Managing your asbestos
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Managing Your Asbestos: A Step-by-Step Guide
Managing asbestos in buildings is a critical responsibility for ensuring workplace safety and complying with the law. Follow this step-by-step guide, based on recommendations from the HSE, to manage asbestos effectively and protect everyone in your building.
Step 1: Determine Responsibility
If you’re the duty holder for a commercial, industrial, or housing association property, you must manage asbestos risks. Even common areas like lift shafts, boiler rooms, or staircases are included.
If you’re not responsible for maintenance, ask the person who is to provide the asbestos register. If you are responsible, proceed to the next steps.
Step 2: Check the Building’s Age
- After 2000: Buildings constructed or refurbished after 2000 are unlikely to contain asbestos.
- Before 2000: Buildings built or refurbished before 2000 may contain asbestos. Assume its presence unless confirmed otherwise.
Step 3: Gather Existing Information
Do you have records of asbestos in the building? Useful sources include:
- Previous asbestos removal records.
- Conversations with previous tenants or maintenance staff.
- Information from equipment suppliers about asbestos in older products.
This information isn’t mandatory but helps with the assessment.
Step 4: Conduct an Inspection
Inspecting the building is crucial for identifying asbestos. This is called a management survey, aimed at creating an asbestos register.
What’s Involved?
- Walk through the building, mapping areas where asbestos might be present.
- Compile a list of potential asbestos-containing materials (ACMs).
- Use this data to create an asbestos register.
Need help? Complete Asbestos Surveys can conduct inspections and produce detailed registers for your building.
Step 5: Prioritize Actions
For each item listed in your asbestos register, assign a material score and a priority score. These scores will help you decide which areas to address first.
Step 6: Identify Types of Asbestos
Different types of asbestos (e.g., chrysotile, amosite) should be identified and scored in the register. Our management survey reports provide all this information in detail.
Step 7: Create an Asbestos Management Plan
Your plan should include:
- The person responsible for asbestos management.
- The asbestos register.
- A schedule for monitoring the condition of asbestos materials (recommended every 12 months).
- Notifications for employees, contractors, and tradespeople about any decisions, such as removal or continued management.
Step 8: Test Before Any Work
Before any renovations or maintenance, asbestos testing is essential. Hire professionals to test any suspect materials. Complete Asbestos Surveys offers both management and refurbishment/demolition surveys.
Step 9: Share Findings
Your asbestos management plan and register should be shared with:
- Employees, especially those working near asbestos.
- Contractors and tradespeople like builders or electricians.
- Anyone responsible for maintaining asbestos safety.
Label areas containing asbestos clearly to warn others.
Step 10: Perform Remedial Works
All asbestos work must be carried out by trained professionals. Our team at Complete Asbestos Surveys can handle asbestos works or connect you with licensed removal companies.
Step 11: Keep Records Updated
Keep the asbestos register and management plan updated. Re-inspect asbestos materials annually to ensure their condition hasn’t deteriorated.
For detailed information about your legal responsibilities regarding asbestos management, visit the HSE Duty to Manage Asbestos Guide.
Encapsulated asbestos which is been managed correctly
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the legal obligations regarding asbestos management?
A: Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 requires duty holders to manage asbestos risks, conduct surveys, maintain a register, and implement a management plan.
Q: How can I identify asbestos in my building?
A: Buildings constructed before 2000 may contain asbestos. A management survey will locate potential ACMs and create an asbestos register.
Q: How can I ensure safety for employees and contractors?
A: Create an asbestos management plan, train employees, share survey findings, label ACMs, and schedule regular monitoring and inspections.
Further Reading
