Do the new asbestos laws affect you?
Release date: Oct 2006

Asbestos represents the biggest occupational health risk ever faced by British workers. About 3,500 people die every year of diseases relating to asbestos particle inhalation. New laws have just come in. These affect all commercial premises.

Regulation 4 of The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations Act 2002 creates a new legal duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises. They are designed to safeguard building and maintenance workers by forcing companies to check for asbestos in buildings for which they are responsible.

The rule tightening means that employers must show greater diligence in following the guidelines and provisions. Failure to observe the new rules may mean employers face unlimited fines and even imprisonment if found liable for workers’ resulting ill-health.

This does not only cover your own employees – it also covers any contractors working on the premises. Services such as heating engineers, alarm maintenance, decorators are also at risk of disturbing asbestos if present.

What is needed for compliance

In order to comply, employers and duty holders need to:

• take reasonable steps to determine the presence of asbestos in any premises owned, occupied or managed for which they have responsibility
• presume materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence to suppose they do not
• assess the risk of anyone being exposed to asbestos
• keep an up-to-date written record of the location and condition of all asbestos
• repair or remove any material that contains or is presumed to contain asbestos if necessary
• prepare, and review and asbestos management plan to manage the risk
• monitor the condition of asbestos containing materials

Risk management

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that up to 500,000 commercial, industrial and public buildings in the UK are likely to contain asbestos materials.

Close Thornton is able to put you in touch with an asbestos management consultant that is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) for the analysis of asbestos fibres.

Duty holders need to start work now in order to manage the risk from asbestos and save lives.

For further information contact David Hogg
david.hogg@close-thornton.co.uk

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