I am not surprised that the client is having kittens. An obvious solution is to rebuild the intake now.

If the chutes contain asbestos, it may still not be a risk. If it is in good condition, all well and good. If somebody pokes about taking samples, the integrity may be disrupted. The danger is inhaling asbestos dust, not walking past equipment which contains it.

I speak as somebody who has walked past asbestos lagging in one of Her Late Majesty's ships and sat in one of her offices which was festooned with asbestos warning labels.

And the ghastly Artex coating of the ceiling right above me causes me no health concern whatsoever.

No need to inspect/test it, it will have asbestos in it.

There is an H+S article about this:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/a33.pdf

It is non-licensable, so at the minor end of the risk scale. Taking out the asbestos, and reusing the DB is a non starter really. It will cost just as much to remove the asbestos as to replace the DB. The best way to do it is to cut off the cables as they enter the DB, then take it out complete. That will cause some problems with reconnecting, but thats what we do as a trade, so there will be ways around that.

The asbestos removal process set out by the HSE is not for ordinary persons but for asbestos workers. Ordinary persons will not have the correct facilities to decontaminate themselves or the equipment they use. When asbestos removal work is undertaken the contractors bring a mobile shower unit to site. The removal site itself is sheeted up and sealed and often a negative pressure unit installed in the sheeted enclosure.

I have had friends die of mesothelioma years after working on or near asbestos. It is a quick and fatal disease. 

In my Post Office career when the risks became more well known myself and other engineers had chest Xrays and lung expansion tests. I was clear but that did not, and could not, detect a single fibre hooked in to my lung. 

As one of the engineers who worked for me said, " They are not giving out medals for working with asbestos so why the **** would I want to do that?"

My strong advice to you is you do not  work on anything made of asbestos or anything having the appearance of asbestos! That includes opening enclosures and removing fuses.

As Alan says crowbar the board off the wall, after making safe and cutting the cable ends, as dispose of as hazardous waste. 

JP

Unfortunately that’s the attitude of the client up until we were employed to carry out a full EICR, We  are limiting all works in connection with these boards, it gets worse the boards are fed by the oldest of old MIC cables. 

The building is due to be completely refurbished and the old switch room ripped out in two years time so just looking for a work around which will probably be the same as the last 50 / 60 / 70 years in that they will do nothing and cross their fingers. 

I absolutely agree that’s why we are dragging an asbestos consultant in for him to give it in plain English to the client. 
I was trained in asbestos removal in the early 80’s and since then steer well clear of the stuff, like you say 1 fibre can kill you. 

John Peckham said:

It is a quick and fatal disease.

Once you have it, but I have known cases occur 60 years after exposure.

John Peckham said:

My strong advice to you is you do not  work on anything made of asbestos or anything having the appearance of asbestos! That includes opening enclosures and removing fuses.

Agreed. (Except that it may be necessary to open an enclosure to see what lies within.)

In the past, whilst working for a domestic customer, the DNO dug a hole outside the house and cut the underground supply cable to allow their equipment containing asbestos to be removed without opening it. Then joined a new cable to the old and installed a new replacement cut out, so that the meter could be replaced.

Edit- If there is asbestos in the customers electrical equipment, there is a very strong possibility that there is asbestos in the DNO equipment as well, so the DNO might not pull their fuses.