Asbestos risk in buildings – how ISO 45001:2018 can help identify risk.

Asbestos remains in millions of homes and buildings today and it can become dangerous when disturbed or damaged.

The latest HSE campaign to highlight the risk of asbestos to tradespeople working in buildings is a timely reminder of what dangerous materials may have been used in the fabric of our buildings. Whilst auditing at a large facility last week our paths crossed numerous times with a contractor undertaking an asbestos survey. From offices to production area the surveyors examined floor and ceiling tiles, materials used in roofing and cavities and generally visually inspected materials then sampling those that appeared likely to contain asbestos before submitting for analysis and confirmation either way. Like us they would have sampled areas where risk may exist, like us they would submit a report and hopefully contribute to improvements in worker safety.

Every tradesperson is likely to undertake work in a building that contains asbestos at some point. Those carrying out repairs or refurbishment work are at a higher risk of disturbing asbestos, especially when working in houses built before the year 2000.

An ISO 45001 Health & Safety Management audit may not be seen to directly contribute to identification of asbestos and any likely hazardous material but it absolutely does require that organisations develop systems and frameworks to enable those inspections to take place.

Organisations have a legal duty to manage asbestos in buildings. In terms of ISO 45001 we may first consider clause 6.1.3 where the standard asks that we maintain a process to identify legal and other requirements. Has asbestos legislation been identified and included in our planning? Or perhaps we leap to 9.1.2 where we can consider evaluation of compliance, in other words what are we doing to ensure that we meet and comply with those legal requirements? We haven’t even got to 6.1.2.1 Hazard Identification and already we can see the numerous ways in which ISO 45001 can contribute to the investigation of how an organisation supports the management of asbestos risk.

Finally, a note on Health and Safety Executive guidance. The HSE website is a fantastic resource and includes asbestos specific guidance on:

• what the legal duty is, and the steps required to comply with the law
• who the duty holder is, depending on the type of building etc, and what they must do
• new templates of an asbestos management plan and an asbestos register with a site plan

In addition to examples of how asbestos can be managed across different industries.

For more information on ISO 45001 or to reserve your place on our next health & safety management system training course go to our website www.qcsl.co.uk or contact the training team directly through the web site.