Asbestos in the workplace: your legal responsibilities
For owners, landlords, and managers of commercial buildings, understanding and managing asbestos is a critical legal obligation. Asbestos in the workplace remains a silent and deadly threat in 2025 and the material contributes to thousands of deaths annually in the UK. This blog post will explore duty holder obligations and position proactive asbestos management as a legal imperative for protecting lives and ensuring your business’s compliance.
Understanding asbestos
Asbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral, revered for its remarkable properties: exceptional fire resistance, impressive tensile strength, and excellent thermal and acoustic insulation. These characteristics made it a staple in construction and manufacturing for over a century.
However, the very qualities that made it so useful are also what make it so dangerous. When materials containing asbestos are disturbed (through renovation, demolition, or even simple wear and tear) they release microscopic, needle-like fibres into the air. When these fibres are inhaled, they can lodge in the lungs and cause catastrophic, incurable diseases with long latency periods, often taking 20 to 50 years to develop.
Despite a full ban on the import and use of asbestos in the UK in 1999, the legacy of its widespread use persists. Millions of tonnes of asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) remain in buildings constructed before the year 2000. It can be found in a surprising variety of places, often hidden from plain sight.
Common locations for asbestos in commercial buildings include:
- Insulation such as pipe lagging for boilers and pipework, loose-fill insulation in lofts and insulating sprays
- Asbestos Insulating Board (AIB), often found in partition walls, ceiling panels, fire doors, and soffits
- Asbestos cement used for roofing sheets (especially in industrial buildings), corrugated garage roofs, gutters, drainpipes, and water tanks
- Vinyl floor tiles, their adhesives, and linoleum
- Textured wall and ceiling coatings, such as Artex
- Boiler flues, gaskets, fire blankets, and electrical switchboards
Your ‘duty to manage’ asbestos in the workplace
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 place a clear and unequivocal legal duty on the ‘duty holder’, the person or organisation with responsibility for the maintenance and repair of a non-domestic property. This can be the building owner, a landlord, or any entity that has a legal or contractual obligation to maintain the premises.
The ‘duty to manage’ is designed to protect anyone who might work on or visit the property. The legal responsibilities of the duty holder can be broken down into a structured process:
- Find and identify: You must take proactive steps to determine if asbestos is present within your building
- Management survey: This is the standard survey aimed at locating and assessing the condition of ACMs that could be disturbed during normal use or maintenance
- Refurbishment and demolition survey: This intrusive survey is designed to locate all ACMs that might be hidden within the fabric of the building, ensuring they are removed before work begins
- Record and assess: Once a survey is complete, all identified ACMs must be recorded in an Asbestos Register. This is a vital, living document that logs the location, type, condition, and quantity of all asbestos found. Crucially, the register must also include a risk assessment for each material. This assessment evaluates the likelihood of the asbestos being disturbed and the potential level of exposure, which helps in prioritising management actions
- Manage and control: The findings from the survey and register are then used to create a detailed Asbestos Management Plan. This document is your strategic roadmap for controlling the risks posed by asbestos in the workplace. It must be accessible to anyone who needs to know about the presence of asbestos, including employees, contractors, and maintenance workers
In January 2024, the national regulator for workplace health and safety, the HSE, launched its ‘Asbestos – Your Duty’ campaign. This targeted initiative is a clear reminder to duty holders about their legal obligations. The campaign is specifically focused on buildings that people use in their daily lives, such as schools, hospitals, factories, and places of worship, reinforcing that these spaces must be carefully managed.
Building an effective asbestos management plan
A compliant and effective management plan is the heart of your legal strategy when dealing with asbestos in the workplace. It must be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect any changes in the building’s condition or use. A robust plan should include:
1. A complete list of all ACMs found on the premises
2. A risk assessment matrix which offers a clear evaluation of the risk posed by each ACM, which helps in prioritising actions (For example, a damaged pipe lagging in a high-traffic area would be a higher priority for removal or encapsulation than an intact vinyl tile in a rarely used storage room)
3. An action plan: This section outlines the specific measures you will take to manage each ACM. Options include:
- Leaving in place (in situ): If the asbestos is in good condition and unlikely to be disturbed, it is often safer to leave it and monitor its condition
- Encapsulation or sealing: Applying a protective coating to the material to prevent fibre release
- Repair: Safely repairing minor damage to the material
- Removal: Complete and safe removal of the ACM by licensed professionals
4. Clear procedures for informing anyone who might work on the building about the location of asbestos. This is critically important for contractors who may be unaware of the risks
5. A plan for ensuring that staff and contractors receive appropriate asbestos awareness training
6. What to do in the event of an accidental disturbance of an ACM
Failure to implement and maintain an effective asbestos management plan can result in serious legal consequences, including enforcement notices, prosecution, and significant financial penalties.
It also leaves your employees and contractors exposed to potentially fatal health risks, opening your business up to civil litigation.
The role of licensed asbestos professionals
While the ‘duty to manage’ rests with the duty holder, the work of surveying, assessing, and especially removing asbestos in the workplace should never be attempted by an untrained individual. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has strict requirements for asbestos work, particularly for high-risk materials. Only companies with a license from the HSE are legally permitted to carry out work on these materials.
Choosing a reputable, HSE-licensed contractor is non-negotiable. These professionals have the extensive training, specialist equipment, and strict protocols required to handle asbestos safely. They are trained in controlled techniques to prevent fibre release, and they have the expertise to dispose of asbestos waste in accordance with hazardous waste regulations. Attempting to manage or remove asbestos yourself, or using an unlicensed contractor, is not only illegal but puts everyone at immense risk.
Your trusted asbestos management partner
At Henderson Environmental, we understand the weight of your legal responsibilities and the complexities of asbestos management. With over 40 years of experience, we have established ourselves as a leading, trusted provider of asbestos removal and management services for commercial and industrial properties across the UK.
We are committed to being more than a service provider and being partners in ensuring safety and compliance. We are fully licensed by the HSE and hold a range of industry-leading accreditations, including those from the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA).
Our team of highly skilled and experienced professionals is committed to the highest standards of safety, quality, and reliability. We follow rigorous safe working practices and have a proven track record of successful projects, from encapsulation to complex, large-scale removals.
By partnering with Henderson Environmental, you gain peace of mind knowing that your business is in expert hands. We offer comprehensive solutions tailored to your specific needs, providing you with the expertise to navigate the legal landscape and protect your people from the dangers of asbestos in the workplace.
To ensure your business is fully compliant and safe, take the first step today. Explore our full range of professional and accredited asbestos services.
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