Asbestos and the Duty to Manage

There has been a lot of discussion in the media regarding the introduction of United Kingdom Asbestos Regulations and the Approved Code of Practice in Jersey which puts a requirement on people in charge of premises to manage the risk from asbestos. I will deal with this subject later.

Asbestos is the collective name for a group of naturally occurring fibrous mineral products which are best know for their fire resisting qualities, although asbestos materials have a whole range of other attributes which have resulted in use in literally thousands of applications ranging from fire protection to thermal insulation to weatherboarding to cladding to filters to friction materials (brake linings and clutch linings) to binders and so on. It can be found almost anywhere in a building from floors, walls, ceilings in hidden voids and in machinery etc.

There are three main types of commercial asbestos: -

Chrysotile - known as white asbestos
Amosite - known as brown asbestos
Crocidolite - known as blue asbestos

There are three main type of disease associated with exposure to airborne asbestos fibre i.e. breathing asbestos dust: -

Asbestosis: this is a type of pneumoconiosis
Asbestos related lung cancer: this takes the form of cancerous tissue in the lung
Mesothelioma: a cancer of the lining of the chest wall (the pleura) or the lining around the stomach (the peritoneum)

The dangers are solely related to breathing in airborne fibre over prolonged periods and are not immediately obvious as there is a long latent period between the onset of the disease and the exposure. To keep the risk in perspective however, it should be remembered that an isolated accidental exposure to asbestos dust is not likely to result I the development of an asbestos related disease. There is also a synergistic effect with smoking, smokers are up to 10 times more likely to develop an asbestos related disease than non-smokers.

Against this background it is vital that employers, owners of property, managers, builders and removal companies have a clear idea of the risks and precautions which have to be implemented to prevent exposure of employees and the public to dangerous levels of asbestos fibre.

To ensure that persons are not exposed to dangerous levels of airborne fibre, all of these risks need to be managed effectively and clear systems of work and precautionary procedures put in place. In Jersey the Health and Safety Inspectorate have introduced ACoP 8 entitled Management of Exposure to Asbestos in Workplace Buildings and Structures under the Health and Safety (Jersey) Law 1989.
ACoP 8 identifies that persons in Control of Premises must manage the risk from Asbestos. This effectively requires these duty holders to put into place a Management Pan and then to “find it & manage it”. Unfortunately it is not quite as simple as that phrase might suggest:

The duty holder must do one of 3 things:

1.Assume Asbestos is present in a building or item of equipment and manage it accordingly. This option does have huge disadvantages as you would have to survey again every time you wanted to do something to determine whether it was asbestos or not.
2.Survey for Asbestos: Samples are taken by the surveyor to confirm and deniy the presence of Asbestos and then manage items which are positively identified.
3.Have a very good reason for knowing there is no asbestos in your building eg. A new build post 2000 with an architectural sign off.

Most duty holders are choosing the survey option known as a Type 2 sampling and assessment survey. Once the survey has been conducted and Asbestos materials identified it is then necessary to conduct an assessment of risk posed by those materials. The first assessment will be what is called the Material Assessment Algorithm. This assesses the propensity for those materials to release fibre.

The second assessment is the Priority Assessment Algorithm or the Human Exposure potential. The survey will need to consider who could be exposed and for how long, the quantity of the material and whether maintenance would disturb the asbestos. The risk assessment scores are added up and the surveyor details an appropriate management action.

Once the survey has been completed the information gleaned should be detailed in an Asbestos Register.

The register should have several component parts:

1.Your Asbestos policy detailing what, how, why, when & where
2.The register of Asbestos inclusions with the risk assessment scores and recommendations
3.Staff training notes
4.Contractors notes, where necessary, and;
5.Sections capable of receiving further information such as air quality certificates or contractors method statements, as well as a section for the survey report itself.

An Asbestos register is a live document and as such must be kept up to date. To keep this up to date it is necessary to monitor the condition of the Asbestos and review the register as risks could have changed i.e an old unused store room with Asbestos has been changed into an office or an Asbestos ceiling has suffered from water damage.

The Health and Safety Inspectorate is quite clear that Asbestos removal should be looked at as the last option. If it is in good condition, not releasing fibres and not putting persons at risk then leave it in situ as it is still doing the job it was designed to do.

It may be possible to encapsulate or isolate the Asbestos prior materials but only a trained eye would tell.

If there is a requirement for the removal of Asbestos because it is too much of a risk or because you are undertaking refurbishment then you will need to know the type of material you are dealing with to decide who can remove it. In Jersey there are the Asbestos licensing regulations which detail the types of materials that can only be worked on by licensed Asbestos Contractors. Non licensed asbestos products can be worked on by non licensed contractors however it is essential to be able to differentiate between the two and to ensure that both licensed and non licensed works are carried out in accordance with the ACoP 8 and Jersey Health and Safety Law.

Who should do this surveying and management work?

There is nothing to stop you from doing this work however the HSI explain that whomever conducts surveys and risk assessment should be competent to do so. They should have appropriate qualifications, sound knowledge of building structures and be competent to assess the risks from materials located.

There is currently only one accreditation system in place for Asbestos inspection bodies and this accreditation is undertaken by UKAS or the United Kingdom Accreditation Service. UKAS regularly audit organisations to check their competency against a European standard ISO/IEC 17020.

UKAS also accredit laboratories who test bulk samples for identification and who provide air monitoring and clearance work for Asbestos removal operations. henever you require these services you must use a company accredited to do this work. he European standard for this work in ISO/IEC 17025.

There is a lot of ignorance surrounding this material from those that do not seem to care to those that are overly concerned. Whilst Asbestos related disease is the biggest occupational killer in the UK a sensible path can be taken in ensuring compliance with regulatory requirement however it is best to seek professional guidance on how best to do this. The asbestos risk cannot be ignored and they will not go away unless they are properly managed. The cornerstone of such management is professional knowledge of the problems, the solutions and how to apply them and this only comes with many years of experience in dealing with asbestos issues.