Asbestos awareness

16 January 2024

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a campaign highlighting the responsibilities that managers of buildings have to ensure people are safe from future dangers of asbestos. 

The material was banned from construction 25 years ago but the organisation warns that asbestos may still be present in buildings built before 2000. 

The campaign, Asbestos: Your Duty, aims to improve understanding of what the legal duty to manage asbestos involves.

Businesses and organisations responsible for premises built before the turn of the century, and especially those between 1950 and 1980 when the use of asbestos in construction was at its peak, must carry out the necessary checks and understand their legal responsibilities.

People who visit or work in these buildings will not be exposed if asbestos is properly contained. But it can become dangerous when disturbed or damaged.

Updated information, new templates (including an asbestos management plan template), and explanatory videos can be found on HSE’s website to help anyone who is unsure of their legal duties, or just need to refresh their knowledge, on what they need to do.

HSE will check how asbestos is managed when visiting a range of buildings – like schools and hospitals – requiring those responsible for managing asbestos risks to ensure they have the right arrangements in place.

Sarah Albon, HSE’s Chief Executive said: “To keep people safe from the harms of asbestos, a culture of safely managing asbestos is needed in our building industry and among those responsible for buildings.

“Asbestos exposure in Great Britain is still the single greatest cause of work-related deaths due to exposures decades ago.”

Photo: Alwan Ibrahim/Unsplash