E105:06 20 October 2006

Revised asbestos regulations to come in to force on 13 November 2006

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, which were laid in Parliament today, will come into force on 13 November 2006. The revised regulations will strengthen overall worker protection by reducing exposure limits and introducing mandatory training for work with asbestos. They will also simplify the regulatory regime and implement revisions to the EU Asbestos Worker Protection Directive.

Commenting on the revised regulations, Minister for health and safety, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath said: “These new provisions will help prevent around 6,500 occupational deaths from exposures to asbestos over the next 50 years. There is no doubt these regulations are a step forward in the protection of workers and that they will further strengthen controls to reduce future potential deaths from asbestos disease.”

The revised regulations will introduce the following changes:

• single control limit of 0.1 fibres per cm 3 of air for work with all types of asbestos;
• specific mandatory training requirements for anyone liable to be exposed to asbestos;
• requirement to analyse the concentration of asbestos in the air with measurements in accordance with the 1997 World Health Organisation recommended method;
• practical guidelines for the determination of “sporadic and low intensity exposure” as required by the EU Directive; and
• replace three existing sets of Asbestos Regulations.

Most work with asbestos will still need to be undertaken by a licensed contractor but any decision on whether particular work is licensable will now be determined by the risk.

More details of what work is licensable, what training is necessary and how to undertake work with asbestos containing materials can be found in the Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) “Work with materials containing Asbestos”. Further guidance on the duty to manage asbestos in premises can be found in the “The Management of Asbestos in Non-Domestic Premises” ACoP. The revised regulations and two ACoPs providing guidance on complying with the Regulations will be published on 13 th November.

Notes to editors

• The full text of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, SI 2006/2739, can be viewed at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si200627.htm
• The Regulations will implement the 2003/18/EC amendment to the Asbestos Worker Protection Directive 83/477/EECin Great Britain. They will also repeal and replace with a single set of regulations The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002, The Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983, as amended and The Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations 1992 (Prohibitions Regulations), as amended.
• Under the new Regulations, most work with textured decorative coatings containing asbestos (TCs) will be removed from the licensing regime. Research shows the levels of asbestos fibres released during work with TCs are much lower than previously thought and lower than the proposed new control limit when carried out using good practice. However, all work with asbestos containing materials, including TCs, must be undertaken by trained workers following a risk assessment and in accordance with appropriate controls to prevent exposure to asbestos fibres. (See HSE Press Notice E027:06 “New research confirms low risk of exposure from asbestos containing textured coatings” at http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2006/e06027.htm)
• No exposure to asbestos can be considered to be sporadic and of low intensity if the concentration of asbestos in the atmosphere is liable to exceed 0.6 fibers per cm 3 of air measured over 10 minutes in any working day.

Copies of “Work with materials containing Asbestos”, ISBN 0 7176 6206 3, price £13.50 and “The Management of Asbestos in Non-Domestic Premises”, ISBN 0 7176 6209 8, priced £9.50, will be available from HSE Books from 13 November 2006, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA, tel: 01787-881165 or fax: 01787-313995. Priced publications are also available from good booksellers.

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