Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Paragraph: 95
We recommend that HSE commits to a sustained increase in inspection and enforcement activity targeting...
Recommendation
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.
Paragraph Reference:
95
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
DWP approves HSE’s business plan which includes details of how HSE’s activities are funded. The plan sets out how HSE will deliver a range of different regulatory interventions and activities based on intelligence, targeting the most serious risks. This includes industries with greatest hazards and sectors with the worst risk management record. HSE budgets are not specifically allocated to individual risks such as asbestos exposure, because inspections and investigations focus on multiple potential risks. However, HSE’s commitment to focus on the risks related to managing asbestos exposure is a long-standing feature of its Business Plan. For example, in 2021/2022 HSE has published its commitment to undertake a programme of inspections of individual licensed contractors to ensure compliance with Control of Asbestos Regulations by individual licensees HSE agrees that the competence of dutyholders plays an important role in ensuring that the legal framework is effective in safely managing asbestos. Anyone liable to disturb asbestos during their work must have received the correct level of information, instruction and training to enable them to carry out their work safely and competently and without risk to themselves or others. We recommend asbestos awareness training for anyone whose