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. |