Asbestos Surveys in Southampton

An asbestos survey is the process of inspecting a property or building in order to locate and identify materials that contain asbestos. An asbestos survey provides a crucial foundation for the management of ACMs in a building dating from before the year 2000 (and in which asbestos is therefore likely to be present, given that the substance was banned in the UK during 1999).

Although multiple types of asbestos survey exist, any asbestos survey should provide accurate details about the location, amount, and condition of any ACMs at the inspected premises. It should also involve an assessment of the level of any damage or deterioration of the ACMs.

The surveyor will need to set out any potential risk associated with the condition of the ACMs they identify. Furthermore, having picked out the risks, the surveyor will typically provide recommendations to the property owner or manager on what steps to take next.

The information that an asbestos survey provides will be crucial for putting together a subsequent asbestos register and asbestos management plan.

In common with the situation elsewhere in the country, asbestos surveys in Southampton can be divided into the following categories:

• Asbestos management surveys: this is the type of survey that helps dutyholders under UK asbestos legislation to manage ACMs during their building’s normal occupation and use. The main purpose of an asbestos management survey is to enable the dutyholder to put together an asbestos register and an asbestos management plan.
• Asbestos refurbishment surveys: if you are a dutyholder for a building in or near Southampton that may contain asbestos and that is set to undergo refurbishment, you will need to arrange this type of survey. This is in recognition of the fact that the law requires the removal of ACMs, as far as reasonably practicable, prior to major refurbishment of a given building. Unlike a management survey, it is fully intrusive.
• Asbestos demolition surveys: a building owner or manager will need to request this type of survey ahead of any planned demolition work being undertaken at their property, if the premises may contain asbestos. Included in this survey will be exact information on any work that will be liable to disturb the building’s fabric. This form of surveying will need to involve any materials that are likely to be disturbed during demolition work being tested for the presence of asbestos.

If you manage a property in or near Southampton or you’re engaged in a process such as refurbishment, demolition or maintenance where there could be a possibility of asbestos being disturbed and posing a risk to human health, and you lack the essential information that would enable you to lower or eliminate this risk, the answer to the above question is “yes”.

We have previously written an entire article on the subject of whether asbestos surveys are legally required in the UK. In that piece, we made clear that the UK’s overarching asbestos legislation – the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR 2012) – doesn’t explicitly state an asbestos survey is a requirement for a property dutyholder.  

CAR 2012 does, however, stipulate that a dutyholder for a non-domestic premises must take reasonable steps to determine whether ACMs are present on the given site, alongside finding out associated information such as the location, condition, and amount of ACMs.

In practice, an asbestos survey is often the only responsible and safe way to gather such details about the asbestos situation in a non-domestic property. In such circumstances, an asbestos survey may, in effect, be mandatory.