Asbestos Licensing

Policy

HSE Policy on requests to waive the 14 day notification period  (6/02)  
James Skilling - Head of ALU

1 At a recent meeting of the ALG we discussed the fact that licensed contractors are often asked by clients to start work without the required 14 days prior notification. Licensed contractors are well aware of HSE's policy, which is to grant waiver requests only when there is a genuine emergency or equally pressing reason. However, at times they face difficulties in successfully communicating this to their clients.

2 It was agreed that it might be helpful therefore to publish HSE's waiver policy in the form of an Asbestos Liaison Group memo, which licensed contractors could then copy to their clients as appropriate to assist them in assessing whether their request for a waiver is likely to be supported.

3 HSE's policy on waiver requests has recently been revised following comments from ALPIs and the new version follows.

Requests to waive the 14 day notification period

1 It is HSE's policy that waiver requests will be granted only when there is a genuine emergency or equally pressing reason.

2 Examples of such situations are:

• Cases where there is an imminent risk to health, the environment, or where there is public alarm, and the risk cannot be avoided simply by leaving the area and allowing it to remain undisturbed, and/or the area cannot be sealed.
• Cases where asbestos is found during work and its presence would not have been reasonably foreseeable or reasonably practicable to detect (eg unless an intrusive Type 3 survey was undertaken), AND in situations where the delay caused by wait-ing for the 14 day notification period before dealing with the asbestos would lead to significant financial loss
• Cases where a breakdown in plant or equipment requires urgent remedial action.
• Cases where there is or is liable to be worry or hardship for domestic clients, includ-ing old or infirm persons.

3 In an emergency a waiver may be granted based upon telephone notification. However this must be followed by the paperwork listed in paragraph 5 below.

4 Waivers are unlikely to be granted to accommodate lack of foresight and plan-ning by a client or contractor, unless an immediate risk of significant exposure has been created and the area concerned cannot be sealed off to prevent that exposure.

5 All waiver requests must be sent with

• the FOD ASB5 (03/01);
• a suitable and sufficient method statement and equipment specification, including a diagram showing the arrangement of the NPU(s) and location of the DCU and transit route (if proposed); and 
• written confirmation from the contractor's client to support the request (ie evidence from the client that there is an emergency or equally pressing reason).

Requests will not be considered unless all this information is provided. 

6 If disaster recovery work is proposed at short notice out of normal hours, HSE will accept a request by fax or email (local office arrangements for the latter permitting) to waive the normal 14 day notification period for emergency weekend or bank holiday work provided:

• the request is made as soon as practicable after the company is asked to undertake the work;
• the work with asbestos material is limited to that which is necessary to deal with the immediate emergency to make a situation safe; and
• the request includes the information normally expected for any waiver request as listed above in paragraph 5.

HSE will review any requests for waivers received in such circumstances to check that they satisfy these criteria. If it transpires that companies making out-of-hour requests appear to be undertaking work which does not arise from a genuine emergency, HSE may consider enforcement action, licence amendment or refusal to accept further waiver requests from such companies. 

7 The dates stated on the waiver request for a smoke test and for the start of work must be adhered to unless alterations are agreed with the Inspector concerned.

8 The majority of waiver requests will be handled by Construction Division inspectors. On the rare occasions when other staff are involved, the local ALPI should be informed.