HSE publishes asbestos guidance booklets for building maintenance work

Citation

(2001), "HSE publishes asbestos guidance booklets for building maintenance work", Facilities, Vol. 19 No. 13/14. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2001.06919mab.018

HSE publishes asbestos guidance booklets for building maintenance work

Keywords: Building maintenance, Health and Safety, Occupational illness

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published two related guidance booklets as part of its ongoing campaign to highlight the dangers of asbestos. The booklets provide the tools necessary to ensure that building maintenance work involving asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) is carried out safely and in accordance with the law. They will form an important element in HSE's overall strategy to prevent people from dying from asbestos-related disease, and will complement existing guidance on asbestos.

Introduction to Asbestos Essentials is aimed at anyone who is liable to control or carry out maintenance work with ACMs. That includes employers, contract managers, site agents, safety representatives and self-employed contractors.

The guidance provides a step-by-step guide to the nature of the material, the effects of exposure, legal requirements, gauging risk and site procedures and staff training. A diagram illustrates the likely location of the most common types of ACM in a building. Flow charts are used to clarify procedures and there is a reading list at the end of the booklet.

Asbestos Essentials Task Manual is aimed at workers and provides clear and concise assistance to those likely to come into contact with asbestos during the course of their work. That includes plumbers, electricians, computer installers, telecommunications engineers and the like. It explains how asbestos enters and affects the body and how individuals can best protect themselves. The booklet is designed to be taken on site and includes 25 task sheets and eight additional sheets. The former focus on common tasks associated with the above trades and the latter describe the equipment and methods pinpointed in the task sheets. To help workers identify ACMs and know what to do should they accidentally disturb them, the building diagram and flow diagrams are again included.

Damian Stear from HSE's Technology Division, the author of the booklets, said, "The guidance published today makes it clear that people can't be exposed to asbestos fibres unless the material containing the asbestos is disturbed in some way. But if the material is drilled, cut or disturbed in some way, fibres will be released and workers put at risk. For this reason, this is an issue that must be taken seriously by all those connected with maintenance work – however small the job is."

Background

Asbestos has been identified as the primary cause of occupational ill health in the second half of the twentieth century. Asbestos-related diseases account for over 3,000 deaths a year in the UK and it is estimated that 50,000 have died from mesothelioma and other conditions since 1968. Around one-quarter of current deaths occur in the building and maintenance trades – amongst workers that Asbestos Essentials addresses directly.

Whilst the guidance being launched today will make an important contribution towards reducing the exposure of maintenance workers to asbestos, the Health and Safety Commission is concerned that information on whether buildings have asbestos in them is not always being passed to those at risk. The Commission is therefore proposing a new statutory duty for those responsible for workplace buildings, to determine the presence of asbestos in their buildings, and assess and control the risk from the material. This will provide a new level of protection in building-related trades and it is hoped that many thousands of lives will be saved through the operation of the proposed regulations, which will require amendment to the Control of Asbestos At Work Regulations 1987.

Although the Commission consulted widely on a new draft regulation and approved code of practice last year, it is taking the unusual step of re-consulting on a number of refinements to its original proposals as a result of important comments raised by consultees. In the meantime, HSE will be pressing ahead with a national campaign later this summer to raise awareness of the risks from asbestos in buildings.

Copies of Introduction to Asbestos Essentials, Ref HSG213, ISBN 0 7176 1901 X, price £12.50, and Asbestos Essentials Task Manual, Ref HSG210, ISBN 07176 1887 0, price £8.50, can be ordered online at http://www.hsebooks.co.uk or are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1787-881165 or Fax: +44 (0) 1787 313995. HSE priced publications are also available from all good bookshops.

For public enquiries contact HSE's InfoLine, tel: +44 (0) 8701 545500, or write to HSE Information Services, Caerphilly Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG, UK.