Lesson 4 – Asbestos Management Plans (AMP)
As mentioned in previous lessons, the main thrust of CAR 2012 Regulation 4 is the “duty to manage asbestos”. While having asbestos surveys carried out is a great way of finding out what asbestos material is on-site, it is not the end of the story.
After all, it is not called “the duty to survey”. Any discovered ACMs must be managed over the long-term.
This is where something called an Asbestos Management Plan is vitally important. Such plans are designed and implemented to make sure the ACMs remain as safe as possible for the foreseeable future.
There is plenty of advice around for “Duty Holders” to create their AMPs, including the HSE document HSG227 “A Comprehensive Guide to Managing Asbestos in Premises”. Oftentimes, asbestos surveying companies can also be consulted when drafting such plans too.
Such plans will often include procedures and policies for tradespeople who arrive at a site to carry out works. They will be required to carry out safe working practices at all times.
However, tradespeople should also have their own policies and procedures with regards to asbestos for any of their site-based activities. This should include things like: –
- Sign in and observe the required Health and Safety requirements for a site
- Read or request information about asbestos on site. It is good practice to ask if the building has an asbestos survey or not.
- For any building built before the year 2000, there should be an asbestos survey in place
- In an ideal world, information on asbestos on site should have been provided to workmen, or their line managers, before they even arrive on site. This is to enable tradespeople to undertake a thorough risk assessment in accordance with the Health and Safety Management Regulations 1999 and CAR 2012 Regs.
An asbestos survey should include a survey plan of some sort showing where samples were taken and where asbestos is present in the building. This information can then be used to check where you will be working and what asbestos materials you are likely to find there.
When you find asbestos is present in areas where you are planning to undertake work, always check the register for information on its condition, and in particular, its Material Risk Assessment Score (MRA).
Any medium (7 to 9) or high-risk (10 to 12) assessment scores will indicate that asbestos fibres may be released from the material. This could put you at a very real risk of being exposed to asbestos!
In such cases, do not proceed with the planned work and consult your line manager!
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