An asbestos assessment in principle is the same as any other risk assessment. It takes a number of parameters relating to the material being assessed, scores them and this then provides an indication of the hazard presented by that material. For business property in the UK (any property, or part of a property not in domestic use) the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006 requires the asbestos materials in the building to be managed safely. This means that an asbestos assessment must be undertaken to establish the existence of asbestos materials, and their relative risk.
Asbestos assessments are generally divided in to two categories - an assessment of the risk presented by the material in isolation (a Material Assessment) and an assessment of the risk to people who may be exposed to the material, or to fibres released by it ( a Priority Assessment). The scores derived from these two asbestos assessments are added together to provide an overall score, and this enables a person or company responsible for the property to develop a plan to manage their asbestos materials, and to reduce the risk by implementing actions to control release of fibres. Such action may include removal of asbestos materials, sealing (encapsulating) them or simply restricting access to them.
An asbestos assessment is normally be undertaken by an asbestos surveyor qualified to BOHS P402 and has experience appropriate to the environment he is assessing. It would be undertaken in accordance with a Health and Safety Executive guideline known as HSG264 which sets out the way in which asbestos assessments, or surveys, should be carried out; establishing standard practice, scoring systems and sampling procedures.
On completion of an asbestos assessment the surveyor or surveying company will provide a report detailing the materials found to contain asbestos, and in some cases those not sampled, but presumed to contain asbestos. This list or register will form the basis of the action plan developed by a business to limit and control the exposure to asbestos of its employees, contractors and members of the public.
