Great British Asbestos Survey results now out20th May 2012

The results for the Great British Asbestos in Buildings Survey 2011 are now available. The annual industry wide survey, carried out by the UKAS Accredited Asbestos Industry Group www.asbestosinspectionbodies.co.uk provides a comprehensive and accurate picture of the level of awareness of Asbestos in Buildings within the built environment industry.


The Survey was completed throughout 2011 by a wide range of professionals representing a range of business sizes and disciplines from across the UK.


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 strong and although Regulation 4 is not applicable to residential buildings, the other regulations are.
 
For surveys, there is still approximately 25% not being completed in line with guidance and this can lead to poor surveys, a lack of comeback in terms of complaints procedures and insurances and ultimately could increase the risk of personnel being exposed to asbestos where not identified properly.

It is clear from the survey that although some progress has been made in raising awareness of asbestos management procedures and getting personnel trained there is still a large amount of work that needs to be done to ensure people are not exposed to asbestos.