Legislation on Asbestos Flawed
Dr Linda Waldman and Heather Williams have released a report titled ‘As Safe as Houses’, which examines the risk of asbestos in social housings. They have discovered various lacunas in the law relating to managing asbestos risks in private properties. The report, which was commissioned by UCATT – the construction union, highlights the fact that problems in present laws can cause harmful asbestos exposure to inhabitants and maintenance labourers.
One of the major problems in the current situation is the defective procedure followed by the local authorities and RSLs (Registered Social Landlords) for informing tenants about the risk of exposure to asbestos in the property.
It has been suggested in the report that the RSLs should be obligated to handle asbestos inside their properties in addition to their existing obligation to manage asbestos risk in public areas such as stairwells. The report also recommends that a register with a record of asbestos presence in all properties should be maintained by the social landlords.
Another lacuna in current law is absence of any duty to inform about asbestos presence before the sale of a private property. Housing Information Packs usually do not provide these details, and they can be uncovered only through an expensive full structural survey. In order to solve this problem, the report suggests that there should be a compulsory survey of asbestos before sale of private houses.
Requirement of various urgent reforms to increase awareness about asbestos, recognising the signs of asbestos presence, and the steps to be taken after its discovery, have also been emphasised by the report. As a part of these reforms, warning signs attached to power tools regarding the harmful effects of asbestos have been proposed. Another step that can be taken is that courses for training construction workers should include information on asbestos exposure and precautionary measures in their syllabus.
Not only workers but local authority staff and resident body representatives too should be made aware about asbestos through proper training and support programs. The NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health is a qualification designed to help those with health and safety responsibilities; click on nebosh certificate for more information from experts within the field at Workplace Law Training.
