With roughly 5000 deaths still occurring every year, Asbestos remains the biggest workplace killer in the UK. All of these deaths were preventable.
Duty holders have a legal obligation under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, and Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (Regulation 4) to manage any asbestos within their premises.
Wherever you are on your asbestos journey, SK Compliance have the expertise, resource, and integrity to ensure your needs are met in the most cost and time-effective way possible. All our work complies with HSG264, and is undertaken by fully qualified, competent surveyors.
There are three main commonly found types of asbestos and several less common types. Most were used prolifically in the construction industry for many years and, as such, are still found in many premises in cement, sprayed asbestos, lagging, insulating board and textured coatings.
If your premises were built before the year 2000, it’s likely there may be some Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) within it. These should be identified and their condition assessed.
An Asbestos Management Survey aims to locate any Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) within your premises. Our team will work alongside you to create a full register and Asbestos Management Plan, enabling you to assess and manage the risks to your employees and any visitors to your site.
This is required if your premises, or part of it, is being upgraded, refurbished or demolished. The aim of this survey is to locate all ACMs before ANY work begins, and involves destructive inspection to ensure nobody will be harmed by exposure to asbestos during the project.
Where construction work is planned, a Refurbishment & Demolition survey will be required, identifying the location, presence and extent of any ACMs in the required area of your premises. These site specific surveys must be carried out ahead of any construction work being undertaken for the safety of your contractors, and employees and under regulations 4 and 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations.
For more construction industry specific advice regarding your role as the contractor or as a duty holder, contact our Health and Safety team who will be happy to advise.
If ACMs are identified in your premises that are contained or in good condition and don’t need to be disturbed, a regular re-inspection programme will help reduce the risk of exposure. If the ACMs need to be removed, we are here to help. Should you need to remove any ACMs from your premises we will manage the process from beginning to end, ensuring appropriately licensed specialists carry out the required work with the minimum disturbance to your business operations and premises.
Records should always be kept up to date, and your asbestos register should be referred to and managed whenever work is done on or around identified ACMs. Both employees and contractors should be kept updated and informed at all times.
All procedures regarding accidental disturbance of Asbestos should be detailed in your Management Plan, and regularly communicated to anyone who has the potential to disturb or come across Asbestos during their work – particularly maintenance teams and contractors.
Often, and most regularly following Asbestos Awareness training, individuals may come across a material they suspect to contain Asbestos. At this point, work should stop immediately in order to limit any disturbance, until a sample has been taken, analysed and the results received.
Electrical Equipment containing Asbestos Containing Materials are still found in many locations and every step should be taken to prevent accidental exposure, but also to allow installations to be tested thoroughly and safely.
Our team is not only fully equipped to identify the risks associated with ACMs in and around electrical boards, they are also able to remove them fully and either safely test the installation or fit a new board where required. ACMs can be found in flash guards, arc chutes, and storage heaters.
Asbestos Insulating Board (AIB) was also used for a period of time as fire protection in and around electricity and gas meters- - though work on these products should only be carried out by a licensed contractor.
To find out more information or to get a no obligation quote, call our Compliance Team on 01427 420 404 or email compliance@skaltd.co.uk
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