Good evening, i have a bit of a Dilemma and hopefully someone on here can give guidance. I have recently received Risk Assessments from a licenced asbestos removal company, they have issued but two A4 pages which depict Hazard I am the safety advisor for a demolition company, i personally do not like the electronic /generic Risk Assessments which are being submitted. I prefer to actually spell out to our employees the Hazard identified, Risks associated and control measures which should be taken. We are currently employing a licenced Asbestos removal company to remove AIB residue from timber joists within a building, the building is single storey, with the joists being approximately 3.5 metres from ground slab level. The companies Risk Assessments identified Hazards as being, Working at height, Manual Handling, Poor Lighting, the storing of asbestos waste. The control measures consist of Work from a scaffold tower, nothing whatsoever for manual handling, ensure that good lights are used for lighting and remove asbestos waste to van. I have had three days now of attempting to explain the requirement for more indepth Risk Assessments, which has resulted in a Risk Assessment being emailed to me for working from a MEWP, apparently they think that a scaffold tower is a Mobile elevated work platform. The company are currently in the process of sealing up in readyness for the asbestos strip and have not as yet begun their stripping. My director is worried because there is a 14 day notification period for the asbestos strip and if i make too many waves, we may have to stop them and employ the services of another company, which would ultimately hold up the demolition. My concerns are that we are acting as Principal Contractor, which obviously places certain onuses on our company and being as we are the client to the asbestos removal company, again, there are duties which we are expected to fulfill. The main one being that we ensure that they are competent. But if your Risk Assessments are so sparce, how are you relating H&S information to your workforce. How are you informing them of Hazards, associated Risks and control measures which they should adopt, to ensure that they are not put at Risk. Honestly i feel that i know what is coming, but i felt the requirement to ask on this forum, just in case i have missed something and that it is alright to merely allow your work force to second guess. By the way, aparently the Risk Assesssments were compiled by a reputable H&S consultancy and cleared by the HSE.

the HSE do not 'clear' risk assessments!

A comprehensive plan of work coupled with an associated risk assessment should be in place prior to the 14 day notification period anyway. As a client/ main contractor you are entitled to review this and, where necessary request changes to be made as long as they satisfy CAR 2006 (HSG247/L143). The Licensed Contractor should be used to such requests and be able satisfy the reasonable needs of their clients/ main contractors. Whilst the Licensed Contractor may be focussing on asbestos safety, there is general safety too which is every bit as important. It sounds like the person tasked with doing the risk assessment is not competent. In my experience the RA can be very complex and long winded, but, if thats what the assessment finds then thats what goes in. To then disseminate to the people actually doing the work can be done in a variety of ways. As long the contents of the RA are understood and being followed throughout the job. The HSE will not 'clear' anything that's for sure. We have lodged our general working procedure with them, but, every single job has a specific plan of work and specific risk assessment without exception.