Health and Safety Advice
.net
Did You Know That You Have a Duty to
Manage Asbestos in Your
Workplace ...
The duty to manage asbestos is directed at
those who manage non-domestic premises: the people with
responsibility for protecting others who work in such premises,
or use them in other ways, from the risks to ill health that
exposure to asbestos causes.
The duty
to manage asbestos is contained in regulation 4 of the Control
of Asbestos Regulations 2006. It requires the person who has
the duty (ie the "dutyholder") to:
Take
reasonable steps to find out if there are materials
containing asbestos in non-domestic premises, and if so, its
amount, where it is and what condition it is
in.
Presume
materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence
that they do not.
Make,
and keep up-to-date, a record of the location and condition
of the asbestos containing materials - or materials which
are presumed to contain asbestos.
Assess
the risk of anyone being exposed to fibres from the
materials identified.
Prepare
a plan that sets out in detail how the risks from these
materials will be managed.
Take
the necessary steps to put the plan into
action.
Periodically
review and monitor the plan and the arrangements to act on
it so that the plan remains relevant and up-to-date
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 dutyholder to comply with the above
requirements.
Who
has the duty?
In many
cases, the dutyholder is the person or organisation that has
clear responsibility for the maintenance or repair of
non-domestic premises through an explicit agreement such as
a tenancy agreement or contract.
The
extent of the duty will depend on the nature of that
agreement. In a building occupied by one leaseholder, the
agreement might be for either the owner or leaseholder to
take on the full duty for the whole building; or it might be
to share the duty.
In a
multi-occupied building, the agreement might be that the
owner takes on the full duty for the whole building. Or it
might be that the duty is shared - for example, the owner
takes responsibility for the common parts while the
leaseholders take responsibility for the parts they occupy.
Sometimes, there might be an agreement to pass the
responsibilities to a managing agent.
In some
cases, there may be no tenancy agreement or contract. Or, if
there is, it may not specify who has responsibility for the
maintenance or repair of non-domestic premises. In these
cases, or where the premises are unoccupied, the duty is
placed on whoever has control of the premises, or part of
the premises. Often this will be the owner.
What
premises are affected?
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.
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. Such common
areas would not include rooms within a private residence
that are shared by more than one household such as
bathrooms, kitchens etc in shared houses and communal dining
rooms and lounges in sheltered
accommodation.
If you
are in the Bournemouth or Poole area of Dorset and would like
some help complying with your duty to manage asbestos then
get in touch with me and we can
discuss your needs.
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