The duty to manage asbestos is a legal requirement under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (Regulation 4). It applies to the owners and occupiers of commercial premises (such as shops, offices, industrial units etc) who have responsibility for maintenance and repair activities. In addition to these responsibilities, they also have a duty to assess
All analysts for asbestos related work must be accredited by UKAS and so they are all listed on the UKAS web site
Short duration within these regulations means any one person working for less than one hour, or more than one person working for a total of less than two hours in any 7 consecutive days.
Refresher training for licensable and non-licensable work should be given every year. This should be based on a training needs analysis. For awareness training, there is no need to repeat a full training course every year, however some suitable refresher should be given. This can be given as part of other health and safety updates.
Firstly you should check which enforcing authority you need to contact. If the enforcing authority is HSE you can report your concern using our online form or by calling our Concerns team: 0300 003 1647 during office hours 8.30am - 5.00pm Monday - Friday, Thursday 10.00am to 5.00pm.
Most work on asbestos cement can be carried out without a licence providing workers have had appropriate information, instruction and training. The HSE Asbestos essentials series provides further information.
Yes, A risk assessment must be carried out before any work on asbestos begins.
There are a number of practical publications on asbestos available for free download on the HSE website.
There is no legal requirement to hold a certificate as proof of training, however, many training providers issue a certificate to indicate completion of a training course.
Yes, if an employee is liable to be exposed to asbestos, then employers should provide that employee with adequate personal protective clothing appropriate for the work that they will be doing. The HSE Asbestos essentials sheet on PPE (PDF)- Portable Document Format provides further information.