Duty-Holders Warned to Continue Managing Asbestos During Lockdown
by CCUK Support
A joint statement by asbestos professionals, alongside certain UK trade bodies, implored all of those who have are responsible for locations and materials to continue keeping track and managing the asbestos in these sites and materials as the country goes through a second lockdown..
The release of this statement coincides with the continuing confusion surrounding which activities relating to the control and maintenance of asbestos are allowed during lockdown conditions. The confusion extends to duty-holders and the understanding of their legal duties named under the Control of Asbestos Regulations (CAR) 2012 which remain in force.
These regulations are to ensure that all of these duty-holders manage the risk of asbestos, reducing the exposure to the potentially deadly substance as low as possible or to prevent exposure completely. With guidance from the government on lockdown reasserting that it is within the law to enter any premises to deliver services or do work, which this would of course fall under.
In the statement, Graham Warren, member of trade association ACAD said “Asbestos professionals, such as surveyors and analysts, alongside HSE licensed contractors, are proficient in the use of control measures, should have undertaken the statutory Covid-19 risk assessments and should work with site-specific measures,”. Steve Sadley of the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA) followed up saying “It is important that you enable the asbestos specialists who can keep you safe and legal to do their job, even where your site is closed for employees, as part of ongoing asbestos management,”
It was also confirmed that in cases where sites are completely closed, their annual re-inspections can be postponed until a future date but underlined the fact that is imperative to get these completed before workers return to the site.
You can find out more details on the above stories in the following articles:
https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/health-safety-news/manage-asbestos-lockdown/84973/
Recommended Posts
Asbestos at Christmas
December 20, 2021
British Housebuilder Tackling Asbestos Waste Challenges
September 6, 2021