Posted By Tyler Scenario: Company has large portfolio of properties, mostly rented from a landlord who is requesting that they fulfill their duties in accordance with CAWR 2002 (Reg4). Company wishes to: Prioritise properties in accordance with age. Oldest (and more likely asbestos containing)properties surveyed first. Establish whether the newer properties need a survey at all. (Less than five years old unlikely to have asbestos as Chrysotile was banned in 1999.) Also as other tenants in the Landlords building (eg other shops in a shopping centre) have had surveys and indeed the Landlord has surveyed the communal areas etc) is it possible (and legal) to extrapolate the findings of the completed surveys to the company's shop/area. ie No asbestos found in the rest of the shopping centre so no asbestos in the shop. This I beleive is the practical way of doing this but is it legal? Or do ALL premises (and bits of premises) have to have a register of asbestos (requiring an expensive survey etc)even if its very very likely none will be found? I am aware of the Leasing agreement being one of the first places to look and that the Landlord may insist on a survey etc etc. But is this what is required by the Law? Any Thoughts?

Posted By Adrian Watson Dear Tyler, With respect to part two of the question as to whether you can extrapolate, it depends on all the facts. If you had a 1960's shopping centre the answer is definately no, because shop fitters could and did put it in the individual shops when shop fitting in units. In a mid to late 1980's shopping centre, yes because the only material likely to have been used was asbestos cement materials and these generally structural. In any event if you are to extrapolate, carry out type 1 surveys to verify the findings in uninspected properties. Furthermore put policies and procedures in place for finding suspicious materials and train people to identify and sample suspect materials. Regards Adrian Watson

Posted By Michael Daly CAWR2002 Regulation 4 only applies to non-domestic premises which are fifteen years or older. Even if you know for certain that asbestos does not exist in your buildings you still have to produce an asbestos register stating that fact. Obviously in this case the register could be a simple one page document. There are risks associated with extrapolating data from other premises. If you occupy very old premises it is possible improvements were made in the 1960's which could have introduced asbestos onto the site. Just because your neighbour does not have asbestos does not mean you are also asbestos free. The regulation requires you to "pressume that materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence to suppose they do not", my personal opinion is that using data from surveys of other premises does not represent strong evidence. The asbestos register, as with all risk assessments has to be kept up to date - it is not a one-off exercise. I cannot see how you would keep the register up to date having used only extrapolated data. Your landlord and your insurance company may have their own view point on the adequacy of using data from other premises. According to the HSE a Type 1 survey should cost about twenty two pence per square metre and a Type 2 survey should cost about thirty eight pence per square metre. If remediation is required you should be able to obtain a one hundred and fifty per cent tax rebate for the cost of the survey and the remediation thereby reducing your costs significantly.

Posted By Michael Daly Adrian, It would appear you are correct about the fifteen year point and I am wrong. When I did my training to become an asbestos surveyor we were told the regulations would only apply to non-domestic premises that were fifteen years and older. The intention was to bring a new group of buildings into the regulations each year instead of requiring all buildings to be appraised by 21 May 2004. I have spent a Sunday afternoon reading the regulations (without falling asleep) and there is no mention of fifteen years. I will now have to change my literature but it certainly opens up additional business potential. As far as the tax credit is concerned this comes under the Finance Act 2001 for the remediation of contaminated land. The Inland Revenue have accepted the provisions apply to buildings and land. If you have a look at the Inland Revenue web-site look for IM2532. Alternatively there is an article relating to this at http://www.kirkbydiamond.co.uk/news.asp?id=90 Hope this helps