How do I manage asbestos in hotels

Asbestos has not been legally used in the construction and renovation of hotels and other commercial buildings in the UK since it was completely banned in 1999. However, this does not mean the carcinogenic mineral has ceased to be an issue for hoteliers.

Indeed, quite the opposite is true. Strict regulations now apply to the owners and managers of hotels up and down the country, in relation to both general health and safety, and the management of asbestos.

These legal requirements – set out under legislation such as the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (CAR 2012) – exist to help protect the health of building occupants and users, such as staff and guests at your hotel, who could otherwise be at risk of coming into contact with this lethal substance.

However, it is one thing to know the broad principles of why asbestos management is so important, and quite another thing to familiarise yourself with the specific steps you are obliged to take to manage asbestos in your establishment.

Below, then, our experts at Oracle Solutions have provided an overview of the essentials.

What are the legal responsibilities of hotel owners and managers regarding asbestos?

When it comes to managing asbestos to ensure legal compliance, a natural first point of reference is the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, also commonly referred to as “CAR 2012”. This is the overarching legislation for the management of asbestos in non-domestic premises in Great Britain.

Hoteliers need to be familiar with the concept of the “dutyholder”, under Regulation 4 of CAR 2012. As we have written about in the past here at Oracle Solutions, the “dutyholder” will be either the owner of the given non-domestic premises, or the person or organisation with clear responsibility for the building’s maintenance or repair.

Presuming you are the dutyholder for your hotel building, you will have certain specific obligations in relation to asbestos management. These include:

• Taking reasonable steps to ascertain whether asbestos exists at the premises – and if so, its location, amount, and condition
• Presuming materials contain asbestos unless strong evidence exists of this not being the case
• Putting together and maintaining a record of the location and condition of any asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) at the premises, or materials presumed to contain asbestos
• Assessing the risk of anyone being exposed to asbestos fibres from the materials identified
• Preparing a plan that sets out detailed information on how the risks from ACMs will be managed
• Taking the necessary steps to put the plan into action
• Carrying out periodic reviews and monitoring of the plan and the arrangements for its implementation, so that you can make sure the plan is still relevant and up to date
• Providing details about the location and condition of any ACMs at the site to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb them

Measures like the above aren’t only important from the point of view of avoiding legal violations and the associated fines and reputational damage. That’s because they will also be critical to your efforts to ensure the safety of staff, guests, and contractors at your hotel.

How can I identify asbestos in hotels?

Asbestos was first commercially mined in the middle of the 19th century, and went on to be especially heavily used in the UK construction sector from roughly the 1950s until the 1980s. By around the 1970s, public awareness was growing of the very real and severe health risks the mineral posed, which eventually culminated in a ban on all forms of the substance in 1999.

Even simply walking around your hotel building, then – presuming it was constructed or renovated prior to the year 2000 – you might see products or materials that conceivably could contain asbestos.

Our guide to asbestos in commercial property sets out the wide range of areas in which ACMs can be present in such buildings. These areas range from the roof and office-type spaces to ceiling and floor voids, boiler and tank rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and many more.

Our asbestos consultants have also previously written about the broad range of specific asbestos-containing products that might exist in a building, and what they tend to look like. So, as a hotelier, you should be alert to the possibility of such ACMs as the below being present in your property:

• Asbestos boards and millboards
• Asbestos thermal insulation
• Asbestos sprayed insulation
• Asbestos textiles, strings, ropes, and gaskets
• Asbestos cement roofing, gutters, and soffits
• Asbestos paper and felts
• Asbestos vinyl tiles and asbestos resin cisterns and tanks
• Asbestos textured decorative coatings, or “Artex”

Thousands of asbestos products are believed to have been manufactured over the course of the substance’s period of legal use. So, the above cannot be regarded as an exhaustive rundown of the ACMs that might theoretically exist in your hotel.

However, to definitively confirm whether asbestos is or is not present in your hotel building, you cannot depend on your own visual inspection alone. Instead, by arranging for qualified asbestos professionals to undertake an asbestos survey at your property, you can ascertain the true asbestos situation at your premises. This will then enable you to take informed steps to manage the materials in a safe and legally compliant manner.

Owners and managers of commercial properties – such as hotels – often ask us whether an asbestos survey is legally mandatory. If this is a query you also have, you might be interested in our article addressing exactly this subject.

What should I do if asbestos is found in my hotel?

There are certain steps that we advise dutyholders for hotels and other commercial properties to take in the event of discovering suspected ACMs at their premises.

These actions include – as we have also covered on the Oracle Solutions learning centre – immediately ceasing any work being undertaken in the given location, preventing anyone from entering the area (unless they are wearing suitable personal protective equipment or respiratory protection equipment), and arranging to have a sample of the suspected ACM tested. The outcome of the sample testing will guide the subsequent steps the dutyholder takes.

A thorough risk assessment will also be crucial for evaluating the condition and potential disturbance of the ACMs. Again, this will greatly help you take responsible, safe, and legally compliant steps to manage ACMs at your site.

How do I develop an asbestos management plan (AMP) for a hotel?

Presuming asbestos is confirmed to exist in your hotel premises, it will be legally necessary – in accordance with CAR 2012 – to put together an asbestos management plan.

As a dutyholder for your hotel, you are urged to consult our in-depth guide to the writing of an AMP. But in summary, here are some of the key things to know about this document:

The key components of an asbestos management plan (AMP)

The AMP for your premises will need to set out information on the location(s), type(s), and condition of ACMs. In addition, it should outline the procedures you will pursue for the management and monitoring of on-site asbestos, such as encapsulation, sealing, and/or routine checks.

Roles and responsibilities should also be covered in your AMP. You should be assigning roles to specific personnel, such as the dutyholder and persons responsible for implementing the AMP.

Developing action plans

It will be crucial for you to prioritise plans based on the outcomes of risk assessments at your hotel. For example, there is a critical distinction to be made between immediate actions for ACMs that are showing visible signs of damage, and the routine monitoring of low-risk areas.

You should also plan for scheduled inspections and re-surveys, to make sure ACMs at your hotel continue to be undisturbed and in good condition.

Emergency procedures

This element of the AMP will need to create clear procedures for any cases of ACMs at your site being accidentally disturbed. These procedures will need to include isolating the area, informing staff, and contacting asbestos professionals to help manage the substance.

It will also be vital to develop communication plans whereby hotel guests can be notified of the situation if necessary, focusing on transparency and reassurance.

Documentation and recordkeeping

As part of the management of ACMs at your hotel, it will also be imperative to maintain up-to-date records of asbestos surveys, risk assessments, actions taken, and any communication with contractors or staff.

Furthermore, your building’s AMP will need to be easily accessible to anyone who is responsible for maintenance, renovations, or emergency response at the property.

How can I safely manage asbestos-containing materials in a hotel?

There are various established safe techniques for managing asbestos in a commercial property such as a hotel.

These can encompass such methods as encapsulation, painting/sealing, and/or simply leaving ACMs in place and arranging to monitor them over time. The exact courses of action that you take will depend on such factors as the condition of the identified ACMs, and how likely they are to be disturbed in the future.

Alongside this, it will be crucial for you to prohibit certain activities in relation to ACMs at your building. Such activities as the drilling, cutting, or sanding of ACMs at your hotel could cause potentially harmful asbestos fibres to be released, so you will need to have measures in place to avoid these actions occurring.

When is asbestos removal necessary in a hotel?

The mere fact of discovering ACMs at your hotel, does not mean – in and of itself – that they will need to be removed. However, there are certain circumstances in which you are likely to decide to have ACMs at your property professionally removed, instead of opting for an alternative means of managing the materials, such as encapsulation.

If, for instance, ACMs have been significantly damaged, you are planning refurbishment work that would disturb the asbestos, or the ACMs are located in parts of the building where guests and staff would be at higher risk of exposure, these are examples of circumstances in which you would typically arrange for the ACMs’ removal.

By making sure your asbestos removal project is conducted by licensed asbestos removal contractors, you can ensure both safety and regulatory compliance.

What are the penalties for non-compliance with asbestos management regulations?

Dutyholders under CAR 2012 for hotel premises in the UK are expected to devise a plan to deal with asbestos in their property, in addition to putting this plan into action. If they fail to do so, they could be hit with a fine of up to £20,000, or they could be imprisoned for up to 12 months.

A serious breach of the asbestos regulations, meanwhile, could land a hotelier with an unlimited fine and/or a prison sentence of up to two years.

One only needs to perform a quick search for “asbestos hotel” in Google News – or a similar online news provider – to see examples of the serious legal and/or reputational damage that can occur for hotel managers that fail to comply with asbestos regulations.

Here at Oracle Solutions, for example, we previously reported on the case of this Devon-based hotelier, which received a fine of £80,000 in relation to the disturbance of ACMs during the refurbishment of a Barnstaple establishment. This case involved breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, Sections 2(1) and 3(1).

Conclusion: hotels must never underestimate the importance of sound asbestos management

Hopefully, the above guide will have helped make clear the essentials of responsible management of ACMs at your hotel, and why such steps are so important.

Speaking of important steps, we recommend here at Oracle Solutions that if you are a dutyholder for a hotel in the UK, you contact accredited asbestos consultants, surveyors, and removal contractors who specialise in the hospitality industry.

Call or email the Oracle Solutions team today, and we will be pleased to present you with a free, fast, and transparent quote for any of our renowned asbestos services.