Secoiam launches Balz'am, the first application for automatic analysis of asbestos diagnostics

The result of two years of research, supported by BPI France, BALZ'AM is the first application capable of automatically centralizing, structuring and analyzing asbestos diagnoses to offer a clear and usable view of the data.

One mission: to advance prevention and ensure the safety of those working in the field.

Founded in 2019 by Mélanie Loridan, SECOIAM trains, advises, and supports building professionals in managing asbestos-related risks and their asbestos-related projects at every stage. Its mission is to facilitate prevention by providing concrete solutions to those facing asbestos risks. Drawing on her experience in asbestos removal companies, Mélanie Loridan witnessed firsthand the realities faced by teams: cumbersome administrative burdens, incomplete site records, stressful audits, and inadequate assessments that stall projects. Her commitment is also rooted in her family history, as her grandfather worked for many years as a roofer handling asbestos cement sheets. This background reinforced her desire to transform practices and protect professionals in the sector.

Based in Gondecourt (62) and operating throughout France, SECOIAM currently supports 350 clients – including Partenord Habitat, SIA Habitat, SNCF, Vinci, Eiffage, and Ramery – through a range of services designed to support, advise, and train (Qualiopi certified) in the management and prevention of risks related to asbestos and building pollutants. The company also provides regulatory and technical monitoring to ensure safe professional practices.

BALZ'AM: a unique solution for leveraging the vast amount of data from asbestos surveys

Mélanie LORIDAN started with a simple observation: asbestos surveys can run to several hundred pages, and on a construction site with dozens of apartments, the sheer number of these surveys generates a massive amount of information that is difficult to use. Furthermore, even when older surveys exist, it's common practice to start from scratch rather than analyzing the available documents one by one, which proves extremely time-consuming and expensive.

BALZ'AM addresses this crucial need. The application automatically reads all the data contained in the technical documents — whether it be the Asbestos Technical File (DTA), the Asbestos Survey Before Work (RAAT) or their annexes detailing samples, plans, analysis results and history.

Thanks to the combination of Artificial Intelligence and an algorithm developed in-house by a PhD student in AI, all information is retrieved, harmonized – each diagnostician having their own vocabulary and forms – and unified to make it consistent and usable.

At the end of this processing, the tool generates a structured table and a summary that highlights the state of the data: the rooms, walls or areas for which information is available, those where asbestos is present, those where a risk exists, and the areas that still need to be audited.

Powerful decision-making support for project managers and clients

Designed for project managers, clients, and asbestos project management consultants, BALZ'AM offers a clear overview that allows for prioritizing actions, avoiding redundant surveys, and ensuring sound decision-making. By leveraging all existing data in just a few clicks, the application generates reliable summaries and efficiently prepares rehabilitation or demolition projects.

More than just an analysis tool, BALZ'AM accelerates decision-making and ensures project reliability. No more opening hundreds or thousands of diagnostic reports: everything is centralized and accessible in a single interface.

This approach also helps to reduce unnecessary withdrawals and additional costs, by providing a comprehensive view of the situation from the early stages of the operation.

An innovation aligned with Secoiam's digital vision

BALZ'AM is not SECOIAM's first digital initiative. In 2019, the company launched SES'AM, an application dedicated to asbestos risk management. This solution allows professionals to track all the information necessary to meet particularly strict regulatory requirements: inspections, assignments, equipment, occupational exposures, waste management, and test or validation sites. It also facilitates compliance during site and headquarters audits.

Today, by integrating BALZ'AM into its offering, SECOIAM confirms its commitment to investing in high-performance digital tools capable of reducing the administrative burden, making decisions more reliable and simplifying processes in a sector where prevention is an absolute priority.

According to Mélanie LORIDAN, founder of SECOIAM: “It is estimated that there are still more than 20 million tons of asbestos to be dealt with in tens of thousands of buildings, within an extremely complex regulatory environment that is constantly evolving and often burdensome for the professionals responsible for it. At SECOIAM, we provide concrete solutions to those who have to manage these risks on a daily basis. With BALZ'AM, we are taking a new step: we are harnessing the power of digital technology and automated analysis for prevention, to secure decisions, save time, and finally make asbestos management more transparent and reliable.”