background
The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 took effect from
21st November
2002.
These were subsequently consolidated into the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 which came into effect on 13 November 2006.
The regulations require that all places of work are surveyed
for the presence of asbestos.
The important “Duty to Manage” regulation became effective
on 21st May 2004, allowing duty holders a limited window of opportunity
to comply with their obligations.
The obligation for compliance with the Duty to Manage rests with “the
duty holder”. The definition of “the duty holder” is
all embracing.
Hodgson Elkington, are registered as partners in the Health & Safety
Executive's (HSE) campaign and have arranged awareness and
training seminars for staff and clients.
On 1st June 2003 Hodgson Elkington launched Asdata.NET, an on-line
storage and retrieval service for asbestos surveys. Free survey estimating
is also available.
The Duty to Manage
What is new about the duty to manage asbestos?
A new duty to manage asbestos has been added to the Control of Asbestos at
Work Regulations. It will apply to you if you have maintenance and repair
responsibilities for non-domestic premises either through a contract or tenancy
agreement or because you own the premises. The duty will require you to manage
the risk from asbestos by:
- finding out of there is asbestos in the premises, its amount
and what condition it is in;
- presuming materials contain asbestos, unless you have strong
evidence that they do not;
- making and keeping up to date a record of the location and condition
of the AMSs (Asbestos Containing Materials) or presumed ACMs in
your premises;
- assessing the risk from the material;
- preparing a plan that sets out in detail how you are going to
manage the risk from this material;
- taking the steps needed to put your plan into action;
- reviewing and monitoring your plan and the arrangements made
to put in place; and
- providing information on the location and condition of the material
to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb it.
Anyone who has information on the whereabouts of asbestos in your
premises is required to make this available to you as the dutyholder.
Those who are not dutyholders, but control access to the premises,
would have to co-operate with you in managing the asbestos.
Checklist
Related links
The Asdata.NET service
The Asbestos at Work
Regulations 2002 require that all non-domestic premises be surveyed. Failure to comply is
a criminal offence.
Asdata.net enables you to:
- Easily obtain an estimate of the cost of obtaining a survey.
- Maintain survey results in a secure electronic format accessible
only by your authorised staff and contractors.
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