I am the Duty Holder, what are my responsibilities?

I am the Duty Holder, what are my responsibilities?

In brief, Regulation 4 of The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR 2012) contains an explicit duty on the owners and occupiers of non-domestic premises, who have maintenance and repair responsibilities.

These duties are to assess and manage the risks from the presence of asbestos (the duty is summarised in Figure 1). The risks will vary with circumstances and can arise from normal occupation of a building or from inadvertent disturbance during the repair, refurbishment and demolition of premises. The risk assessment will be used to produce a management plan which details and records what actions to take to manage and reduce the risks from asbestos. In simple terms this means you must: -

  • take reasonable steps to determine the location of materials likely to contain asbestos
  • presume materials to contain asbestos, unless there are good reasons not to do so
  • make and maintain a written record of the location of the ACMs and presumed ACMs
  • assess and monitor the condition of ACMs and presumed ACMs
  • assess the risk of exposure from ACMs and presumed ACMs and prepare a written plan of the actions and measures necessary to manage the risk (i.e. 'the management plan')
  • take steps to see that these actions are carried out.

In order to comply with these legal duties, the duty holder must be competent and should have suitable training.