What does the law say?
There is, however, no legal obligation to do so. Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations requires you to manage your asbestos but doesn’t specifically require you to remove it. Removal of asbestos poses its own risks. Disturbing ACMs increases the risk of asbestos fibres being released into the air which, if breathed in, can lead to severe harm to health many years later. On the other hand, leaving ACMs in place, if they are in good condition, poses no danger to health.
What if I decide to remove it?
This means that removing asbestos needs to be carried out by specialist contractors and depending on the type of ACM may require severe access restrictions to your building to be in place whilst the work is carried out with further specialist air sampling contractors being bought in to make sure that no fibres are present in the air around the removal work. This makes it a costly and time-consuming process. Asbestos waste can also only be accepted by certain waste facilities making it difficult to make sure that even lower risk ACMs can be legally disposed of. You should therefore base your decision to remove or manage your asbestos in situ on a risk assessment that considers the likelihood of your ACMs posing a risk to health in their current state.
This guide is of a general nature; specific advice can be obtained from Assurity Consulting.
Assurity Consulting is the UK's leading independent compliance consultancy specialising in workplace health, safety and environmental solutions. We have over 35 years' experience of helping customers of all sizes, from across all sectors, manage their compliance responsibilities, making sure that their organisation is compliant, their employees are safe, their processes are cost effective and their management team is in control.