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New HSE Campaign: Your Legal Duty to Manage Asbestos
With approximately 5,000 work-related deaths per year due to previous exposure to asbestos, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) want to alert businesses of the dangers of asbestos and remind them of their legal duty to manage the risks.
Asbestos is a material used in thousands of building products from the 1950s until 1985, before being fully banned in 1999. It can still be found in a large number of buildings built or refurbished before the year 2000.
While asbestos that has been disturbed or damaged can pose a serious risk to health, asbestos that is left alone and is in good condition isn’t dangerous.
The new campaign targets dutyholders under the control of asbestos regulations and is intended to make sure that workers and others are protected.
Who are the dutyholders?
The dutyholder could be the building owner, the landlord for the premises, the business owner, or the person or organisation with clear responsibility for the building’s maintenance or repair.
Who’s affected?
Anyone who works in a building built or refurbished before the year 2000, or those whose work may lead to exposure to asbestos. This could include:
– Tradespeople (e.g. plumbers, plasterers, electricians or engineers).
– Staff who work in the building, or visitors to the building.
– Family members of people who have been in contact with asbestos (who can be affected by dust brought home on clothes).
What Do You Need to Do?
There are responsibilities on both the dutyholder of the building and anyone who may come into contact with asbestos as part of their work (e.g. tradespeople). Dutyholders in control of a premises will also need to comply with the recommendations of their asbestos survey, including any management and monitoring requirements.
To read further information on dutyholder responsibilities, please visit our Partner Citations website by clicking here.
Some Handy Resources
If you’re a Health & Safety client, we have some useful resources in Atlas for you:
Please also check out the new resources the HSE has released as part of the “Asbestos: Your Duty” campaign here.
Got any questions?
If you would like more information or support, Health & Safety clients can call Citation’s 24/7 advice line and speak to one of their experts on 0345 844 4848.
