Dear All Your opinion required please :-) What is the opinion of safety professional with regards to the level of information that should be provided to contractors on an asbestos portal? My understanding is that Surveys are to be provided in order for contractors to make an informed decision where they can and cannot carry out intrusive works? It has transpired that the client we are working for has not managed their buildings effectively and that remedial actions/recommendations have not been complete, this has resulted in potential exposure of all of their visitors of their buildings due to debris being left in situ without effective control measures (encapsulation/removal) Question: Do we, as a contractor, have an obligation to ensure that the client has completed remedial actions detailed in asbestos surveys? Or; Is it the general opinion that it would be the client, as the responsible duty holder for this element of control, who should have ensured this, and it would be assumed by contractors as "the norm" that this would have taken place?

Hi Ray It is not CDM works, just general maintenance. I understand that surveys have to be provided, and that has happened. I am more interested in remedial measures following surveys and my following question: Question: Do we, as a contractor, have an obligation to ensure that the client has completed remedial actions detailed in asbestos surveys? Or; Is it the general opinion that it would be the client, as the responsible duty holder for this element of control, who should have ensured this, and it would be assumed by contractors as "the norm" that this would have taken place?

jarsmith If you want a concise answer please make your question simple and clear matey. For starters, maintenance work is normally classfied as a CDM activity - see HSE interpretation below. “construction work” means the carrying out of any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work and includes— (a)the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting out, commissioning, renovation, repair, upkeep, redecoration or other maintenance (including cleaning which involves the use of water or an abrasive at high pressure or the use of corrosive or toxic substances), de-commissioning, demolition or dismantling of a structure; 'Question: Do we, as a contractor, have an obligation to ensure that the client has completed remedial actions detailed in asbestos surveys?' I presume this is before work takes place - if so, the answer is no. The duty to manage asbestos lays with the owner of the building. Your interest should only be in ensuring that your employees are not exposed to the risk of disturbing ACMs. If there is evidence or a suspicion that the client as the duty holder has not carried out remedial works identified in a survey which may create uncontrolled risks to contractors or others, then you need to flag this up to the client before starting work. Once the work has been completed by the contractor it is down to the duty holder to update their asbestos management system based on what work was carried out, where, when, etc.

Again some great answers here and again its the duty holder who has the duty to manage their undertaking

apologies for grammar above :-) where/were etc

I would say that it depends on the work that your contractor is about to do. If (based on the risk assessment) there might be exposition during the activities, your contractor must prepare a management plan and you - must approve it.

You are still working even though it may not be intrusive work and there may be a potential to disturb ACMs depending on the nature of the work. Therefore you need to decide how much of a risk your personnel face because the client has not carried out remedial work as identified in their surveys.