New Asbestos Regulations In Force

The Control of Asbestos Regulations were implemented on 6th April 2012.

These update previous asbestos regulations to take account of the EU Directive on exposure to asbestos (Directive 2009/148/EC), with which previous UK legislation was not fully compliant.

In practice the changes are fairly limited, although there are some important additional requirements.

With certain non-licensed low risk asbestos work the employer is now required:

– to notify the relevant enforcing authority;
– to keep written records of work with asbestos;
– by April 2015, to ensure all workers are under health surveillance by a doctor.

Typical examples of the new notifiable non-licensed work (NNLW) category include short duration maintenance and removal work with asbestos insulation, removal of textured decorative coatings (“Artex”) where the material is destroyed, for example by scraping it off, and short duration removal of Asbestos Insulating Board (AIB) as part of refurbishment. Larger jobs with AIB remain licensable.

Aegis can advise companies on the implementation of the new regulations.

Further information can be found on the Health and Safety Executive’s website: www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos