The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a new campaign to highlight the risk of asbestos in buildings and raise awareness of the legal duty to manage those risks. HSE’s Asbestos – Your Duty campaign targets those responsible for managing asbestos in the building (dutyholders), which 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.
The duty to manage asbestos ensures dutyholders must protect people from the risks of exposure to asbestos, including people who work in or on their buildings, and people that use them in other ways. The duty applies to a range of buildings, including non-domestic premises like factories, warehouses, offices and shops; and public buildings like hospitals, schools, premises used for religious worship, and museums and libraries. In addition, common parts of domestic premises are included such as foyers and corridors, lifts and lift-shafts, and staircases.
The Asbestos – Your Duty campaign provides dutyholders with a range of resources including updated webpages, new templates – including an asbestos management plan template, and explanatory videos – all of which can be found on HSE’s website.
A few simple questions can help identify if oyu have a legal duty to manage asbestos - answer the questions here
More information about the duty to manage asbesos can be found here
In 2023 HSE launched its Asbestos and You campaign which was supported by the CFA.
We would like to remind readers that the CFA has specific advice on flooring within their Guide to Contract Flooring - see sections 3 and 4.
