Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012
New Asbestos Regulations come into force tomorrow!
The current Asbestos Regulations (The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006) are being replaced by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. The new regulations were laid before parliament on 5th March 2012 and come into force on 6th April 2012.
So who do these new regulations effect?
Everyone who owns, manages or has repair and maintenance responsibilities within buildings which contain asbestos. It also effects contractors who work with asbestos,
The new asbestos regulations are being introduced as a result of the European Commission issuing a “reasoned opinion.” The European Commission concluded that the UK government had not fully implemented a directive which covers the protection of workers from the risks of exposure to asbestos at work.
The amendments in the new regulations will introduce an additional category of work with asbestos. The three categories will be Licensed, Non Licensed and a new category of Notifiable Non Licensed. A summary of the requirements of each category is detailed below:-
The new Approved Code of Practice for the regulations has not been issued by the Health and Safety Executive, however information will be released via the HSE website. The following statement was issued through the HSE Web Communities portal.
The HSE’s web site is in the process of being updated to provide information on the new Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 which will come into force on 6 April 2012. The website changes will go live overnight on Thursday the 5th of April. There will be guidance on the new Regulations and information on the new on-line form which will be used to notify notifiable non-licensed work. There will also be a chart showing examples of different types of work (licensed asbestos work, notifiable non-licensed asbestos work and non-licensed asbestos work). See the main HSE Asbestos page for updated information.
The notification form for the new notifiable non licensed asbestos works will be online and similar to the existing ASB5 form used by licensed asbestos contractors. The changes to the regulations will also mean that workers undertaking notifiable non licensed asbestos works will need to undertake a medical examination. This examination will be required every three years, however there will be a three year transition period before enforced.