Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 requires dutyholders to manage the risk from asbestos in non-domestic premises. The dutyholder is defined in the Regulation as being anyone that has maintenance or repair responsibilities, usually the owner or occupier of the premises.
The law says dutyholders must;
- Take reasonable steps to find materials likely to contain asbestos (or presume they do)
- Assess the risk to anyone being exposed to asbestos from these materials
- Make a written record of the location and the condition of ACM (Asbestos Containing Material) and keep it up to date
- Repair or remove any ACM which is in a poor condition or is likely to be disturbed
- Prepare an Asbestos Management Plan to manage the risk
- Pass on information about the ACM to those that need it
- Identify any additional asbestos that may be uncovered by building works
- Provide asbestos awareness training to anyone whose work may disturb the fabric of the building
To summarise, if you are in charge of a building, you should conduct a survey to identify where the asbestos is and then make sure you use that information to prepare an asbestos management plan. Then you must make sure you pass on the asbestos information to anyone who carries out maintenance, repairs or building work.
Here are the different types of asbestos survey;
- Management – the standard survey to locate any suspect ACMs in the building which could be damaged or disturbed during normal occupancy; this gives you an Asbestos Register.
- Refurbishment – a legal requirement to carry out before any repairs, maintenance or building works to ensure contractors are not exposed to ACMs
- Demolition – a legal prerequisite fully invasive survey required before a building is demolished
- Reinspection – a periodic update of the original management survey asbestos register to ensure known ACMs are not deteriorating
Our qualified surveyors work to the Health and Safety Executive’s ‘HSG264 Asbestos: The Survey Guide’ document and our own in-house procedures. Be it domestic or commercial, Kova have the experience to help with any asbestos survey you may require.