With the ever increasing awareness of the dangers of asbestos in all types of buildings together with new asbestos regulations coming info force (see below), Jenner Jones offer a specific service advising on asbestos management and providing Type I and II surveys by BOHS P402 qualified surveyors.

Our professional service includes free on site assessment of all types of property together with detailed analysis of problem areas. Rather than expensive removal, we can advise owners and property managers of cost effective ways of managing asbestos.

Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 creates a new legal duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic properties

Why another regulation?

Up to 500,000 commercial, industrial and public buildings in the UK are likely to contain asbestos materials. Unless this material is properly managed, building and maintenance workers may breathe in harmful asbestos fibres when carrying out everyday jobs.

What buildings are affected?

All non-domestic buildings, whatever type of business is carried out in them. It also covers the common areas of residential rented properties including halls, stairwells, lift shafts and roof spaces. Don’t forget, if you buy a building for development, even if it due for demolition, you as owners will be responsible.

Who is responsible?

The dutyholder is anyone responsible for maintaining and repairing all or part of a property, or who has control of the building. For example, the occupier, the owner or developer even if sites are going to be redeveloped.

Will the regulations affect me?

If you control or have information about the building, you must co-operate with the dutyholder. For instance, landlords must pass on relevant information to new tenants, leaseholders must allow access for inspection by managing agents and owners must tell contractors or builders.

The regulation became law on 21 May, 2004, therefore if you haven’t already, you need to start work now on managing the risk from asbestos to save lives later.

What do I need to do?

Everyone must start to take action now – even if all you have to do is to co-operate with the dutyholder.

If you are a dutyholder you must:

• find out whether your building contains asbestos and what condition it is in;
• assess the risk, e.g. if it is likely to release fibres;
• make a plan to manage that risk;
• when buying a property, site or land, identify the risks before you contract to purchase

Where do I start?

• Do a desktop study to check out what you already know about your building, e.g. look at plans and other documents.
• Contact anyone else who may already have useful information about the building, e.g. a surveyor, architect or contractor who knows the building.
• Carry out an inspection of the building. You can do this in house, especially if you simply assume materials contain asbestos, or use an independent expert if samples have to be analysed.
• Record the results of the inspection, identifying the parts of the building where asbestos may be located
• Assess the risk of asbestos fibres being released into the air from the materials in those areas. Take into account the materials’ condition and how likely they are to be damaged or disturbed.
• Draw up a management plan. State which areas, if any, need asbestos to be sealed, encapsulated or, as a last resort, removed. The key part of the plan is to warn people coming to work on the building, to prevent accidental exposure.
• Build in regular checks to make sure the condition of materials has not deteriorated. Concentrate on areas of high risk, where materials are more likely to get damaged.
• Keep the management plan up to date to show any changes that could affect the risk.

Remember, the new legal duty is about managing any asbestos in a building, not about removing all asbestos! Asbestos in good condition and not likely to be disturbed should not be removed. Removal may be unnecessary and costly! Beware of unscrupulous contractors.

What shouldn’t I do?

• Don’t panic – asbestos is only dangerous when disturbed. If it is safely managed and contained, it doesn’t present a health hazard.
• Don’t collect samples yourselves without knowing what you are looking for – you could cause damage and release dangerous particles into the air
• Don’t remove asbestos unnecessarily. Removing it can be more dangerous than simply containing it.
• Don’t treat all asbestos materials the same. You only need to use a licensed contractor to work on high risk materials, such as pipe insulation or asbestos insulating panels – not on asbestos cement which is much less dangerous.
• Don’t assume you need to bring in a specialist in every case. The regulation allows you to inspect your own building and assume materials contain asbestos. Don’t spend money when you don’t need to.
• Don’t forget that the regulation is all about protecting maintenance workers and others from asbestos fibres, so concentrate on practical steps to achieve this.

For more information or a site inspection call Jenner Jones on 01689 820720 where we have BOHS qualified staff to answer all your queries.