Management of Asbestos in Buildings - Occupiers General Guidance Introduction Asbestos continues to be a major occupational health issue in the UK. It currently causes about 3,000 fatalities a year and this is expected to rise. Past and future asbestos exposures are having a major impact upon liability insurance premium. Although they are no longer available, asbestos containing materials (ACMs) were widely used with within buildings, primarily for heat resistant applications. Those who have worked within the construction industry who are increasingly at risk, and at present 25% of asbestos related fatalities are from the building repair and maintenance trades. It is estimated that there are about 500,000 commercial buildings that still contain many thousands of tonnes of ACMs. Building workers and others involved in building repair, maintenance and modification will therefore continue to be exposed to asbestos fibres, often unknowingly, and hence continue to suffer the severely debilitating, and sometimes fatal diseases asbestos can cause. Legislation The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR) specifically requires those with responsibilities for any maintenance activities i.e. duty holder, within nondomestic buildings to proactively manage the asbestos risk within the premises under their control. The duty to manage is not a requirement to remove all ACMs from buildings but is aimed at ensuring that: ACMs are located and identified within buildings; that their condition and the likelihood of them being disturbed, is assessed and action is taken to manage the risk and prevent persons being exposed. Am I a duty-holder? Who precisely is the duty holder, is dependent upon who is responsible for the building s maintenance, repair and alteration as may be set out in the premise s contractual and leasing arrangements. Duty holders can therefore be employers, occupiers, tenants, landlords and managing agents and be either solely or jointly responsible for ensuring the duty is discharged. Where there is more than one duty holder there is a duty upon them to co-operate with one another to ensure the duty is fulfilled. For example a tenant should allow a landlord to gain access to a building to undertake a survey and landlords should provide the relevant information on a building s materials of construction to enable their tenants to fulfil their obligations. Their relative responsibility and contribution e.g. share of costs for surveying and taking action will be determined by the nature and extent of each duty holder s maintenance and repair obligation. RMG 95 v06 01/14 1 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
Hence under CAWR; If you are a sole occupier or sole tenant; you will be the duty holder for the premises and you will have to fulfil the duty-holder s responsibilities. If you are a tenant in a multi occupancy building; You will be the duty holder for the area you occupy, but would not have any duty for the areas under the landlord s control or occupied by other tenants. You do however have a general duty under the CAR to co-operate with a landlord and other tenants who control asbestos risks within such jointly occupied premises. If you lease areas within a multi occupancy buildings should contact your landlord to discuss if any action is required by you. prepare a plan setting out how the risks from the materials are to be managed; take the necessary steps to put the plan into action; review and monitor the plan periodically; and provide information on the location and condition of the materials to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb them. There is also a requirement on anyone to co-operate as far as is necessary to allow the duty holder to comply with the above requirements. Planning your Compliance Strategy There are 6 steps to achieving compliance What do duty holders have to do? Essentially duty holders are required to: take reasonable steps to determine the location and condition of materials likely to contain asbestos; presume materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence that they do not; make and keep an up to date a record of the location and condition of the ACMs or presumed ACMs in the premises; assess the risk of the likelihood of anyone being exposed to fibres from these materials; Step 1 Decide if ACMs are likely to be present in your building(s) ACMs may be present if the building was constructed or refurbished before blue and brown asbestos were banned in 1985, i.e. generally built between 1900 and 1990. In some cases ACMs, such as asbestos cement, were used up until 1999. You are likely to come across ACMs in numerous applications. For example as fire breaks in ceiling voids; moulded or preformed thermal insulation of pipes and boilers; fire protection to structural steel, ducts, door panels and partitions; as soffit boards, ceiling tiles; insulation for electrical equipment; asbestos cement used for roofing, wall cladding, gutters, rainwater pipes and water tanks; textured coatings e.g. artex; bitumen roofing material, and vinyl or thermoplastic floor tiles. RMG 95 v 06 01/14 2 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
To start the process of deciding if you may have ACMs duty holders will need to look at building plans and any other relevant information, such as builders' invoices; consult others, such as the architects, employees or safety representatives, who may be able to provide more information. If the age of the building or the information obtained provides strong evidence that no ACMs are present, then no more need be done. If strong evidence is not available then it should always be presumed that any material contains asbestos and a thorough inspection of the premises both inside and out will need to be carried out by a competent person to identify any materials that are or may contain asbestos. Step 2 Locate and Assess ACM condition In some cases, for example where no maintenance work is planned and/or the premises are very small and information is readily available, it may be appropriate for duty holders to carry out inspections themselves. In general however a competent person will need to be used and this could be either your own employee or a contractor. In either case they must be suitably trained and experienced. Vetting of the contractors you employ to undertake asbestos surveys, take samples and test them is essential. They should be able to demonstrate that they are adequately trained, qualified, experienced, operate to externally vetted quality assurance standards and have adequate insurance. Initial training is offered by organisations such as the British Institute of Occupational Hygienists (BIOH) under their Training Scheme P402 - Building Surveys and Bulk Sampling for Asbestos. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and ARCA (Asbestos Removal Contractors Association) have also established the National Individual Asbestos Certification Scheme (NIACS). This is a competency scheme for individual certified asbestos inspectors. Organisations and individuals employed should also be accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to EN45004 or EN 45013 respectively, comply with ISO 17025 as well as following the sampling and assessment of ACMs in accordance with HSE guidance in MDHS 100. You should be clear about the scope of the survey being undertaken on your behalf. 2 types of asbestos survey are commonly referred to:- Management Survey This is the standard survey. Its purpose is to locate, as far as reasonably practicable, the presence and extent of any suspect ACM s in the building which could be damaged or disturbed during normal occupancy, including foreseeable maintenance and installation, and to assess their condition. All ACM s should be identified as far as is reasonably practicable. The areas inspected should include (but is not limited to): under floor coverings, above false ceilings, (ceiling voids), lofts, inside risers, service ducts and lift shafts, basements, cellars, underground rooms, undercrofts etc. ACM s should be presumed present in any areas not accessed. RMG 95 v 06 01/14 3 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
The survey will usually include sampling and analysis to confirm the presence or absence of ACM s. However, a survey can also include presuming the presence or absence of asbestos. A management survey can be completed using a combination of sampling ACM s and presuming ACM s, or by simply presuming all potential ACM s to be so. A management survey should include an assessment of the condition of the various ACM s and their ability to release fibres into the air if they are disturbed in some way. This material assessment will give a good initial guide to the priority for managing ACM s as it will identify the materials which will most readily release airborne fibres if they are disturbed. The condition of ACMs can be considered by addressing a series of questions: Is the surface of the material damaged, frayed or scratched? Are the surface sealants peeling or breaking off? Is the material becoming detached from its base (this is a particular problem with pipe and boiler lagging and sprayed coatings)? Are protective coverings, designed to protect the material, missing or damaged? Is there asbestos dust or debris from damage near the material? Refurbishment and Demolition Survey This survey is needed before any refurbishment or demolition work is carried out. The survey is used to locate and describe, as far as reasonably practicable, all ACM s in the area where the refurbishment work will take place, or in the whole building if demolition is planned. The survey will be fully intrusive and involve destructive inspection, as necessary, to gain access to all areas, including those which may be difficult to reach. A refurbishment survey may also be required in other circumstances, such as when more intrusive maintenance and repair work will be carried out, or for plant removal or dismantling. There is a specific requirement within CAR for all ACM s to be removed as far as reasonably practicable before major refurbishment or demolition. Removal of ACM s is also appropriate in other smaller refurbishment projects which involve structural or layout changes to buildings (e.g. removal of partitions, walls, units, etc.). However, where removal may not take place for some time, the ACM s condition will need to be assessed, and the materials managed. Step 3 Prepare a record of where ACMs or presumed ACMs are and their condition The results of steps 1 and 2 must be recorded. A drawing or some other record e.g. computer record of your findings therefore needs to be prepared. This should show where the asbestos or presumed asbestos is, the type if known, its form, its amount and what condition it is in. Inaccessible areas e.g. roofs, wall partitions should be noted and the presence of ACMs presumed, unless there is strong evidence for thinking this is highly unlikely. RMG 95 v 06 01/14 4 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
Step 4 Assess and prioritise the potential risk from the ACMs The likelihood of ACMs being disturbed now needs to be assessed. Some ACMs are more vulnerable to damage and more likely to give off fibres than others. In general, the materials which contain a high percentage of asbestos are more easily damaged. For example sprayed coatings, lagging and insulating board are more likely to contain blue or brown asbestos. Asbestos insulation and lagging can contain up to 85% asbestos and is most likely to give off fibres. Work with asbestos insulating board can result in equally high fibre release if power tools are used. On the other hand, asbestos cement contains only 10%-15% asbestos. The asbestos is tightly bound into the cement and the material will only give off fibres if it is badly damaged or broken. If people are or will be working on the ACMs e.g. maintenance, refurbishment work or they are likely to be accidentally damaged, then there is a potential to create disturbance and release asbestos fibres, which may be inhaled. The type of ACM, the extent, imminence of work, and numbers of people who might be exposed should also be used to determine the priority for action. Step 5 Plan for Action Based upon your assessment you need to prepare a plan, which explains how you propose to manage the risk of ACMs on your premises to ensure that they will not endanger persons both now and in the future. There are several actions you can take, for example if the ACM is in good condition, is not likely to be damaged and is not likely to be worked on or disturbed then it is usually safer to leave it in place. if the ACM is in poor condition but is unlikely to be damaged or disturbed then it can repaired or sealed, or enclosed. If ACMs are left in place you will need to manage them by making sure that everyone, who is liable to disturb the ACMs in the future e.g. occupiers, tenants and contractors know about the asbestos and are effectively alerted to its presence. This can be done by, for example, by providing them with appropriate details of the your plan and building asbestos record; including details within CDM Health and Safety files; labelling ACMs or including asbestos risks within contractor s risks assessments, method statements and building permit-to-work procedures. If ACMs are in poor condition and/or is likely to continue to be damaged then it should be removed. Any work on asbestos must be carried in accordance with the CAR, approved codes or practice and guidance. RMG 95 v 06 01/14 5 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
Step 6 Monitor and review the effectiveness of the plan The actions in the plan need to be implemented. Imminently dangerous ACMs will need to be addressed immediately others may be tackled as and when refurbishment and repair plans allow. Thereafter, effectively for the life time of the building, the plans will need to be regularly checked/ audited to ensure that the arrangements to control the risk set out in the plan. e.g. encapsulation, seals, labels, permit to work system have been put in place and are continuing to work effectively. In addition the plan must be reviewed whenever there are significant changes that will affect these arrangements, for example if a different sort of work is done on the premises or if any of the ACMs are removed. What will your Insurer expect? RSA recognises that the duty imposes a significant burden in the short term. Initially therefore you should be able to demonstrate that you are: checking your current arrangements to manage asbestos; adopting a precautionary approach to building maintenance work; starting to develop your compliance strategy to control for future asbestos exposure. Insurers may adopt different strategies but RSA s objective is to avoid risks where there has been any significant historical exposure or where there is any known future exposure and therefore requires owners or occupiers of premises as part of their responsibilities under CAR to: use specialist surveyors, having their own adequate EL, PL and PI insurance, to carry out any intrusive testing inspection and sampling of ACMs; use specialist contractors, having their own adequate EL and PL insurance, to carry out any repair, removal or transport of any known ACMs. However, if there are instances when for example your own maintenance staff have very limited contact with asbestos containing materials and it is not reasonably practicable for you to call in a subcontractor, then we can provide cover, but only on the basis that such work with asbestos is MINIMAL, INFREQUENT AND WELL MANAGED. Guidance on this is included in Appendix 1. RMG 95 v 06 01/14 6 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
APPENDIX 1 Guidance on minimal, infrequent and well managed work on Asbestos What does MINIMAL mean? It means that there is a minimal risk of release of asbestos fibres; there is an intention to maintain the integrity of the ACM. It includes for example Removing a few asbestos cement panels e.g. - roofing, bath surrounds, soffit boards, guttering; Removing a few asbestos containing ceiling tiles, floor tiles; Painting asbestos containing materials but excluding abrasive preparation e.g. sanding; Visual inspection of asbestos containing materials by own employees Collection and enclosure of waste asbestos containing materials from the above tasks by own employees prior to collection. Any transport and disposal must be carried out by a licensed special waste disposal contractor. It does not include Any process where the physical integrity of any asbestos containing material may be changed; Breaking, cutting,sawing, drilling, wire brushing, sanding of any asbestos containing material; Removal of asbestos insulation (loose, sprayed, lagging); asbestos boards (millboard, insulating board); Intrusive testing, sampling or repair of any asbestos containing material by own employees Transport and disposal of asbestos containing materials at waste disposal facility by own employees. All such work being undertaken by registered waste carriers and licensed waste management contractors. What does INFREQUENT mean? It means such MINIMAL work is incidental to the main work. It takes place no more than six times a year i.e. up to six instances where MINIMAL work with asbestos takes place. It does not include the routine undertaking of work with MINMAL exposure or where there is any intention to expand activity to undertake more work with asbestos. What does WELL MANAGED mean It means that all appropriate procedures, including those for disposal, are followed in every instance of working with asbestos. All such work is carried out in accordance with HSE Approved codes of practice and guidelines as listed below. In particular that the HSE requirements are complied with respect to the need for staff training, provision and use of protective clothing; RMG 95 v 06 01/14 7 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
use of respiratory protective equipment; proper site preparation to avoid danger to others, use of safe (dust-less) work methods, site and personal cleaning/decontamination; safe waste disposal are being observed. RMG 95 v 06 01/14 8 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
Further Information The HSE s website http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/ contains details of documents as well as other supporting material such as training aids and videos which are aimed at promoting compliance with the regulations. Asbestos Management L 143- Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012: Approved Code of practice and Guidance (Regulation 4 specifically relates to asbestos management) INDG 223 Managing Asbestos in Buildings- A Brief Guide Asbestos Surveying HSG264-Asbestos: The Survey Guide BS EN ISO 17020:2004 General Criteria for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection BS EN ISO 17024:2003 General criteria for certification bodies operating certification of personsl BS EN ISO 17025:2005 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories Working on ACMs L 143-Control of Asbestos Regulations S2012: Approved Code of Practice and Guidance HSG 210 Asbestos Essentials-A task manual for building maintenance and allied trades in non-licensed asbestos work RMG 95 v 06 01/14 9 2014 Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc
These and other Risk Management Guidelines addressing a wide variety of risk control issues are freely available from: www.rsabroker.com/risk-management The information set out in this document constitutes a set of general guidelines and should not be construed or relied upon as specialist advice. RSA does not guarantee that all hazards and exposures relating to the subject matter of this document are covered. Therefore RSA accepts no responsibility towards any person relying upon these Risk Management Guidelines nor accepts any liability whatsoever for the accuracy of data supplied by another party or the consequences of reliance upon it. Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc (No. 93792). Registered in England and Wales at St. Mark s Court, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1XL. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority