The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002
The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 introduced an explicit duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises. The Regulations came into force on 21st May 2004. The ’duty to manage’ requires those in control of premises to take reasonable steps to determine the location and condition of materials likely to contain asbestos.
pcm provide a full asbestos project management service, including asbestos surveys and advice, the formulation of asbestos registers, risk assessment and portfolio management plans.
What is Asbestos
Asbestos is non combustable, fibrous silicate mineral material. There are three types which cause concern:-
- Chrysotile (white)
- Amosite (brown)
- Crocidolite (blue)
Asbestos and Your Responsibilities
Under the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations the person, persons or entity responsible for maintaining and repairing all or part of a property, or who has control of a building (i.e. the occupier or owner) is identified as a ’duty holder’.
If you control or have information about a building you must co-operate with the ’duty holder’ by passing on relevant information to tenants, occupiers and lease holders etc. and allowing where appropriate access for inspection by amongst others managing agents.
If you are a duty holder you must:-
- Find out whether your building contains asbestos and what condition it is in
- Assess the risk, is it likely to release fibres or get damaged?
- Make plans to manage the risks
Managing Asbestos
The new legal duties under the 2002 Regulations is about managing asbestos, not necessarily removing it. Asbestos in good condition, that is not likely to be disturbed, should not really be moved.
Most importantly ’don't panic’, asbestos is only really dangerous when disturbed. If it is safely managed and contained it does not present a hazard to health. Don’t move asbestos unnecessarily. Removing it could be more hazardous than containing it.
Don't treat all asbestos materials the same. You are only obliged to use a licensed contractor to work on high risk materials such as pipe insulation and lagging, insulating materials and panels.
Our Asbestos Management Services
Against the backdrop of the new legislation pcm have a suite of services that sensibly deal with the asbestos menace in a simple and pragmatic way by:-
- Arranging and undertaking desktop studies to check out what might already be known about the premises.
- Contacting parties who might already have information about your premises such as its designers or builder, and contractors who have worked there in the past.
- Conducting a visual inspection of the premises to identify if parts of a building do indeed contain asbestos and, where appropriate conducting surveys and compiling registers.
- Assessing the risk of asbestos fibres being released.
- Drawing up a management plan to deal with the presence of asbestos to prevent accidental exposure and warn people coming into an environment that contains it.
- Help in the preparing and undertaking of regular checks on the conditions of materials to ensure they have not deteriorated or been damaged and keeping the management plan up to date.
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