New Guidance for Asbestos Surveys

If you are considering any refurbishment work or you are planning to demolish premises in the near future then you need to be aware of some new guidance that the HSE is expected to publish in the near future.

If you need an asbestos survey in order to comply with your legal duty to properly manage asbestos within the premises you own or occupy, you also need to be aware of the new guidance.

Need for new guidance

This does not involve any legal changes, but is a revision of guidance that has been prompted by accusations of poor reporting arising from asbestos surveys.

The HSE published guidance for surveying, sampling and assessing asbestos-containing materials (MDHS 100) in July 2001. In the light of experience, they now believe the time is right to expand some areas of the guidance. They also aim to clarify the legal responsibilities of Duty Holders and those who undertake asbestos surveys.

Consultation took place earlier in the year and the HSE is aiming to publish the revised guidance document before the end of 2009.

Significant Changes

We cannot cover everything that will be contained in the new guidance, but there are a few, quite significant changes that are likely to be included.

Levels of Asbestos Surveys

In the past, the industry has referred to Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 surveys, which define how thorough (or intrusive) an investigation is to be. These will be replaced by new survey types:

Management Survey

This is roughly equivalent to the old Type 2 survey, which is designed to locate, as far as reasonably practicable, the extent of asbestos containing materials in the premises. The Management Survey should cover all accessible areas including, for example, boilers, pipe work, ceilings, lift shafts and inside risers.

With this survey, any areas that are not inspected, regardless of the reason, are presumed by default to contain asbestos.


Refurbishment/Demolition Survey

This is the equivalent of the old Type 3 survey and is intended for use when premises are being refurbished or demolished. The guidance clearly states that a Management Survey is not appropriate in these situations.

The Refurbishment/Demolition survey is much more intrusive and is intended to locate all asbestos containing materials in all areas that are subject to refurbishment or demolition.


Duty Holder's Responsibility.

The new guidance will clarify the responsibility of the Duty Holder to assess the competency of any asbestos surveyor they plan to employ. In this respect, the guidance covers:

"Contract Monitoring", which is concerned with how to monitor the accuracy of the survey report (see below for more information).

How to select a competent surveyor, based on such criteria as qualifications, experience of work on similar sites, track record and any other relevant evidences.

The need to ensure that the surveyor adequately manages health and safety aspects associated with the survey such as:
- preventing release of asbestos fibres
- working at height
- working in confined spaces


Asbestos Surveyor's Responsibilities

There have been accusations of poor standards of reporting in the industry. In response, the new guidance includes obligations on surveyors to be more rigorous throughout the whole process.

For example, before starting work, the surveyor must produce a Survey Plan, which they must agree with the duty holder.

The format of the survey report must also be agreed before starting any on-site activity. It is important that the information in the report is clearly stated and that the level of detail is sufficient for the intended purpose.

The duty-holder also has responsibilities to ensure the reporting is up to standard by applying such checks as:

The content of the report is in accordance with information in the original tender

Access permissions are arranged to all necessary parts of the premises in order to avoid caveats in the report due to inaccessible areas

All areas, as agreed in the original tender, are covered in the report and that sufficient samples have been taken and tested.

Obvious discrepancies (e.g. areas of no access) are properly accounted for in the report


Overall, this new guidance does not differ in any radical sense from that which is currently provided in the MDHS 100 document.

However, it is hoped that more detailed guidance will improve the quality of asbestos survey reporting. It will also define more clearly those techniques that duty holders can employ to effectively manage risks associated with asbestos in the workplace