Asbestos Management
In November 2012, Duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises was published in regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. It requires the duty-holder to protect those who work in premises from exposure to asbestos.
These duties cover non-domestic facilities such as industries, public buildings like factories, hospitals, malls, warehouses, offices, schools etc. The common area overlooked in non-domestic buildings is places like elevators, lift shafts, corridors, rooftop, canopy, foyers, garages etc.
3 Steps for Duty-Holder to Follow
- The duty holder should ensure the premises contain asbestos, check its condition and if in doubt, call for Asbestos management.
- Asses the risk which may be involved and
- Put a plan to manage the risk and adhere to it.
What are the Duties to Manage Asbestos ?
It is a requirement for every duty-holder to cooperate and comply with the tasks below to ensure safety in non-domestic premises containing Asbestos materials. These duties are :
- Assume responsibility to find out if there are materials containing Asbestos in the target building if available, estimate the amount and the condition it is in.
- To always keep and update records containing location, and the condition of the Asbestos materials or the materials containing Asbestos.
- Estimate the risks involved and evaluate to know if there are people who are exposed to materials identified.
- Prepare a management plan to cater for the risk involved to the exposed Asbestos materials and take a step to implement the steps.
- To certainly review and monitor the initial plan to see if some advancement can be done to ensure it’s up to date.
- Give the parties involved the required information.
Do not assume condition in a building with Asbestos materials exposes, you should remember to call a specialised and competent surveyor to evaluate the dangers involved. If Asbestos is well managed and contained by the right person in this field, it exposes no health hazard to the people around.
It is necessary to employ the right contractor (licenced) periodically to carry out practices like pipe sealing and encapsulation if the materials expose risk which can be preventable.
It is also advisable for materials you are not sure if they contain asbestos materials, to presume they do to prevent unseen risks.
We carry out Asbestos Management surveys starting from £99 only.
