Posted By Jo Scott Smith
Can any one shed light onto the situation where staff are working in domestic premises?

We have handypeople who go into clients homes to do small DIY tasks eg putting up shelves, decorating, fitting smoke alarms as part of the Supporting People initiative. The homes are a mixture of local authority, housing association or private landlord owned/rented accomodation.

I've be advised that because you have to assume an unknown material(ie not brick, metal, glass or wood) is aspestos unless you know that it isn't, no work that could disturb asbestos can be done until a sample has been taken and analysed. This even extending to works such as wallpaper stripping could be a risk because the wall underneath may be "artexed". The practicalities and cost of doing this are significant. Is this advice correct?

Do any parts of CAW regs 2002 apply to employees working in domestic premises?

Do landlords have to maintain a register of asbestos in their domestic properties?

What would be the reasonably practicable ways of preventing employee exposure to asbestos in these circumstances?

Any advice gratefully received.
Thank you

Posted By Adrian Watson
Dear Jo,

In answer to your questions:

1. CAW 2002 does not apply to domestic premises; however if domestic premises are let properties they are not domestic when vacant and an owner/landlord/managing agent has a duty to manage the asbestos in the building.

2. CAW 2002 apply to any work that may involve asbestos.

3. You do not need to sample, you can treat materials that are clearly non-asbestos, e.g. brick, plasterboard, wood etc as non-asbestos.

4. YOU DO NOT NEED TO SAMPLE; YOU NEED TO CONTROL THE RISK! (Sorry for shouting.) Types of materials that are known to contain asbestos should be treated in a way that it is commensurate with the degree of risk. For example if you are cleaning an asbestos vinyl tile floor, you have to do nothing but if you were removing asbestos insulation board you would need to take full precautions. In all cases you should minimise the risk of fibres being released and you should wear repiratory protection if you exceed the control limit. Your staff should not work with asbestos coating, asbestos insulation or asbestos insulation board unless you hold a license or are excempted under the ALR 83.

5. Set up standard protocols, train your staff and get them to stop if they have doubts.

Many Regards Adrian Watson