Regulations
This legislation will affect you if you own, occupy, manage or have responsibilities for non domestic premises which may contain asbestos. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 requires employers to prevent exposure to asbestos.
It is not always possible or even practical to remove asbestos, and in such cases there is an obligation on the owner or landlord to ‘manage’ the buildings for which he/she has responsibility for.
From 21st May 2004 new duty (Regulation 4) to manage asbestos was introduced.
In order to comply with this duty you will need to manage the risk from asbestos by:
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Finding out if you have any asbestos in the premises, its amount and condition.
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Presuming materials to be asbestos unless you have strong evidence to suggest otherwise.
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Making and keeping an up to date record of the location and condition of asbestos containing materials or presumed asbestos containing materials.
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Assessing the risk from the material.
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Preparing a management plan that sets out in detail how you will manage the risk from the materials.
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Taking the steps needed to put your plan into action.
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Reviewing and monitor your plan and the arrangements made to put your plan into place.
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Providing any information regarding the location and condition of the materials to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb the asbestos containing materials.
Anyone with any interest in the property will have a duty to co-operate with employees to enable them to manage the risk.
You can employ a competent person to carry out all or part of the work involved to meet the requirements of this duty. You will, however have to be involved in the final assessment of the potential risk.
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