Recommendations & Conclusions
6 items
7
Conclusion
Sixth Report - The Health and Safety Ex…
Accepted
Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, asbestos-containing materials that are in good condition and are unlikely to be disturbed can be left in place by building dutyholders. Buildings containing asbestos will not last forever and, as HSE acknowledges, we do not know how long some of these materials, left …
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Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, asbestos-containing materials that are in good condition and are unlikely to be disturbed can be left in place by building dutyholders. Buildings containing asbestos will not last forever and, as HSE acknowledges, we do not know how long some of these materials, left undisturbed, remain undamaged. Some, including the TUC, have called for a stronger programme of asbestos removal. They argue that a policy of management in situ was always a temporary solution and that accidental disturbances by contractors and others will always happen. They believe that the current regime gives unscrupulous dutyholders too much flexibility to turn a blind eye when confronted with the cost of asbestos removal.
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Government response AI summary
The Government believes that GB currently has a mature and comprehensive plan to managing legacy asbestos risks that aligns with the best evidence currently available through the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and the 'duty to manage'.
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Department for Work and Pensions
8
Conclusion
Sixth Report - The Health and Safety Ex…
Accepted
Wholesale removal is not, however, without its own risk and uncertainty. Despite this, HSE has been slow to invest in research to better understand the costs and benefits of removal and to evaluate options for safer removal. This is becoming a more urgent task. The likely dramatic increase in retrofitting …
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Wholesale removal is not, however, without its own risk and uncertainty. Despite this, HSE has been slow to invest in research to better understand the costs and benefits of removal and to evaluate options for safer removal. This is becoming a more urgent task. The likely dramatic increase in retrofitting of buildings in response to net zero ambitions means that more asbestos-containing material will be disturbed in the coming decades, thus changing the cost-benefit analysis. Simple reliance on a set of regulations which devolve asbestos management to individual dutyholders will not be good enough. There is a need for a cross-government and ‘system-wide’ strategy for the long-term removal of asbestos, founded on strong evidence of what is best from a scientific, epidemiological, financial, and behavioural point of view.
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Government response AI summary
The government believes that GB currently has a mature and comprehensive plan to manage legacy asbestos risks, reflected in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and the duty to manage, which ensures management of risks of exposure and will eventually lead to the elimination of …
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Department for Work and Pensions
9
Recommendation
Sixth Report - The Health and Safety Ex…
Accepted
The Minister and HSE told us that their goal was to see asbestos gradually and safely removed from GB’s buildings. We agree with its ambition but greatly regret that neither HSE nor the Government has articulated a clear and comprehensive strategy for achieving this. There is no written down, fully …
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The Minister and HSE told us that their goal was to see asbestos gradually and safely removed from GB’s buildings. We agree with its ambition but greatly regret that neither HSE nor the Government has articulated a clear and comprehensive strategy for achieving this. There is no written down, fully developed, and long-term plan to match the Government’s goal, one that is founded on an analysis of costs and benefits and integrates with wider government policy. Moreover, the Government has so far failed to signal its intent by setting a clear timeframe for the removal of most, if not all, asbestos.
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Government response AI summary
The government believes that GB currently has a mature and comprehensive plan to manage legacy asbestos risks, reflected in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and the duty to manage, which ensures management of risks of exposure and will eventually lead to the elimination of …
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Department for Work and Pensions
13
Conclusion
Sixth Report - The Health and Safety Ex…
Accepted
Information about asbestos within buildings is often poorly communicated to users and contractors by dutyholders. Surveys and management plans which include critical information on asbestos are not always maintained as living and accessible documents. Opportunities to exploit digital technologies to improve communications on asbestos risks are being missed.
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Information about asbestos within buildings is often poorly communicated to users and contractors by dutyholders. Surveys and management plans which include critical information on asbestos are not always maintained as living and accessible documents. Opportunities to exploit digital technologies to improve communications on asbestos risks are being missed.
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Government response AI summary
HSE states they recognize the importance of duty holders actively managing information and ensuring it is regularly communicated, and they will be carrying out targeted inspection activity and develop communications activity in this area to support wider inspection work, as well as continuing working with …
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Department for Work and Pensions
17
Conclusion
Sixth Report - The Health and Safety Ex…
Accepted
HSE has experienced significant cuts in government funding. Lower grant funding has been partly mitigated by the introduction of its fee for intervention ‘cost recovery’ model but this cannot be used to target inspections of licensed asbestos removal work. It is not surprising, therefore, that HSE’s asbestos enforcement activity has …
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HSE has experienced significant cuts in government funding. Lower grant funding has been partly mitigated by the introduction of its fee for intervention ‘cost recovery’ model but this cannot be used to target inspections of licensed asbestos removal work. It is not surprising, therefore, that HSE’s asbestos enforcement activity has reduced in recent years. However, the scale of decline is remarkable when compared with HSE’s enforcement activity overall, despite no specific and compelling evidence that compliance with the asbestos regulations has improved dramatically during this time. HSE accepts that part of the recent reduction in asbestos enforcement work stems from having to divert experienced inspectors to support the training of new recruits which reduced capacity. It says that it expects to increase the number of asbestos inspections in 2022/23. This is welcome but needs to be sustained over the longer term, not least because fulfilment of the Government’s net zero ambitions presents considerable asbestos exposure risks as buildings are updated.
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Government response AI summary
HSE's business plan includes details of how HSE's activities are funded and sets out how HSE will deliver a range of different regulatory interventions and activities based on intelligence, targeting the most serious risks, focusing on industries with the greatest hazards and sectors with the …
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Department for Work and Pensions
18
Recommendation
Sixth Report - The Health and Safety Ex…
Accepted
We recommend that HSE commits to a sustained increase in inspection and enforcement activity targeting compliance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations. Repeating our recommendation from June 2020, the Government and DWP should ensure that it provides adequate funding to HSE to support this increased programme of work over the …
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We recommend that HSE commits to a sustained increase in inspection and enforcement activity targeting compliance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations. Repeating our recommendation from June 2020, the Government and DWP should ensure that it provides adequate funding to HSE to support this increased programme of work over the medium term. HSE should also identify wider lessons from its planned inspection programme for dutyholders in 2022/23, considering whether it needs to specify minimum knowledge, training or other requirements for people performing this critical role.
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Government response AI summary
HSE's commitment to focus on the risks related to managing asbestos exposure is a long-standing feature of its Business Plan, but budgets are not specifically allocated to individual risks such as asbestos exposure, because inspections and investigations focus on multiple potential risks.
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Department for Work and Pensions