Last Updated on 22nd April 2021 by Marketing

There have been various surveys regarding asbestos awareness which have been implemented across the UK recently. UKAS carried out a survey in 2011 under the guise of Accredited Asbestos Campaign by various professionals representing a wide range of business sizes and disciplines in the UK.  Another survey was carried out by the British Lung Foundation titled TNS survey, implemented between 1-8 March 2012 and sampled 2043 adults aged 16-64 across Britain.

The UKAS survey found that overall it would appear that many commercial businesses have asbestos management procedures in place but there are some significant gaps in terms of knowledge of responsibilities, provision of information and training and this is demonstrated by the number of people that have confirmed that they have disturbed asbestos during their activities.  For residential buildings, the management of asbestos doesn’t seem to be as evident as Regulation 4 is not applicable to residential buildings, although other regulations are relevant.

The results of the survey suggest that although some progress has been made in raising awareness of asbestos management procedures and personnel trained there is still a large amount of work that needs to be done to ensure people are not exposed to asbestos. The survey provides insight into awareness levels about asbestos management rules. Follows are some of the more significant findings:

• 35% of contractors say they have disturbed asbestos during their work;
• 32% of duty holders not aware of their ‘duty to manage’ asbestos, which has existed since 2004;
• 37% of duty holders do not have an asbestos management plan in place;
• 25% of asbestos surveys are not completed in line with guidance;
• 17% of contractors do not request asbestos information from clients;
• 40% of contractors say they do not receive asbestos information from commercial clients;
• 60% of contractors say they do not receive asbestos information from residential clients;
• 25% of respondents had received no asbestos awareness training;
• potentially lethal asbestos cannot be confidently identified around the house by two thirds of people.

The British Lung Foundation survey results reiterate the awareness findings as more than two thirds (67%) of people could not confidently identify asbestos around the house. The results showed that awareness levels were particularly low in women and younger people: 77% of woman and 75% of 25-34 year-olds of both said they could not identify asbestos around the house.

Armco are able to provide consultancy and advice, implement asbestos surveys and provides various asbestos related training to ensure you operate within the asbestos law and protect staff, customers and the general public from potentially fatal asbestos fibre inhalation.

 

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Published Jun 08, 2012