Asbestos Law
The main legislation in the UK that covers asbestos is the The Control of Asbestos Regulations of 2012. It is very restrictive and aims to ensure that workers are protected against exposure to asbestos fibres.
Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 there are a number of regulations, but in essence the following is true;
- Use and import of products containing any amount of fibrous asbestos is illegal (except in some rare circumstances)
- Medium-high risk forms of asbestos (mostly thermal insulation) can only be handled (including removal) by licensed contractors.
- Businesses must identify, record and manage (make safe) any asbestos materials present in their premises. This is known as "The Duty To Manage"
- Staff must be appropriately trained if likely to come into contact with ANY asbestos products.
- Asbestos waste must be disposed of by licensed waste carriers
The Duty to Manage
Regulation 4 of the 2012 Control of Asbestos Regulations reiterated the “duty to manage” requirement, which was first implemented in the Control of Work Regulations 2002 and targeted non-domestic (work) premises. These regulations stipulate that the dutyholder has a responsibility to identify and manage asbestos.
The general responsibilities of the dutyholder are:
- to determine the occurrence of asbestos in any form (normally by asbestos survey)
- to note the location and condition of the material (normally done by forming an asbestos register)
- to analyse the resulting risk (a risk assessment)
- to formulate a plan to manage the risk and ensure actions are implemented
Who is the dutyholder?
The dutyholder is the person that has the duty to manage a premises. This is the person that has the ultimate responsibility for the safety of the staff working within a building (or building section). In larger buildings where there are multiple tennants, there may be many dutyholders. In such instances there will also be a dutyholder responsible for common areas such as stairwells and lifts and, this will normally be the owner. The hard and fast rule is that if you employ a contractor (i.e lift engineeer, cleaner, etc) to do work within an area of a building, you are the dutyholder for that sectionareaer the Duty To Manage. In this instance the dutyholder is the local authority responsible for mainaining the property. In leased domestic properties the landlord will only have a duty if there are common areas (hallways, communal meter cupboards, etc).
What is a non-domestic property?
A non-domestic property is any place where a commercial enterprise will employ a contractor or employee to carry out works. So basically its a workplace. The exception to this is social housing or leased flats with communal areas (see above).
Further Regulations
Regulation 11 reiterates the prevention of exposure to asbestos and makes all employers or self-employed people responsible for the health and safety of their staff and themselves to this end. However the regulations recognise that exposure to asbestos is sometimes necessary. Consequently the law covers measures to ensure exposure is kept to a minimum and also that the use of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) is not relied upon.
In terms of exposure to asbestos, a worker must not be put in a situation where the airborne exposure limit is greater than an average of 0.1 fibres per cm³ calculated over a four hour period. The limit goes up for a shorter burst of contact over a continuous ten minute period but exposure must not go over 0.6 fibres per cm³.
The rulings state that asbestos removal should be carried out in most cases by a Health & Safety Executive (HSE)-licensed contractor. However where asbestos fibres are sealed within a product such as asbestos sheet cement and the product is undamaged, then work may be carried out carefully without the requirement of a license.
See also; The history of asbestos legislation
COMMENTS ARE DISABLED. PLEASE USE THE
FORUM TO ASK QUESTIONS.