Duty to Manage Asbestos in Non-Domestic Premises

500,000 commercial and public buildings across the country may contain asbestos. In many cases there is no effective management of the thousands of tonnes of asbestos still present in buildings. Maintenance workers like electricians and plumbers may be unaware that they could disturb asbestos during routine works.

Anyone who owns, occupies or has a legal responsibility for non-domestic premises which may contain asbestos has a duty to:

identify and manage the risk from this material
cooperate with whoever manages that risk

To achieve this you need to take the following steps:

identify any asbestos in the premises, and assess the condition of these materials
presume materials do contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence they do not
prepare a record of the location and condition of any asbestos-containing materials (ACM's), and assess the risk from them
prepare and implement a plan to manage those risks
provide information on the location and condition of the material to anyone who may disturb it
monitor the condition of the material left in place, and review the risk assessment periodically

Further information can be found in A Short Guide to Managing Asbestos in Premises (INDG233) - free or downloadable from HSE Books (external link). If you would like more detailed guidance you can purchase A Comprehensive Guide to Managing Asbestos in Premises (HSG227) - £12.50 from HSE Books (external link).

HSE's web-based Asbestos Good Practice Guidance provides practical advice on how a range of organisations - local authorities, police authorities, property owners, managing agents, manufacturers, retailers, and the UK Bank's Automated Clearing House are managing their asbestos. Each case study is written by key personnel in the organisation who have 'hands on' experience of the whole range of issues that need to be addressed when dealing with asbestos. The guidance can be found on the HSE's (external link) website. The website also contains an on line guide (external link) that will take small businesses through the assessment process.

East Sussex County Council (external link) - information about disposing of asbestos and other hazardous waste.