or that they’ve never seen before. Including, but not limited to, analysing samples containing rare types of asbestos. This group of three ‘types’ of asbestos weren’t used commercially in products but do occasionally present themselves as a contamination. Danni also had something to cheer about when she found a rare type in a sample taken from a famous football stadium – although we won’t be telling you which one.

What does the future look like?

With developments in technology coming thick and fast, and demand for analysis on the rise, it’s hard to imagine the lab or the team staying the same. This team may be well-established now, but it started with just two analysis cabinets and now works with six cabinets. Our growth has been impressive, and seeing an eight-strong cabinet may soon be on the cards, but for now, our team will continue to be silent superheroes, making buildings as safe as possible.

If you’d like to know more about what we do and the teams behind our work, then keep your eyes peeled for next month’s blog, which will put the spotlight on another team.

Acorn is a professional asbestos consultancy helping organisations deal with asbestos compliance using asbestos surveys, asbestos air testing, and asbestos removal management. 

Please call one of the team, or use the online form to obtain your free quotation. If you would like further information or advice on asbestos and asbestos training, contact the team on 0844 818 0895 or Contact Us.