Asbestos Regulations UK

UK Asbestos Regulations

This article covers Asbestos regulations in the UK

Asbestos is a mineral found in nature that had many beneficial properties as a building material, like fire resistance and insulation.

There are 3 types of asbestos, and it is still mined and used as a building material in many developing countries.  Still today asbestos can be found in many different materials. 

In the UK regulations fully banned the use of asbestos in 1999.

Today in the UK there are 2 asbestos regulations designed to protect staff working near asbestos.

1. REACH (the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals Regulations 2007) and.
2. CAR12 (Control of Asbestos Regulations of 2012).

REACH prohibits the importation, supply and use of asbestos. While CAR12 covers work with asbestos, and licensing of asbestos-removal activities.

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 are known as CAR 12.  CAR12 governs day-to-day safe working practice anywhere asbestos could be present.  CAR12 is an update of the 2006 regulations.

If you work in safety, it is the CAR12 regulations as opposed to REACH you need to concern yourself with on a day-to-day basis.

What do CAR12 Regulations Require?

CAR12 regulations place responsibilities upon employers, employees and duty-holders.

CAR12 details what needed to be done to protect those who work with or could accidentally disturb asbestos and for premises that contain asbestos.  For example, the owner of the premises known as the duty holder must undertake an asbestos survey.  The premises could in turn be rented by an employer.  The employer must provide appropriate Asbestos training.

Below we detail each stakeholders (duty-holder, employer & employee) responsibilities under CAR12.

Employer’s CAR12 Duties

Regulation 5 of CAR12: Identifying Asbestos

Regulation 5 dictates that employers must not undertake any work which may be liable to expose their employees to asbestos in a given premises.

They must carry out an assessment as to whether asbestos is present and decide if existing information is reliable, are surveys of the correct type and sufficiently detailed for the type of work being done. Information should also be part of the health & safety plan prepared by the CDM coordinator

Regulation 6 of CAR12: Assessment of Work

When planning work in premises employers must make and record an assessment of the risks from asbestos in accordance with Regulation 6 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations.

This risk assessment must be modified if there are changes in the work methods or in the conditions in the premises

Regulation 10 of CAR12: Training

As outlined in Regulation 10, employers must ensure that adequate information, instruction and training is given to all their employees liable to be exposed to asbestos. Employers must review training needs any time the job changes or different work practices are introduced.

Building Owner (Duty-holder) Responsibilities

This is the person in charge of the building and they have a responsibility to identify, locate and manage the asbestos in any non-domestic building built after 1999.

Common areas of domestic buildings such as flats and those domestic buildings owned by councils and housing associations are covered by Regulation 4 of CAR12:

Regulation 4 of CAR12 states that the person in charge of the building (The Duty Holder) shall ensure that a suitable and sufficient assessment is, or is liable to be, present in any non-domestic building built before 2000.

They should ensure that:

1.  Account is taken of a buildings age, plans and information.
2.  Inspection is made of reasonably accessible areas.
3. Where asbestos is shown to be present, there should be written plans made available identifying the location/ register.
4. Measures are in place to manage the risks which are specified in the plan.
5. Where asbestos is shown to be present, include measures for monitoring condition maintenance or removal as appropriate.
6. Information must be made available to everybody that may disturb it.
7. The plan is reviewed at suitable intervals.
8. That any measures taken to implement the plan must be recorded. The Duty Holder must ensure that this information is available to those contracted to carry out works

Employee Responsibilities

You must follow and Asbestos Awareness training that you have been provided.

If you uncover any material which you suspect could contain asbestos, you must always assume it’s an ACM until proven otherwise by referring to the asbestos survey, or, if not previously surveyed, further testing by an asbestos consultant.

The following emergency procedure should be followed:

• Stop the work in the affected area immediately.

• The area must be cordoned off immediately and left undisturbed until the material is surveyed and test results are available.

• Contain the potential contamination if possible by shutting doors and windows ,shutting off air extraction and wetting down the material and surrounding surfaces,

• If your clothing is touched by what is confirmed as asbestos dust, and you’re qualified to do so, wet yourself down thoroughly before removing outer clothing and placing in a plastic bag.

• If you are not qualified to perform wetting down procedures on yourself, wait for assistance from someone who is qualified.

• Alert your supervisor or manager ASAP.

• Get Respiratory Protective Equipment ASAP.

Any employee who was not wearing adequate PPE or has been potentially exposed to asbestos fibres in an incident, must make a note that the exposure has occurred and this must be recorded on their employee health record. If the employee does not have a health record, the note must be made on that employee’s personal record.

Other Legislation Relvant to Asbestos

In addition to the two asbestos specific regulations mentioned above there are more general laws that could be transgressed if specific duties are not met. This means potentially additional convictions for employers and duty holders under these other laws:

• The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 states that employers should make the work environment as safe as possible for employees.

This includes dealing with any threat of asbestos.

• RIDDOR, or the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations states that any incidents, including those involving asbestos, must be reported to the HSE.

• The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 state that everyone working construction must make sure the safest possible work environment.

• There is now only one Approved Code of Practice regarding asbestos which consolidated two previous ACoPs into a single revised ACoP. The updated edition of the HSE Approved Code of Practice for managing and working with asbestos known as ACoP L143 has been issued.

• The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 places a legal duty on employers to risk assess all work activities, tools and equipment etc. Where there are five or more people employed, the risk assessment should be written, documented and be available to all workers who may be at risk

Remember – Asbestos materials which are still in use today may remain in place, providing they are managed and kept in good condition and are not likely to deteriorate. As such, the law does not require their removal.