Third party accreditation schemes, such as: CHAS, Safecontractor, etc

There are many third party accreditation schemes that are used by a wide range of organisations.  There is no legal requirement for the third party accreditation of health and safety performance of a company as part of the procurement process. Many suppliers and their (potential) clients choose to use the services of a third party accreditation scheme for health and safety, with the purpose of helping them to manage their tendering or procurement needs.  Generally, such schemes are used as some form of pre-selection criteria, particularly in the construction industry and in the facilities management sector, although such schemes are potentially useful across a wide range of industries.  Some organisations, for example, insist that all of their contractors have registered with, and have been accredited by, a third-party organisation such as: Buying Force, Construction Line, EXOR, Achilles, SafeContractor or CHAS (although there are many more third part accreditation schemes around). Obtaining third party accreditation is not a given – it often requires several submissions to address all of the issues satisfactorily (some third party accreditation organisations have suggested that in the order of 80% of contractors fail to get through the accreditation process on the first attempt).

Why put yourself through a third party accreditation scheme?
Many organisations that put themselves through the rigours of a third party accreditation scheme do so in order to meet a requirement of at least one of their current (or prospective) clients. Being accredited will not necessarily lead to more work, but for companies, failure to achieve accreditation may result in work being lost.

How do third-party accreditation schemes work?
The principle behind all of these third-party accreditation schemes is fairly simple and straightforward.  A provider of services (a contractor), must first register their company details with the accreditation company.  As well as doing this, they must also provide information relating to their health and safety policy and associated supporting documentation.  This associated supporting documentation may include:

• copies of up-to-date insurance documents,
• a signed copy of the health and safety policy statement,
• training records for employees, including evidence of induction training,
• arrangements for the vetting or accreditation of any subcontractors and may be used,
• copies of appropriate risk assessment documentation relating to operations or undertakings consistent with the services to be provided,
• copies of method statements relating to the operations or undertakings consistent with services to be provided,
• information relating to sources of competent health and safety advice and guidance,
• evidence that a statutory examinations are carried out (such as LOLER certificates),
• evidence of active monitoring of the health and safety performance of the company (such as safety walk round or site audit documents),
• evidence of on-going health and safety training, including asbestos awareness training,
• etc.

Be prepared to provide information relating to areas other than health and safety. Some schemes require information relating to financial aspects of the company (turnover, etc) and the environmental management of the company, or even information on equal opportunities policies, etc.

Advantages of third-party accreditation schemes
These third-party accreditation schemes have the potential to take some of the worry away from the client in appointing a contractor as they can select them from a database of approved contractors. Successfully completing the accreditation puts your organisation on the database and may open up new areas for trade.  Another theoretical advantage of the third-party accreditation scheme is that subscription to such a scheme should mean that the subscribing organisation only has to go through this process once.  However, this theoretical advantage does not always translate into reality as organisations often find themselves subscribing to many third-party accreditation schemes to meet the demands of various client organisations.  The relatively new Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Competence Forum was set up in response to concerns from the construction industry with regard to the plethora of pre-qualification assessments and forms they had to fill out, many of which duplicated previous efforts and added significantly to costs and paperwork. One potential advantage of the use of the third-party accreditation scheme is that it provides documentary evidence that the client organisation has undertaken at least some rudimentary evaluation of health and safety performance of prospective contractors.  A significant advantage to organisations that have successfully been accredited by one of these schemes is that it is slightly more secure from competition from organisations that have not been accredited.

Disadvantages of third-party accreditation schemes
As mentioned above there are many third party accreditation schemes currently in operation in United Kingdom and different schemes are favoured by different clients.  In many cases, there is little opportunity for accreditation by one scheme to lead on to accreditation under another scheme. This means that some contracting organisations need to undertake several third-party accreditations, which is both costly and time-consuming.
Another disadvantage of third-party accreditation schemes is that they are principally paper or desktop exercises, has few of these schemes involve any site visitor or direct communication with the client or the contracting organisation.
Third party accreditation schemes are based around written records and documentation.  This creates a natural barrier for the very small organisations that do not necessarily require a written health and safety policy (if they have fewer than five employees). If such organisations wish to partake of a third-party accreditation scheme, then they will have to reduce all of their policies and procedures to writing. Naturally, there are costs in both time and money in pursuing this.

How to complete (the health and safety part of) a third-party accreditation scheme
In order to be effective in gaining third party accreditation, it is important for the company to have a good grasp of health and safety within the company – based on management commitment to health and safety as part of the business as well as good written procedures.  Any organisation that has a suitable and up-to-date health and safety policy that reflects it undertakings and which has completed suitable and sufficient assessments of the risks arising from it undertakings should be able to satisfactorily complete a third-party accreditation scheme. In order to be successful, it is recommended that the company does not leave the process to the last minute, as there may be a need to write new policies and procedures and to collect and collate records, etc. The following list covers most of the key points that will need to be covered when sending in the application:

• signed copy of the health and safety policy statement (most third-party accreditation schemes require evidence that this has been signed and dated recently)
• Sample policies from within the health and safety policy document covering key issues, such as:
• accident and incident investigation
• asbestos safety policy (including the discovery of asbestos on site)
• control of the contract is policy (including details on the selection appointment and monitoring of all subcontractors)
• electrical safety policy (including a policy for testing maintenance and inspection portable electrical equipment)
• fire safety policy
• first aid policy (including training records and certificates for first aiders)
• hazard spotting and corrective actions
• loan working policy
• machinery and equipment safety policy (including maintenance servicing and statutory examination of equipment)
• manual handling policy
• occupational health policy (including, where appropriate, arrangements for occupational health monitoring) 
• training policy
• work at height policy
• examples of relevant to the risk assessments (the should relate to the services provided and activities undertaken on behalf of clients) and should cover at least the following areas:
• fire safety (in many cases, a fire safety risk assessment based on office-based activities is satisfactory) 
• manual handling
• mechanical handling (including the use of cranes, forklift trucks etc)
• noise and vibration
• use of tools (including hand tools and power tools)
• work at height (including arrangements for rescue of suspended casualties)
• other risk assessments, that may be required relating to the nature of the work to be undertaken
• examples of relevant method statements (this should relate to the services provided and activities undertaken on behalf of clients)
• evidence of training, including training records and, ideally, copies of CSCS Cards and other similar schemes (including information on how training needs are identified and managed). It is not necessary for all training to be externally accredited (such as by IOSH or the CIEH) and so most of the records will be of internally provided training (such as on the job training and tool-box talks).
• information on the source of competent health and safety advice used by the organisation and details as to whether the source of this advice is from within the company or from an external provider of such services (such as health and safety consultant) - such information will usually include the CV of the source of such competent advice
• accident statistics (with break down into categories) for the last three years
• examples of accident investigation, including identified a remedial actions, for at least two accidents or near misses that have occurred in the last one or two years
• details of any prosecutions or enforcement actions resulting in the issuing of either prohibition notices or improvement notices
• consideration of the needs for occupational health checks and monitoring 
• evidence of the testing and maintenance of items of portable electrical equipment
• For some applications (such as CHAS) you need to provide a D-U-N-S number, which is a registration number issued by Dun & Bradstreet. This can be obtained, free of charge, by applying on line at http://dbuk.dnb.com/Forms/Customer_Service.asp 

One of the most common ways that organisations fail to overcome the various hurdles associated with third party accreditation schemes is that the information, although provided, is not clear and transparent. When completing application form for a third party accreditation scheme, do give consideration as to easy it is for the third party accreditor to read and to understand. If issues lack clarity, then they are likely to be returned to you for clarification, resulting in further work and costs (in time and effort). Attention to detail on the initial application can save time later on.

Summary
Gaining third party accreditation can be rewarding as it can help to secure work, but the process must not be undertaken lightly. Many of these schemes are largely paperwork exercises and successful completion will depend on the quality and completeness of your documentation. Although few of these accreditation schemes currently recognise each other, the discipline of completing one accreditation will make others easier and will make the process of tender submission easier as the necessary documentation is likely to be available to the company.

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A sad headline: Asbestos kills a retired painter and decorator

A RETIRED painter and decorator died due to contact with asbestos, an inquest heard on Thursday.

Mr Peter Taylor, of St Peter's Place, Canterbury, was a retired Painter and Decorator. He died in July 2012 at the Pilgrims Hospice aged 63. The pathologist (Dr George Vittay) told the inquest that Mr Taylor died of pneumonia, caused by mesothelioma.

Verdict: Industrial disease.

There are many deaths each year from exposure to asbestos. People working in the refurbishment industry are most at risk as they may disturb asbestos present in the buildings in which they ply their trade.

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The management of Health and safety of communal areas

In buildings with multiple occupancy, the landlord (or building manager or facilities manager) is responsible for the premises as a whole, but also has special responsibility for the common areas of the premises.  These can be thought of the parts of the premises not demised to (or directly under the control of) individual tenants.  Typically, these may include: car parking areas, external areas (roads, paths, lighting, refuse storage areas, etc), entrance doors, reception areas, corridors, staircases and lifts. In addition, the landlord will usually be responsible for the various plant rooms (boiler room, lift motor room, pump rooms, etc), roof areas, fixed electrical installation, water supply, etc as well as for the safe management of contractors working in these areas. There are also some special areas of safety management that fall under the control of the landlord or facilities manager, such as: fire safety for the common areas, the fixed electrical installation, cooling towers, asbestos, etc.

Asbestos

It is recommended that the landlord has a Managment Survey (previously refered to as a Type 2 survey) or a Refurbishment / demolition survey (previously referred to as a Type 3 asbestos survey) carried out on the premises. The key findings of this assessment must be made available to tenants and to contractors and should include the location and type of any asbestos containing materials.

Where asbestos (or asbestos containing material) is known to be present in a building, there should be some form of asbestos management plan in place. This may involve simply monitoring the condition of the asbestos at regular intervals to ensure that it has not been damaged. At the other extreme, it may involve a planned removal of the asbestos by a competent organisation.

Control of contractors

Control of contractors working on site on behalf of the landlord can be a difficult area to manage. Many landlords (and facilities managers) introduce some form of contractor approval system to ensure that certain minimum standards are met. These systems usually ensure that the contractors have adequate insurance, that they have a health and safety policy and that they have appropriate risk assessments and method statements in place.  They do not ensure that the contractors are carrying out the work in accordance with the risk assessments and method statements. It is recommended that at least some of the works carried out by contractors are observed and monitored by the landlord (or their representative) to ensure that they are working in accordance with their agreed standards.  Higher risk activities should be monitored more often and more closely.  Certain contractor tasks will require a higher level of control, such as the use of a permit to work system.

Contractors will need to be given appropriate information and instruction relating to hazards associated with the premises. These may include the presence and location of asbestos, the location of underground services (such as gas, water and electrical services), etc.

COSHH and chemicals

Copies of safety data sheets and of the COSHH assessments should be available on site for any substances used or stored in the common areas, even if stored and used by contractors. These may include water treatment chemicals, cleaning materials and maintenance sprays and lubricants, etc.

Electricity

In most premises, the tenants will be responsible for their own portable electrical equipment. The fixed electrical installation may be responsibility of the landlord or the tenant, depending on the tenancy contract. In many cases, the fixed electrical installation (in part or in total) will be the responsibility of the landlord. In this case, it is recommended that the landlord arranges for the fixed electrical installation to be tested and inspected by a competent person (such as an NICEIC approved contractor) at regular intervals (usually five yearly inspections for commercial premises and three yearly inspections for industrial premises).

External areas and building façade

The external areas of the premises should be inspected regularly, including checks on the condition of the building façade and all structure attached to the building, such as lights, aerials, CCTV cameras, flagpoles, etc. Similarly, checks should be carried out for all external areas, including car parking areas, roads and footpaths, fencing, lighting, etc. Any defects should be addressed and made safe.

Fire Safety

Fire safety is likely to be a shared responsibility, with the landlord being responsible for the common areas and the tenants being responsible for their demised area. It is recommended that the landlord carries out a fire risk assessment for the common parts of the premises and make suitable arrangements for the provision, maintenance, servicing and testing of:

·         A fire alarm, including automatic fire detection

·         Emergency lighting (in the common parts)

·         Fire fighting equipment (in the common parts)

·         Doors, fire doors and automatic door release systems

·         Emergency evacuation routes

·         (Wet or Dry) risers and sprinkler systems

·         Housekeeping in common areas

Tenant responsibilities

The landlord should make it clear to the tenant what their responsibilities are. While the landlord may, reasonably, be responsible for the provision, servicing and maintenance of collective fire safety measures (such as building wide fire alarm and fire/smoke detection) the tenant is responsible for the safe evacuation of their own workers and visitors from the premises. The tenant may be responsible for the provision of fire fighting equipment in their demised area, etc. The responsibilities need to be considered, identified and ascribed.

Tenants’ fire risk assessments

Tenants are generally responsible for their own fire safety arrangements, although some aspects (such as a building-wide fire alarm) may be shared facilities managed by the Landlord. It is recommended that the landlord request copies of the tenants’ fire safety risk assessments and that copies of these are filed and, if requested, made available to the fire authority during the course of an inspection visit.  A tenant should provide the landlord (and other tenants) with information relating to special fire risks, such as the storage of LPGs, etc.

Gas supply and services

The landlord should ensure that the gas supply and services are safe and are maintained in a safe and serviceable condition.  All gas pipe work should be clearly identified (with suitable labels stating “Gas” or by colour coding the pipe work (yellow ochre). All gas equipment under the control of the landlord should be regularly maintained and serviced (by a Gas Safe registered contractor) and a Landlord’s Gas Safety Certificate should be obtained for all gas equipment.

Lifts and lift motor rooms

Lift motor rooms should be clearly identified and should be kept locked and should only be accessed by competent persons (such as lift engineers). Hydraulic lifts should be bunded to contain any leakages of hydraulic oil and all lift motor equipment must be suitably guarded.

Passenger lifts should be tested and inspected by a competent person at least once every six months although this frequency may be reduced to once in every twelve months for goods lifts that are not used to transport people (i.e. if their use is restricted to goods only), as required under the Lifting Operations Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER).

Suitable arrangements should be made for the servicing and maintenance of lifts and for the rescue of people trapped due to lift failure.

Pressure systems

Any pressurised systems within the premises should be tested and inspected by a competent person at the intervals described in the written scheme of examination for the system.  As with other equipment, the landlord will be responsible for ensuring that it is serviced and maintained in a safe condition.

Roof areas

Access to roof areas should be secured to prevent unauthorised access. Consideration must be given to the protection of workers from falls from height. This will require a risk assessment to determine the appropriate control measures for the premises. Typical collective control measures include having suitable edge protection (such as a balustrade wall or fenced edge protection of at least 1100 mm height). In certain cases it may be appropriate to consider individual or personal protective measures such as anchor points for use with harnesses and lanyards.  

Consideration should be given to the need for roof access. It is common for various pieces of plant and equipment to be located on flat roof sections, especially air conditioning units, water storage tanks, lift motor rooms, etc. In such cases, regular roof access may be required by a range of contractors. If contractors are required to make use of individual protective measures, then the use of such equipment must be made clear to the contractor and the landlord should satisfy themselves that the use of such equipment is covered in the contractors risk assessments and method statements, etc. In cases where the roof area is accessed by tenants’ contractors (such as to service tenants’ air-con units or to fit aerials) then the landlord should ensure that the tenant and the tenant appointed contractor have considered to the safety issues associated with roof access.

Other aspects of roof access safety to be considered include fragile roof sections, glazed sections and skylights, etc.

Staircases, landings and corridors

Staircases should be in good condition, ideally with handrails on both sides of the staircase. The staircases, landings and corridors should be well lit, free from obstructions and slipping and tripping hazards. These areas should be checked regularly to ensure that they remain in good condition.

Water supply and cooling towers, etc

The landlord will usually be responsible for the water supply to the premises, including cold water storage tanks, water heating arrangements and hot water storage. The landlord is also likely to be responsible for ensuring that the risks from poor water hygiene are avoided or controlled. This will usually require a Legionella risk assessment in line with the requirements of the HSC Approved Code of Practice & Guidance (L8) "Legionnaires' disease: The control of legionella bacteria in water systems". Control measures required may include: regular water temperature monitoring, maintenance of cooling towers, provision and maintenance of water dosing chemicals and equipment, dip-slide sampling of cooling tower water, etc. Such work is often contracted out to a water hygiene specialist.

In premises that have cooling towers or evaporative condensers, the landlord will be responsible for ensuring that these have been notified to the local authority (as required under the Notification of Cooling Towers and Evaporative Condensers Regulations 1992). Further to this, the landlord must maintain and service the cooling tower to ensure that the risks from Legionella are controlled properly. This will involve a detailed cooling tower (legionella) risk assessment and regular checking and testing of the water in the tower. Such work is often contracted out to a specialist water hygiene company.

Window and canopy cleaning

Suitable arrangements much be made for the cleaning of the building and its windows and canopies, etc. This may well involve working at height using ladders, scaffolds, cherry pickers, scissor lifts, window cleaning cradles, abseiling systems, etc. Although such work is generally carried out in external areas, consideration needs to be given to the cleaning of high level internal structures, such as atrium glazing, etc. Any access equipment associated with the premises must be tested and inspected by a competent person at appropriate intervals. This includes the testing and inspection of eye-bolt anchor points, access cradles and associated runways, etc.
 
Michael Ellerby
Director
LRB Consulting Limited
www.LRBconsulting.co.uk

What to do if you discover asbestos on site

What do you do, as a contractor, if you discover asbestos (unexpectedly) on a site that you are working on?

The first sensible step is to stop work and warn others of the potential presence of asbestos and then inform the site manager and your supervisor and manager. It is essential that you do not disturb the asbestos and the HSE information on the right is a useful approach to action to take if you do accidentally disturb the asbestos.

There is an useful series of asbestos essential available from the HSE website.

Make sure that you know what asbestos is, where is can be found and what to do to avoid contact with it.

If you need help with Asbestos Awareness Training, contact us through our website.

Ignorance of asbestos continues to be a problem

A contractor has been found guilty of potentially exposing workers and shoppers to asbestos on a busy high-street construction site because he flouted the rules on working with this hazardous material.

The contractor was fined for several breaches of asbestos and construction design legislation on the Bromley High Street site. In this case the contractor was a private individual. An HSE inspector who investigated the case, commented that the project had not been properly planned. The project involved the demolition of a building that comprised a restaurant on the ground floor with flats above it. Three workers, whose qualifications could not be proved, were overseen by the contractor.

During the demolition, the workers, who did not recognise that the insulating boards in the restaurant’s ceiling contained asbestos and they used sledgehammers and hand-operated tools to break them up, so they were “more than likely” to have been exposed to asbestos fibres (according to the Inspector).

The investigating HSE Inspector said: 

“Sadly, this kind of incident is all too familiar. The dangers of asbestos are well known; it is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK, with around 1000 tradesmen dying each year from asbestos-related diseases ... Anyone working with these sorts of materials must commission an asbestos survey to ascertain the level of work needed and then have asbestos removed in a controlled manner by a licensed contractor.”

The contractor pleaded guilty to breaching the following Regulations, for which he was fined a total of £19,300 and ordered to pay full HSE costs of £7654:

• reg.8(1) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, by undertaking work with asbestos without a licence – fine £8000; 


• reg.5 of the same Regulations, by not conducting an asbestos survey – fine £6000; 


• reg.4(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, by not appointing a competent site manager – fine £2650; and 


• reg.22(1) of the same Regulations by not managing construction work to ensure safety – fine £2650.

In mitigation, the contractor commented that he had made a mistake of ignorance and had not acted for profit motives. He had not deliberately broken the law on asbestos, but had not been aware of it. He had done what he had been asked to do to improve matters since the incident.

The site was cleared after the investigation and has since stood empty behind a first-floor façade. Inspector Seabrook explained that the site is located next to a Sainsbury’s store, which would have potentially exposed shoppers to asbestos while the demolition had been taking place. 

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Birmingham-based university fined following exposure to asbestos fibres

A Birmingham-based university has been fined, along with a security systems firm, after two workers were exposed to dangerous asbestos fibres while fitting CCTV cameras.

The worker and a 17-year-old trainee were installing the cameras in the reception area at the university's Recreation Centre on 21 July 2009 when they drilled into material containing asbestos fibres.  Both the university and the contractor carrying out the work were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident.

Birmingham Magistrates' Court heard the university failed to follow its own procedures on managing, planning and preparing for the installation and the arrangements were unclear and not widely known within the university.

The university pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 and Regulation 4(9)(c) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs.

The contractor pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5(a) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

The investigating inspector from the HSE said:

"While the amount of asbestos involved in this incident was small, two people now have to live with the knowledge that they may become ill from lung disease in the future.

"The university failed to ensure employees and others working across the site were aware of the presence of asbestos fibres.

"Surveys on the location and conditions of asbestos and materials containing asbestos had been carried out across the university but there was no procedure for communicating the details to contractors.

"The contractor, who had been working for the university for many years, had never been given any information about asbestos - and had never asked for it. They also failed to assess whether asbestos was present, what type of asbestos was involved and what condition it was in, before undertaking work."

If you need help with the management of health and safety in your workplace, please visit our website.

Changes to asbestos legislation, 2012

Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012

These new regulations came into force on 05 April 2012. In practice the changes arising from the new Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 are fairly limited. They mean that some types of non-licensed work with asbestos now have additional requirements, i.e. notification of work, medical surveillance and record keeping. This can be considered as notifiable, non-licensed work.  All other requirements remain unchanged.

The Changes:

• From 6 April 2012, some non-licensed asbestos work needs to be notified to the relevant enforcing authority.
• From the same date, brief written records must be kept of non-licensed asbestos work that has to be notified e.g. copy of the notification with a list of workers on the job, plus the level of likely exposure of those workers to asbestos. This does not require air monitoring on every job, if an estimate of degree of exposure can be made based on experience of similar past tasks or published guidance.
• By April 2015, all workers (and self employed) doing notifiable non-licensed work with asbestos must be under health surveillance by a Doctor. Workers who are already under health surveillance for licensed work need not have another medical examination for non-licensed work. 
• Note that medicals for notifiable non-licensed work are not acceptable for those doing licensed work.

For further information about the services that we can provide, place visit our website.

The HSE has produced a chart to assist in determining which of the (now three possible) catergories work with asbestos falls into:

• Licensed Asbestos Works
• Notifiable, Non-licensed work Asbestos Works
• Notifiable Asbestos Works

Sourced from HSE Website

Ignorance of asbestos continues to be a problem

A contractor has been found guilty of potentially exposing workers and shoppers to asbestos on a busy high-street construction site because he flouted the rules on working with this hazardous material.

The contractor was fined for several breaches of asbestos and construction design legislation on the Bromley High Street site.  In this case the contractor was a private individual. An HSE inspector who investigated the case,commented that the project had not been properly planned. The project involved the demolition of a building that comprised a restaurant on the ground floor with flats above it. Three workers, whose qualifications could not be proved, were overseen by the contractor. 


During the demolition, the workers, who did not recognise that the insulating boards in the restaurant’s ceiling contained asbestos and they used sledgehammers and hand-operated tools to break them up, so they were “more than likely” to have been exposed to asbestos fibres (according to the Inspector).
The investigating HSE Inspector said: 

“Sadly, this kind of incident is all too familiar. The dangers of asbestos are well known; it is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK, with around 1000 tradesmen dying each year from asbestos-related diseases ... Anyone working with these sorts of materials must commission an asbestos survey to ascertain the level of work needed and then have asbestos removed in a controlled manner by a licensed contractor.”

The contractor pleaded guilty to breaching the following Regulations, for which he was fined a total of £19,300 and ordered to pay full HSE costs of £7654:

• reg.8(1) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, by undertaking work with asbestos without a licence – fine £8000;
• reg.5 of the same Regulations, by not conducting an asbestos survey – fine £6000;
• reg.4(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, by not appointing a competent site manager – fine £2650; and
• reg.22(1) of the same Regulations by not managing construction work to ensure safety – fine £2650.

In mitigation, the contractor commented that he had made a mistake of ignorance and had not acted for profit motives. He had not deliberately broken the law on asbestos, but had not been aware of it. He had done what he had been asked to do to improve matters since the incident.

The site was cleared after the investigation and has since stood empty behind a first-floor façade. Inspector Seabrook explained that the site is located next to a Sainsbury’s store, which would have potentially exposed shoppers to asbestos while the demolition had been taking place. 
 

If you need help to meet your asbestos legislation duties, contact us through our website

Do you manage buildings? What about asbestos?

Does the duty to manage asbestos affect me?

Yes, if you are responsible for maintenance and repairs. You are a ‘dutyholder’ if:

• you own the building;
• you are responsible through a contract or tenancy agreement;
• there is no formal contract or agr eement but you have control of the building;
• in a multioccupied building, you ar e the owner and have taken responsibility for maintenance and repairs for the whole building.

asbestos

From the HSE web publication - Manage Buildings?

Asbestos prosecution for High Street Retailer

Marks and Spencer plc, along with 3 of its contractors, have been fined for putting people (including members of the public, staff and construction workers) at risk of exposure from asbestos-containing materials during the refurbishment of two of its stores in Reading and Bournemouth.

M&S were fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £600,000. In addition, three contractors were fined £200,000 £100,000 and £50,000 and were also ordered to pay costs.

During the 3-month trial which ended in July 2011, the Crown Court heard that construction workers at the two stores removed asbestos-containing materials that were present in the ceiling tiles and elsewhere. The court heard that the client, Marks and Spencer plc, did not allocate sufficient time and space for the removal of asbestos-containing materials at the Reading store. The contractors had to work overnight in enclosures on the shop floor, with the aim of completing small areas of asbestos removal before the shop opened to the public each day. The HSE also alleged that Marks and Spencer plc failed to ensure that work at the Reading store complied with the appropriate minimum standards set out in legislation and approved codes of practice. The company had produced its own guidance on how asbestos should be removed inside its stores, and the court heard that this guidance was followed by contractors inappropriately during major refurbishment.  One contractor failed to reduce to a minimum the spread of asbestos to the Reading shop floor. Witnesses said that areas cleaned by the company were re-contaminated by air moving through the void between the ceiling tiles and the floor above, and by poor standards of work.

The principal contractor at the Reading store, admitted that it should not have permitted a method of asbestos removal which did not allow for adequate sealing of the ceiling void, which resulted in risks to contractors on site. The principal contractor at the Bournemouth store failed to plan, manage and monitor removal of asbestos-containing materials. It did not prevent the possibility of asbestos being disturbed by its workers in areas that had not been surveyed extensively.

The HSE's Southern Head of Operations for Construction, Richard Boland said:
"This outcome should act as a wake up call that any refurbishment programmes involving asbestos-containing materials must be properly resourced, both in terms of time and money - no matter what.
"Large retailers and other organisations who carry out major refurbishment works must give contractors enough time and space within the store to carry out the works safely. Where this is not done, and construction workers and the public are put at risk, HSE will not hesitate in taking robust enforcement action."

Some simple information on asbestos

What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous material and has been used for about 150 years on a large scale. It is versatile, plentiful and ideal as a fire-proofing and insulation material. But it can be deadly!


The three main types of asbestos that have been used commercially are:
-Crocidolite (blue)
-Amosite (brown)
-Chrysotile (white)

Basic facts:
1000 people who worked in these trades die from cancer every year as a result of breathing asbestos fibres.
There’s still a lot of old asbestos in buildings
Any building built or refurbished before 2000 is still likely to contain asbestos.
Asbestos is responsible for an estimated 4000 deaths a year

Why is it dangerous?
If you inhale asbestos fibres (which are long and thin) they can become lodged in the tissue of your chest and your body’s natural defences may not be able to easily break them down. This can lead to lung diseases (mainly cancers), particularly if you are repeatedly exposed to fibres over a number of years.

Effects on health:

- Exposure to asbestos can cause three main diseases:
- Asbestosis: irreversible scarring of the lungs;
- Lung cancer: increased incidence, particularly if you smoke;
- Mesothelioma: cancer of the lining of the lungs or stomach.
Note: These diseases have no cure – mesothelioma and lung cancer are fatal diseases.
Typically, there can be a 15–60 years gap between first exposure and diagnosis.

Who’s at risk?

- Electricians
- Plumbers
- Date cabling operatives
- Joiners
- Heating & ventilation engineers
- Construction workers
- Other similar occupations

Where is it found?

- Asbestos cement products
- Textured pain coatings
- Floors tiles, textiles and composites
- Sprayed coatings on ceilings, walls and beams
- Asbestos insulation boards
- Lagging
- Fire blankets
- Window sills
- Panelling
- Loose asbestos in ceiling/floor cavity

What to do if you discover asbestos at work:

- Stop work
- Inform supervisor/contract manager
- Inform client
- Do not restart until told to do so by contracts manager or supervisor

If you think you may be working with asbestos:

- Liaise with the client
- Request a copy of a recent asbestos survey
- Check the asbestos survey against the work that you will be doing
- Constant vigilance

What to do if you need to work with it:

- Use hand tools - not power tools: they create too much dust
- Keep materials damp - not too wet
- Wear a properly fitted, suitable mask (eg. disposable FFP3 type). An ordinary dust mask will not be effective
- Don't smoke, eat or drink in the work area
- Double-bag asbestos waste and label the bags clearly and correctly
- Clean up as you go - use a special (Class H) vacuum cleaner, don’t sweep up asbestos.
- After work, wipe down your overalls with a damp rag or wear disposable overalls
- Always remove overalls before removing your mask
- Don't take overalls home to wash
- Wear boots without laces or use disposable boot covers
- Put disposable clothing items in asbestos waste bags and dispose of them properly- don’t reuse disposable clothing.

- Don't carry asbestos into your car or home – even accidentally!

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