Reg 5 (Duty to Identify the presence of asbestos) details:
An employer must not undertake work in demolition, maintenance or any other work which exposes or is liable to expose employees of that employer to asbestos in respect of any premises unless either—
(a) that employer has carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment as to whether asbestos, what type of asbestos, contained in what material and in what condition is present or is liable to be present in those premises; or
(b)if there is a doubt as to whether asbestos is present in those premises, that employer—
- assumes that asbestos is present and that it is not chrysotile alone, and
- observes the applicable provisions of these Regulations.
And so, before any work is undertaken within a building; work that has the potential to disturb Asbestos containing materials (ACMs); you need to select the survey type most relevant to your proposed works, whether it be maintenance (likely an Asbestos Management Survey) refurbishment (likely an Asbestos Refurbishment Survey) or Demolition (likely an Asbestos Demolition Survey). It is your duty to ensure you have a suitable and sufficient assessment for your proposed task/project but of course, you can look to Scopus for advice/guidance to make the correct choice.
Don’t forget that any ACMs identified during these surveys must be included within your “live” Asbestos Register.