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News Release from: Ross + Liddell | Subject: Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 04 October 2005
Complying with asbestos regulations
John Brolly, director at Ross + Liddell discusses obligations upon owners, landlords and tenants to assess buildings for the existence of asbestos containing-materials within the workplace.
Despite the fact that the asbestos regulations came into force over a year and a half ago, there remains an alarming number of owner/occupiers and tenants who have yet to comply with the asbestos regulations This lack of compliance can perhaps be explained partly by the fact that many owners/occupiers might have mistakenly believed that the regulations related only to workplaces
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 28 Sep 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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Given that they are called the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002, this error is perhaps understandable.
So, in the interests of clarity, it is worth emphasising that the regulations impose an obligation upon owners, landlords and tenants to assess buildings for the existence of asbestos containing-materials within the workplace, which is deemed to be any area where maintenance or repair is carried out, and that such areas include common parts of residential buildings, such as stairwells, bin stores, roof voids and backcourts.
Introduced as a result of government action to reduce deaths in the workplace caused by asbestos related illnesses, the asbestos regulations place an obligation upon owners, landlords and tenants to determine if their buildings contain asbestos and, if so, to manage the health risks arising.
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What this means is that the duty holder, normally the owner or tenant, will be responsible for instigating and executing an appropriate plan to manage any asbestos-containing materials.
Unless there is good reason to conclude that the building does not contain asbestos, then the duty holder is obliged to assume that it might do and so provide a plan for its management.
Failure to comply with the regulations is a criminal offence and, as part of the due diligence process, solicitors acting on behalf of purchasers of buildings or prospective tenants should now enquire whether an asbestos survey has been conducted and request information on the asbestos register and management plan.
Property mangers can assist duty holders in this regard by arranging for asbestos surveys to be undertaken on their behalf and, if any asbestos is found to be present, recommend what action, if any, should be taken.
Whilst properties which were constructed in the year 2000, or later, are subject to the regulations, because asbestos was not in use in the construction of properties after that date, property managers may be able to avoid the necessity of a survey by establishing that asbestos was not present in their construction and has not been introduced subsequently.
The most likely people to be affected by asbestos are those carrying out repairs and maintenance, such as plumbers, joiners and electricians and any contractors employed by property managers on behalf of owners must now be informed that no asbestos survey has taken place at the property, in which case any contractor will be at liberty to either decline to carry out any works or insist on a survey being completed before work commences.
Clearly, this could seriously impede any emergency works being undertaken, such as the repair of burst pipes.
That's why those owners, landlords and tenants of residential buildings with common parts where maintenance or repair is carried out who have not already undertaken an asbestos survey, should seriously consider approaching their property agent to arrange a survey on their behalf as a matter of priority.
Certainly, from the numerous asbestos surveys we have commissioned on behalf of clients, we have discovered asbestos in some unlikely places and in some relatively modern buildings - including a building in Glasgow constructed as recently as 1999.
But whilst there is evidence that there remains a considerable number of Glasgow and west of Scotland-based owner/occupiers and tenants who have yet to commission an asbestos survey, the relative lack of property managers active in Edinburgh and the east of Scotland would suggest that there are many more residential properties that have yet to be inspected for asbestos and which therefore currently fail to comply with the asbestos regulations.
And whilst it is worth stressing that not all asbestos, of any type in any condition, is always a health risk and that it will sometimes be safer and wiser to leave asbestos intact and manage it than attempt to remove it, which may not be necessary and could expose others to risk, it is also worth stressing that ignorance of the law is no excuse and, therefore, any owners, landlords and tenants of residential buildings with common parts should arrange for an asbestos survey to be undertaken sooner rather than later.
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