Surveying

Which buildings?

HSE “The duty to manage covers all non-domestic premises. Such premises include all industrial, commercial or public buildings such as factories, warehouses, offices, shops, hospitals and schools.”

Duty of Care

As an employer you have a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act to your own and other’s staff and to the public if they enter your premises. What the Control of Asbestos Regulations do is more clearly define how you comply. The key element of which is regulation 4 the duty to manage the Asbestos. Note this does not mean that removal is always necessary or even preferred. The key is that you have to manage the risk.

Who has a duty?

Be very careful about assuming that because you rent your premises you do not have a responsibility. This will depend upon lease conditions but even if a part of the responsibility is your landlords you do not want to partially responsible when things go wrong and no one has complied with the law. If you own the premises and it is vacant it will be your responsibility.

Domestic Premises

Domestic premises are generally excluded but -

HSE “Non-domestic premises also include those 'common’ areas of certain domestic premises: purpose-built flats or houses converted into flats. The common areas of such domestic premises might include foyers, corridors, lifts and lift-shafts, staircases, roof spaces, gardens, yards, outhouses and garages - but would not include the flat itself.“

Building Age

Even buildings built as recently as 1999 are included in the regulations as the last uses of asbestos were only banned in November of that year. Buildings from the 70s & 80s will have much more Asbestos than most people realise.

Survey standards

The HSE recommended survey methodology of 2001 (MDHS100) has been replaced in 2010 by a survey guide HSG264. This has important changes in procedure and emphasis. With Bainbridge Asbestos you will get a surveyor qualified to this new standard. All sampling is passed to an independent UKAS accredited laboratory for analysis.

Independence

Bainbridge Asbestos is an independent surveying company and not part of a larger removal contractor so there will be no conflict of financial interest. Unnecessary and expensive removal work will not be recommended if not required. Remember HSE want you to manage the risk not always remove.