What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a fibrous material that was traditionally used in construction materials and is commonly found in buildings constructed or refurbished before 2000, although the peak time it was used was pre-1980.
The material was cheap, abundant and exhibited desirable properties such as it being:
- Versatile
- Hardwearing
- Strong
- Mostly resistant to acids
- Good chemical and electrical resistance
- Good for heat resistance, which made it a go-to choice for its fire resistance properties.
Common uses (just a few of many) were in roofing tiles, cement, insulation (including pipe lagging and boiler room equipment like tanks etc), sprayed on (or “limpet”) asbestos was commonly used to coat structural girders to give a level of fire resistance. It was used indiscriminately before its harmful effects were known so in theory it would be anywhere.
It was also used in many everyday items such as toothpaste, brake linings, some cigarette filters and a whole plethora of other items, including fake snow used during the filming of the 1950’s Wizard of Oz film!
Why do I need to worry about it?
HSE figures show around 5,000 workers die from Asbestos each year (a higher number than killed on the road).
When Asbestos Containing Materials (often referred to as ACMs) suffer damage or are disturbed it allows the fibres to become airborne, and this in turn allows them to be respired (breathed in) and once the fibres are in your respiratory system they stay there and over time will cause irreversible damage, leading to in order of severity serious diseases such as:
Mesothelioma – This is cancer of the lining of the lungs and the lower part of the digestive system lining. In most cases this condition is almost certainly caused by Asbestos. As it’s not usually diagnosed until later stages, the prognosis is generally bleak, being responsible for 2,542 deaths in 2015.
Asbestos Related Lung Cancer – This condition displays very similar signs as smoking related lung cancer – the ratio of deaths from this condition to Mesothelioma is around 5/1.
Asbestosis – This is where the fibres enter the lungs, can’t get out again and cause scarring internally, this is usually after long-term exposure so is common among engineers and construction workers who spent a lot of time with the material. This can cause breathing difficulties and result in death.
Pleural Thickening – The Pleura (lining of the lungs) become thicker and swell causing the lungs to be restricted which can cause breathing difficulties and chest pain.
The diseases will not be obvious; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything. Therefore, it’s so important to put controls in place to prevent exposure.
What do I need to do?
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 stipulate what your legal responsibilities are, in short you must:
- Take reasonable steps to identify ACMs present in non-domestic buildings under your control. If you think it may be an ACM you must presume it is until proved otherwise by a professional who can test it under controlled conditions to confirm.
- Bring to the attention of those who are likely to be affected (in particular engineers or contractors who might be drilling etc) place warning signage by ACM areas to warn people against inadvertently disturbing the material.
- Find out what state it is in (i.e. if it has become damaged, or is at a particular risk of becoming so)
- Keep a management register for ACMs detailing their location, type, state and subsequent visual checks to ensure it has not degraded.
- Assess the risk of harm from the material.
- Control the risk – whether this is through monitoring, removal or protective guarding to prevent disturbance.
Failure to manage asbestos properly in line with the regulations places people at undue risk and could render you liable to prosecution.
In a recent case the HSE found that a contractor had done some work on asbestos containing soffits, the building’s managing agent failed to check if asbestos was present, and when the contractor started work they realised and had them tested, but unfortunately, they still carried on removing the affected material without any precautions, exposing their workers and the public to the material.
The contractor was fined a total of £18,500, and ordered to pay £5,607.90 in costs after pleading guilty to offences under Regulations 5, 8(1) and 11(1) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
The managing agent of the building was fined £8,000, and ordered to pay £3000 in costs after pleading guilty to an offence under Regulation 4(3) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
Quest is able to offer a range of training to raise awareness of safety matters among your people, including asbestos awareness.
Under the regulations, training is mandatory for anyone liable to be exposed to asbestos fibres at work including people like maintenance workers and others who could encounter or disturb any ACMs.
We are also able to arrange site audits to look at your management system and give support and advice on improving where appropriate including support with policies and procedures for Asbestos and a whole range of other safety matters.
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