Managing Asbestos

Asbestos must be properly managed to prevent people from dying from asbestos diseases in the future. Workers who carry out building maintenance and repair are particularly at risk. Each year 1000 people who had past exposure to asbestos fibres die. Half a million commercial buildings still contain asbestos meaning that workers are still at risk.

What buildings are affected?

• All non-domestic buildings, whatever type of business.
• Communal areas of residential rented buildings, eg halls, stair wells, lift shafts, roof spaces.

What is most likely to disturb asbestos?

• Maintenance and repair jobs eg cutting or drilling into walls, ceilings or partitions, repairing boilers, laying cables.

Which workers are most likely to be at risk?

• Construction and demolition contractors, roofers, electricians, painters and decorators, joiners, plumbers, gas fitters, plasterers, shop fitters, heating and ventilation engineers and surveyors.
• Phone and information technology engineers, alarm installers.
• General maintenance engineers and others who work on the fabric of a building.

If you need to have work done: 

• Trained people using proper precautions must carry out all work with asbestos.
• A licensed contractor must be used to work on high-risk materials, eg pipe insulation, asbestos insulating panels or sprayed asbestos.
• You need a trained contractor, even for work on materials such as asbestos cement, textured ceilings or vinyl tiles.

Remember!

The duty is all about protecting yourself and others from exposure to asbestos fibres by managing any asbestos present in a building properly. It is not about removing all asbestos. If the asbestos is in good condition and unlikely to be disturbed, it is usually safer to leave it in place and manage it. Removal may be unnecessary and costly.