I am the employer, what do I need to do?

I am the employer, what do I need to do?

As an employer, you are required to provide a safe place of work for your employees as far as is reasonably practicable.

Training

If your employees will foreseeably come across ASBESTOS during the course of their normal work you MUST provide them with ASBESTOS Awareness Training as a minimum in order that they can recognise and avoid ASBESTOS whilst in the workplace.

Identification

Every employer MUST prevent the exposure to ASBESTOS for every employee so this must be your first consideration.

As an employer, you must take steps to identify any ASBESTOS and its type and condition in the work place prior to work starting by way of an ASBESTOS surveys, ASBESTOS report, ASBESTOS register, construction and building plans, or the laboratory analysis of any actual samples. Your client may have already had surveys carried out, if so speak to the Duty Holder or the person responsible for maintenance in the building as these should be offered to you in order that you can plan your work safely. As the employer, you must also assess the accuracy of any information available to ensure it is suitable and sufficient for the scope of the works to be carried out.

If there are no surveys available then you or your client may have to commission a survey prior to work starting if there is any suspicion that the work area may contain ASBESTOS. If you are working in a domestic property, the owner or resident is unlikely to have surveys and the duty falls to the employer to ensure that these are carried out prior to work starting.

A full risk assessment should always be carried out prior to works commencing, covering all hazards including ASBESTOS in the workplace.

Further Information

If you decide that you wish to do low risk work with ASBESTOS you will need to have Non-Licensed Works with ASBESTOS NNLW Training along with all the control measures, PPE and RPE in place. You will need to provide your employees with a detailed Plan of Work before work commences. You may need to put in place Operating Procedures and Site Files.

If you plan to undertake Notifiable Non-licensed Works there will be further requirements that you will need to undertake before works can commence.

If the work requires a Licensed Contractor you must ensure that you select a competent contractor and ensure that the work is managed and carried out safely.