Asbestos

Risk Assessment

The Control of Asbestos Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 requires employers to carry out an assessment of the risks to a person’s health from asbestos that is present within the workplace. It also requires employers to identify whether their premises contains any asbestos through an asbestos survey and record its location in an asbestos register.

A suitable and sufficient risk assessment is required to assess the potential risk of exposure to asbestos, and appropriate steps put in place to prevent or reduce exposure.

Where there are five or more employees a written copy of the risk assessment should be provided and employees informed of any significant findings from the assessment process.

Understanding when employees and others may be exposed to asbestos fibres is important when conducting a risk assessment. All potential sources of exposure should be identified as well as who is likely to be exposed.

A risk assessment should include full details of the work to be carried out and how long the work is expected to take. It should also include:

• details of the type and quantity of the asbestos;
• details of the expected level of exposure;
• details of the controls to be used to reduce exposure, e.g. use of controlled wetting, adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) or respiratory protective equipment (RPE), or use of enclosures;
• decontamination procedures for tools, equipment and PPE;
• details on how asbestos waste will be managed and disposed of as hazardous waste;
• what will be done in the event of an emergency.

The findings of the assessment should be communicated to employees and anybody else who could be affected. A copy of the risk assessment must be available on site.

A series of advice sheets have been produced by HSE entitled Asbestos Essentials which are available for download here. 

Further information on how to conduct a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is available within the HSE publication EM0. Risk assessments and plans of work.