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Asbestos Safety Code

Contents

Introduction
Management of Asbestos Risk
Register
Building Work
Actions by Heads of Schools/Units
Training

Introduction

Asbestos is known to be a hazardous substance which may cause severe ill health. The University of St Andrews acknowledges its responsibility for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of its employees under relevant legislation and specifically for protecting employees against the risks posed by asbestos under the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 (CAW2002).

Management of Asbestos Risk

The University's Estates Unit is responsible for all aspects of the management of Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) risks and will ensure compliance with relevant legislation (including the Control of Asbestos at Work regulations 2002) by implementing the relevant Health and Safety Executive 'Approved Codes of Practice' including the following:

  • The Mangement of Asbestos in Non-Domestic Premises
  • Work with asbestos which does not normally require a licence;
  • Work with asbestos insulation, asbestos coating and asbestos insulation board.

As a minimum standard, a Type 2 Survey will be conducted in all premises under the control of the University. Depending on the condition of the ACMs, appropriate actions will be taken to manage the asbestos risks (e.g. remove it using licenced contractors, encapsulate it, leave it as it is found and monitor the condition on a regular basis).

Register

The Director of Estates will ensure that an appropriate register of all ACMs found during the survey of University properties is produced and maintained. The Register will be held in Estates and made available to relevant staff and other persons upon request.

Information on ACM containing equipment within individual Schools/Units must be provided to Estates by the Heads.

Building Work

To ensure that ACMs are not damaged or disturbed, Estates must be notified of any proposed building work, no matter how minor, that is to be undertaken by a School/Unit.

N.B. Under no circumstances should building contractors be used by a School/Unit without the prior approval of the Director of Estates.

Actions by Heads of Schools/Units

It is expected that Heads will ensure that their School/Unit fully co-operates with Estates in any survey of premises for ACMs.

Heads must ensure, as a matter of urgency, that a survey is carried out by their School/Unit to identify any items of their equipment which contains (or may contain) ACMs. An appropriate record of these items should be produced and submitted to Estates for asbestos analysis and for record keeping purposes.

Heads should ensure that all School/Unit staff who are required to work in areas that are known to or may contain asbestsos receive appropriate asbestos awareness training.

Training

Training on asbestos awareness for relevant memebers of staff will be provided by Environmental, Health and Safety Services on request.