ADVICE & OPINION
COMPLIANCE
ASBESTOS RISKS REVIEWED
In association with
Kate Gardner, Health and Safety Trainer at International Workplace
on the inquiry launched by the Government into why asbestos related
disease is still the UK’s biggest occupational killer www.internationalworkplace.com
More than 5,000 deaths a year are recorded
from diseases such as mesothelioma, lung
cancer and asbestosis – all of which are due to
exposure to asbestos.
Currently, the duty to manage asbestos is
contained in Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos
Regulations 2012 and requires the ‘duty-holder’ to:
Take reasonable steps to find out if there are
asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in nondomestic
premises, and if so, its amount, where it
is and what condition it is in.
Presume materials contain asbestos unless there
is strong evidence that they do not.
Make, and keep up to date, a record of the
location and condition of the ACM – or materials
presumed to contain asbestos.
Provide information on the location and condition
of the materials to anyone who is liable to work
on or disturb them.
GOVERNMENT INQUIRY
However, this might soon change as the Work and
Pensions Committee recently launched an inquiry
into how the HSE manages the continued presence
of asbestos in buildings, following the publication of
a report by think tank ResPublica.
The Committee’s inquiry and call for evidence will
examine the current risks posed by asbestos in the
workplace, the actions taken by the HSE to mitigate
them, and how its approach compares to those
taken in other countries.
Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the Work and
Pensions Committee, said: “With the UK death rate
from asbestos-related illness the highest in the
world, there are serious concerns about how the
material is being dealt with compared with how it
is managed in other countries, such as France. The
HSE is rightly looking into how asbestos can be
handled more safely and the Committee’s inquiry
will help to make sure monitoring and regulations
are as e ective and safe as they can possibly be.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
The report by ResPublica makes the following initial
recommendations:
The government should bring the health and
safety regime for the management of asbestos
up to the highest international standards.
14 OCTOBER 2021
It should establish a central register of all
asbestos currently in place in public buildings
across the UK (including schools, hospitals and
social housing).
A cost-benefit analysis for the removal of all
asbestos from public buildings in the UK needs
to be commissioned.
The HSE should revise the current ‘Duty to
Manage’.
The HSE should amend guidance and risk
assessments to take account of early exposure,
different levels of ‘in-situ’ risks, and the higher
risks posed by Amosite and Crocidolite.
The HSE should accurately measure and
represent fatality figures and the actual harm
caused by asbestos exposure.
The HSE should assure (rather than assume)
buildings are safe, through the requirement for
periodic sensitive air monitoring based upon
revised risk and priority assessment.
The HSE should improve the regime for
reporting the disturbance of asbestos
materials.
Research funding bodies in the UK should
consider the current gaps in academic
literature about the risk asbestos-containing
materials pose in-situ.
The UK Asbestos Training Association (UKATA) has
also raised concerns around the lack of asbestos
training that has been undertaken since the start of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Said Craig Evans, Chief Operating O icer of
UKATA: “Our concern is that the fabric of the
many workplaces and public buildings that have
been closed during the COVID-19 outbreak will
have declined. The very people who manage the
buildings may have been furloughed and therefore
they will not have been inspected for deterioration
of any asbestos present. This increases the risk of
exposure to deadly asbestos fibres for the buildings’
users.”
Duty to Manage training is a legal requirement;
however, industry figures show the number of
workers who have undertaken asbestos training
since March has steeply declined and is at its lowest
level for five years.
ADVICE TO FMS
Changes to asbestos guidance and legislation are
likely to have significant consequences for duty
holders when managing asbestos on their premises.
Greater regulation will mean organisations have to
demonstrate they have done all that is ‘reasonably
practicable’ to avert the risk of exposure to
asbestos. Organisations do not have to cause
actual harm in order to fall foul of health and safety
legislation; the mere creation of a risk of harm is
su icient for enforcement action to be taken by
the HSE. It’s therefore vital that building managers
and appointed persons ensure that their asbestos
training is up-to-date.
The tricky part is that asbestos-related diseases
can take up to 40 years to manifest themselves
and therefore it takes a long stretch of time before
the asbestos bans start bearing fruit. The latency
period of asbestos, coupled with a substantial drop
in training, could mean that the UK faces a greater
number of deaths from asbestos over the next
15-60 years. If you’re a long-running business, past
employees could come back to you with claims of
asbestos exposure from many years ago.
/www.internationalworkplace.com
