The scale of the asbestos issue across the UK school estate remains considerable, even more than a quarter-century after the use of this notorious substance was banned.
A significant proportion of school buildings constructed before the year 2000 are likely to contain asbestos-containing materials (ACMs). This reflects the many decades over which asbestos was widely used in the UK construction sector.
Many school estates managers and trust executives are aware that asbestos exists in their buildings. However, not all such leaders necessarily possess a complete understanding of their legal obligations in relation to asbestos management, or what satisfying these requirements looks like on a day-to-day basis.
In light of such knowledge gaps, this article explains what the legal “duty to manage” asbestos requires of schools and academy trusts. Information is provided, too, on what a compliant asbestos management plan involves in practice, and the value that well-maintained asbestos records deliver.
Why is asbestos such a significant issue for school buildings?
The fibrous silicate mineral known as asbestos saw heavy use in UK construction from the 1950s through to the 1990s. School buildings from this era frequently contain ACMs in their roofing materials, floor tiles, pipe lagging, ceiling tiles, textured coatings, and structural panels.
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and recent data indicate that many school buildings in England contain some form of asbestos.
When in good condition and left undisturbed, asbestos is not inherently dangerous. However, if ACMs are subject to damage, deterioration, or disturbance, as might occur during maintenance or refurbishment, asbestos fibres can be released into the air. These fibres might then be breathed in by someone nearby.
If someone is exposed to asbestos, they could be at risk of developing a potentially fatal asbestos-related disease. Conditions strongly associated with asbestos inhalation, such as mesothelioma, often don’t show symptoms until decades after exposure. Nonetheless, this underscores the importance of taking steps to manage asbestos risks and prevent people from coming into contact with the substance.
All this should be particularly concerning for school estate managers, given that maintenance and refurbishment activity are almost constant at school premises. Site staff and contractors are often among the people most at risk of accidentally disturbing ACMs, particularly when the lack of a properly maintained asbestos register leaves them unaware of the locations of such asbestos products.
What is the legal duty to manage asbestos?
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, also known as CAR 2012, is the primary legislation governing asbestos management in non-domestic premises, including schools, in Great Britain.
Regulation 4 of CAR 2012 sets out the “duty to manage” asbestos. Central to this obligation is the role of the “dutyholder”. This is the person or organisation responsible for the maintenance and repair of a given premises, with a requirement to also manage the risk posed by asbestos at the site.
In maintained schools, the dutyholder is typically the local authority or occupier with maintenance responsibility. For academies and multi-academy trusts (MATs), the trust itself is usually the dutyholder across all schools in its portfolio.
Regulation 4 specifically requires the dutyholder to:
- Determine whether ACMs are present in the building (via an asbestos survey if this information is not already available)
- Assess the condition of those materials and the risk they pose
- Prepare and maintain an up-to-date asbestos register, detailing the location, type, and condition of all known or presumed ACMs
- Put together and implement an asbestos management plan, outlining how the risk from identified ACMs will be managed
- Provide information about the location and condition of ACMs to anyone who is likely to work on or disturb them, such as contractors and maintenance staff
- Review and monitor the plan regularly, to make sure it remains current and effective
The “duty to manage” asbestos does not include an automatic requirement for ACMs to always be removed from school buildings. Where ACMs are in good condition and unlikely to be disturbed, management in situ is the standard and preferred approach.
With regard to maintaining an up-to-date asbestos register and making it accessible to those who need it, school estate managers and trust leaders are well-advised to consider technological solutions like our own Vision Pro Software.
This cloud-based platform provides a centralised digital asbestos register that all schools in a trust can access. This allows contractors and site managers to view current information about the given premises before they begin any work.
What types of asbestos survey does a school need?
One of the most frequent areas of confusion for school estates teams concerns asbestos surveys.
There are two types of asbestos survey in the UK, and the right one for trust leaders to arrange will depend on the specific situation:
Management survey
This is the “standard” asbestos survey, required as part of the ongoing management of a school building in which ACMs could (or are known to) be present.
Forming the basis of the asbestos register and management plan, this type of asbestos survey locates and assesses ACMs that could be damaged or disturbed during normal occupancy and routine maintenance.
Management surveys should be undertaken by a competent asbestos surveyor. Survey organisations are required to operate a recognised quality management system such as ISO 9001, and the HSE recommends using organisations that hold UKAS ISO/IEC 17020 Inspection Body Accreditation.
The survey must cover all reasonably accessible areas of the given building. “Presumed” materials, defined as those assumed to contain asbestos where sampling is not practicable, must also be recorded.
Refurbishment and demolition survey
Commonly referred to as an “R&D survey”, this type of examination is required prior to (not during) any refurbishment, structural maintenance, or demolition work that could disturb the given building’s fabric.
An R&D survey is more intrusive than a management survey, potentially entailing destructive investigation of building materials.
This type of asbestos survey is particularly relevant for schools undertaking projects funded through the School Condition Allocation (SCA) or the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), where refurbishment works frequently involve hidden building materials.
Survey information for school buildings must be kept current. If significant works have been carried out since the last survey, or if previously inaccessible areas have become accessible, it may be necessary for the survey data to be updated.
What must an asbestos management plan contain?
An asbestos management plan, or “AMP”, is the practical framework setting out the steps the organisation will take to manage asbestos risks on an ongoing basis.
A compliant AMP should include:
- Details of all known and presumed ACMs, encompassing their locations, types, condition, and risk assessment
- The decisions made about each material; specifically, whether to manage in situ, repair, encapsulate, or remove
- Specific actions, responsibilities, and timescales; in other words, what needs to be done, by whom, and when
- Arrangements for informing other people such as contractors and maintenance staff, who will need to be made aware of ACM locations before they start work
- Monitoring schedules, making clear how and when the condition of ACMs will be reinspected
- Emergency procedures to be followed in the event of on-site ACMs being unexpectedly disturbed or damaged.
Any school’s AMP must be treated as a live document, rather than a one-off exercise. That means it will need to be reviewed and updated regularly, as well as whenever changes occur that impact on the condition or accessibility of ACMs at the premises.
For an MAT, the asbestos management plan will need to account for all schools in the trust’s portfolio. A single trust-level approach with school-specific registers will likely be far more robust than independently managed plans at each site.
In the interests of carrying out “live” updates and avoiding fragmentation, it is worth noting that Vision Pro Software enables asbestos management plans to be maintained digitally across an entire trust estate.
With this cloud-based platform, condition monitoring records, reinspection schedules, and contractor notification logs can all be held in one place and updated in real time. This is as opposed to depending on potentially disorganised and outdated static documents scattered across individual site servers.
What are the ongoing obligations after the plan is in place?
The production of the asbestos management plan is only the beginning of the “duty to manage”, rather than the end.
Key ongoing duties will include:
- Regular condition monitoring – ACMs in good condition should be monitored periodically to check their condition has not deteriorated. This should typically be done annually, or more frequently for materials in high-activity areas. Any deterioration, damage, or disturbance to ACMs will need to be recorded and acted upon promptly.
- Contractor management – Prior to maintenance, repair, or refurbishment work beginning, the responsible person must ensure contractors have been told about the location and condition of any ACMs in the affected area. Getting the contractors to sign to confirm they have received and understood this information will create an audit trail that protects the dutyholder. If the work that a given contractor is set to carry out is “licensed”, they will need to hold the appropriate HSE licence for this.
- Staff awareness – Asbestos awareness training should be given to all school staff whose work could foreseeably disturb asbestos, including teaching staff, site managers, and administrative teams. This will educate them on what action to take if they suspect they have encountered an ACM on the premises. Personnel with greater responsibility for estates or maintenance activities will need to undergo more detailed training, commensurate with their role.
- Recordkeeping – Documentation must be made and retained in relation to every inspection, monitoring visit, contractor notification, and remedial action in accordance with the “duty to manage” asbestos. Records being kept will mean they can be made available for inspection by the HSE or local-authority environmental health officers, should this access be requested.
Conclusion: meeting the “duty to manage” can be easier with the right software
Far from a “set and forget” project, the “duty to manage” asbestos is a continuous legal obligation with no defined end point. If academy trusts are to fulfil this duty in their management of what may be large and ageing estates, they will need to put in place structured and consistent processes across every school in their portfolio.
Vision Pro Software can play a fundamental role in trusts’ efforts to discharge their “duty to manage” asbestos properly. Our asbestos management software can bring the asbestos register, management plan, condition monitoring records, and contractor notifications into a single centralised platform.
To experience the potentially transformative feature set and functionality of our cloud-based software for yourself, please don’t hesitate to request a demo.
