ASBESTOS - POLLUTION
Asbestos at Work
Breathing in air containing asbestos fibres can lead to asbestos related diseases, mainly cancers of the lungs and chest lining.
Asbestos is only a risk to health if asbestos fibres are released into the air and breathed in.
If you own, occupy, manage or have responsibility for premises which may contain asbestos you will either have:
a legal duty to manage the risk from this material or
a duty to co-operate with whoever manages the risk
Guidance is contained in "Managing Asbestos in Premises" INDG223(rev.2) available to download free of charge from Health and Safety Executive - Leaflets about Hazards at Work.
10 Key Facts about Managing Asbestos
- If you don't manage asbestos in your premises, you could be putting your employees' and other peoples' health at risk
- Exposure to asbestos occurs when you or others disturb it, releasing fibres into the air we breathe
- Asbestos in good condition should be left in place and managed
- Most work on asbestos requires a licence, but some minor work on asbestos can be done without a licence if the correct precautions are followed
- Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations is a duty to manage, not a duty to survey
- You don't always have to do a survey, but you do have to manage your asbestos-containing materials (ACMs)
- A bad survey is worse than not carrying out a survey
- Managing asbestos means maintaining your ACMs in good condition to protect two groups of people
- those who work on the fabric of the building (eg. electricians, plumbers, etc); and those who work in the building (eg. plant and office workers, cleaners, etc) who may come into contact or work near damaged or deteriorated ACMs
- Damaged or deteriorated ACMs should be repaired or removed, or isolated until remedial action can be taken.
Your Asbestos Management Plan: is your way of ensuring that your employees or others do not disturb your ACMs;
can take many forms and need not be complex, but it does need to be effective.
Further advice is available on the HSE Asbestos Campaign webpages, or the UK website of the European Agency for Safety & Health at Work
Advice and contacts for specialist contractors can be obtained from the website of the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA), the trade association which promotes and maintains the safe working standards required for the handling and removing of asbestos and other airborne hazardous materials.
A social security leaflet, in PDF format Ill or Disabled because of Working with Asbestos in Your Job? is available from the Department for Work and Pensions for employees affected by work with asbestos.
Asbestos in the Home
For information and advice on asbestos products which may be found in the home or garden please open the attachment below.
Asbestos in the home questions and answers
Asbestos in the home questions and answers (23kb)
Asbestos in the home document download. This is a PDF document and may require the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view content.