Asbestos Regulations, just how compliant is the high street?
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 have been around for nearly a decade. These state that the 'Dutyholder' of a non domestic premises built before the year 2000 must take adequate provisions to identify and record any asbestos within their building.
In essence an asbestos survey and register held on site is enough to be both compliant and pro active in attitude to keep both staff and any contractors working in or around the premises.
The question for me has several parts;
How many small to medium sized businesses are actually aware of the regulations?
Of those who are aware, how many have a current survey in place?
Of those who have had a survey of the premises how many have the required annual re inspection and updates on the register?
The answer I suspect is very few if my dealings with business owners are anything to go by, I find that surveys are mostly instructed after a solicitor during commercial conveyancing informs the owner if the need.
Is this problem one caused by the government and the lack of information being pushed to new businesses and start ups or is the onus weighted on the owners to actually seek this information out? Start ups and new businesses are run by an ever younger crowd, maybe we need to rethink the way the information is accessed passed to the next generation?
Would social media campaigns be a more effective way of getting the message out there?
The link give access to the HSE website and provides very useful and concise information.
https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/duty.htm
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