The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) sought views on proposals to improve the application of the Control of Asbestos Regulations and guidance around asbestos management to help protect workers and building users.
East Suffolk Council's response to the Control of Asbestos Regulations consultation
1: Who are you responding as?
- Asbestos Analyst
- Asbestos Surveyor
- Consultant
- Contractor
- Duty holder
- Employee
- Employer
ESC response: Duty holder
2: Size of Business [routed to ‘Employers’ and ‘Contractors’ only]
- 0
- 1-4
- 5-9
- 10-19
- 20-49
- 50-99
- 100-249
- 250
- Unsure/I don’t know
ESC response: 250
3: Location of Business [routed to ‘Employers’ and ‘Contractors’ only]
- East Midlands
- East of England
- Greater London
- North East
- North West
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
- South East
- South West
- Wales
- N/A
ESC response: East of England
4: Approximate annual turnover [routed to ‘Employers’ and ‘Contractors’ only]
- 0 to £49,000
- £50,000 to £99,000
- £100,000 to £249,000
- £250,000 to £499,000
- £500,000 to £999,000
- £1 million to £1,999 million
- £2 million to £4,999 million
- £5 million to £9,999 million
- £10 million to £49,999 million
- £50 million plus
- Don’t know/unsure
ESC response: Don’t know/Unsure
5: To what extent do you agree or disagree that amending CAR 2012 will ensure independence and impartiality of the four-stage clearance process
- Strongly agree
- Agree
- Neither disagree nor agree
- Disagree
- Strongly disagree
ESC response
Strongly Agree: Analysts need to be free from unwanted pressure from the LARC and the client/duty holder needs to have confidence the 4-stage clearance is carried-out professionally/diligently, whilst keeping tenants /workers safe. The only way to effectively guarantee this impartiality is to amend CAR 2012 and update guidance accordingly.
6: If CAR 2012 is amended to ensure the independence and impartiality of roles in the four-stage clearance process, what transitional timeframe do you think is required to enable those with the duty to appoint an analyst, who do not currently do this, to implement into their asbestos management system?
- 18 months
- 1 year
- 9 months
- 6 months
- 3 months
ESC response
1 Year: This gives larger organisations enough time to go through a tender/procurement process more diligently in finding a suitably sized and accredited surveying/analytical contractor.
7: If CAR 2012 is amended to ensure independence and impartiality of roles in the four-stage clearance process, what impact, if any, do you think this would have on licensed asbestos removal contractors who will no longer be able to appoint the analyst for the four-stage clearance process?
- High impact
- Medium impact
- Low impact
- No impact
- Unsure
ESC response
No Impact: I don’t see any impact to the LARC in this situation. I would assume most LARCs appoint an analyst to carry out a 4-stage clearance at the request of the client, and this is purely down to time, less organisation on the clients part and lack of knowledge in regard to the 4-stage clearance.
8: If CAR 2012 is amended to ensure independence and impartiality of roles in the four-stage clearance process, what impact, if any, do you think this would have on analyst organisations who will no longer be able to be appointed by the licensed asbestos removal contractor for the four-stage clearance process?
- High impact
- Medium impact
- Low impact
- No impact
- Unsure
ESC response
Low impact: The work would still need to be carried out but control would be with the client/duty holder in who they appoint to carry out this out on their behalf. This would hopefully result in more thorough 4-stage clearance.
9: To what extent do you agree or disagree that the following are barriers to client/duty holder competence in appointing an analyst?
| ESC response: | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client/duty holder awareness of the importance of the analyst’s role in an asbestos removal project | X | ||||
| Client/duty holder training in their responsibilities when managing asbestos | X | ||||
| Client/duty holder facilitation of the LARC and analyst relationship | X | ||||
| Suitability of guidance on client/duty holder duties | X | ||||
| Suitability of guidance on effective plans of work / allowing sufficient time for analytical activities | X | ||||
| Limited client availability to attend site and gain practical insight into licensable removal activities | X | ||||
| Suitable list of four-stage clearance analysts | X | ||||
| Lack of client focused channels for engagement with UKAS | X | ||||
| Time pressures | X | ||||
| Financial pressures | X |
10: HSE estimates it takes the client/dutyholder on average between 0.5 and 3 hours to appoint a four-stage clearance analyst, with a best estimate of 1.75 hours per job.
10a) Do you think this estimate is accurate?
- Much too high
- Too high
- About right
- Too low
- Much too low
- Don’t know
ESC response: Don’t know
11: HSE estimates it takes the client/dutyholder on average between 0.5 and 1 hours to communicate with a four-stage clearance analyst after appointment, with a best estimate of 0.75 hours per job.
11a) Do you think this estimate is accurate?
- Much too high
- Too high
- About right
- Too low
- Much too low
- Don’t know
ESC response: Don’t know
12: Are you aware of any further costs of appointing a four-stage clearance analyst that have not previously been mentioned?
- Yes
- No
ESC response: No.
13: How much of an impact, if at all, do you think the following factors relating to the client/duty holder role have on the quality of an asbestos survey?
| ESC response: | Very high | High | Medium | Low | Very low | None |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duty holder understanding of the role an asbestos survey plays in the management of asbestos risks in a building | X | |||||
| Communication and sharing of information between a client/duty holder and asbestos surveyor/surveying organisation before commissioning a survey | X | |||||
| Communication and sharing of information between a duty holder and asbestos surveyor/surveying organisation after the client/duty holder has received the survey | X |
ESC response continued:
A good understanding of the types of survey and their limitations are essential for managing building risks, without this knowledge/understanding the risk involved for those working on the building will be exponentially increased or costs increased unnecessarily. Most of this risk can be mitigated at the planning stage with experience, good communication and the sharing of historic information.
14: How much of an impact, if at all, do you think the following factors relating to the surveyor role have on the quality of an asbestos survey?
| ESC response: | Very high | High | Medium | Low | Very low | None |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surveyor competence (as defined in CAR 2012, Regulation 2) | X | |||||
| Quality assurance processes in the surveying organisation | X | |||||
| UKAS accreditation of surveying organisation | X | |||||
| Industry based competency scheme for individual surveyors | X |
ESC response continued:
I think that contractors policing themselves in the quality assurance process is another conflict of interest and provides low/very low benefits in the way of raising the standards of surveyors and surveys. The only real way to do this would be industry based competency schemes, and UKAS accreditation for all surveying organisations.
15: What do you think interventions should look like to improve the quality of asbestos?
- Updated HSE webpages on the purpose of an asbestos survey
- Targeted communication campaigns
- Updated guidance documents e.g. Asbestos: The survey guide - HSE (HSG264)
- Development of guidance collaboratively with stakeholders
- Other
ESC response:
Updated HSE webpages on the purpose of an asbestos survey.
Targeted communication campaigns.
Updated guidance documents e.g. Asbestos: The survey guide - HSE (HSG264).
16: To what extent do you agree or disagree that mandatory accreditation of surveying organisations could improve the quality of asbestos surveys?
- Strongly Agree
- Agree
- Neither Agree nor Disagree
- Disagree
- Strongly Disagree
ESC response:
Agree: The only way to standardise and raise levels of competency for organisations carrying out surveys nationally. Also allows HSE to knows exactly who these unaccredited organisations are that are carrying out these surveys as this is unknown at the moment, but this could also negatively effect smaller organisations with large annual accreditation costs.
17: Based on very limited evidence, HSE estimates the number of non-accredited asbestos surveyors operating in GB could be around 3,600.
17a) Do you think this estimate is accurate?
- Much too high
- Too high
- About right
- Too low
- Much too low
- Don’t know
ESC response: Don’t know
18: HSE estimates that if UKAS accreditation became a mandatory requirement, around 50% of non-accredited surveyors would choose to pursue accreditation as opposed to leaving the industry.
- Much too high
- Too high
- About right
- Too low
- Much too low
- Don’t know
ESC response: Don’t know
19: Please provide estimates of how many days and/or proportions of full-time equivalent posts your business spends each year on the above activities.
| ESC response: | Days spent per year (0 if not applicable) |
FTE per year (0 if not applicable) |
Unsure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paperwork, record-keeping and management systems | X | ||
| Training and CPD for staff to achieve/maintain UKAS standards | 0 | 0 | |
| UKAS standard quality assurance systems, procedures and practice | 0 | 0 | |
| Additional time to complete UKAS standard inspections and survey reports | 0 | 0 | |
| Public liability and indemnity insurance coverage | 0 | 0 | |
| Other activities | 0 | 0 |
20: HSE estimates that on average the additional time needed for staff to complete the tasks associated with maintaining UKAS accreditation as about 0.7 Full-Time Equivalent, per year, per business. This equates to 70% of an employee’s time (which could be the sum total of time spent by more than one employee).
20a) Do you think this estimate is accurate?
- Much too high
- Too high
- About right
- Much too low
- Too low
- Don’t know
ESC response: Don’t know.