Asbestos is a killer. If you breathe in materials containing asbestos, you have a high risk of reduced life expectancy.
Asbestos is not just a problem of the past, although now banned in the UK, it can be present today in any building built or refurbished before the year 2000. So, it’s highly likely your school or college falls in that time window unless you’re in a spangly new build.
So, you’ve got a duty of care to protect your teachers, visitors, pupils and public from this carcinogen, and you must have measures in place to manage asbestos hazards in your school effectively.
This asbestos management in school guide is here to help. We delve into the following key topics:
Who is responsible for managing asbestos in schools?
What are the laws around managing asbestos in schools?
The dangers of asbestos in schools
What damage can asbestos in schools do?
Managing asbestos in your school
Where to start: Asbestos management in schools
Top tips on getting asbestos inspection ready
Asbestos checks: for when the HSE visit
The main pitfalls during asbestos checks in schools
Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous mineral. Seen as a ‘wonder material’, the government labelled it as a versatile material and it was mined for its useful properties. Asbestos was mixed into building materials and woven into fabrics to create strong, heat-resistant, and fire-proof insulation.
Asbestos was used extensively as a building material in Great Britain from the 1950s through to the mid-1980s for a variety of purposes, typically fireproofing and insulation.
Any school building built before 2000 can contain asbestos. When asbestos fibres are inhaled, they can cause serious diseases. To ensure that risks from asbestos in buildings are managed, the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 places duties on those responsible for the maintenance or repair of school premises.
Most school and college buildings contain asbestos. If managed actively and safely, the presence of asbestos in your school or college should not pose a risk to occupants. Poor management of asbestos however can pose serious health risks.
Undamaged, sealed materials will not release fibres. But if materials containing asbestos are disturbed or damaged, asbestos fibres can be released into the air and breathed in by school building occupants. This is more likely to happen as asbestos materials age and deteriorate.
The activities most likely to lead to the disturbance of asbestos materials in schools and colleges are building and maintenance work. Depending on their nature and location, asbestos materials could also be disturbed through vandalism and other everyday impacts on the asbestos material.
Asbestos is most likely to be found in insulating boards, lagging and asbestos cement products in roofing or walls plus sprayed coatings (Artex to you and me!) used as fire protection and acoustic control for structural steelwork.
You may also be surprised to hear that asbestos can also be found in plastics, such as floor tiles, sink pads, cisterns, and toilet seats!
Those responsible for maintenance and repair - known as ‘dutyholders’ – are accountable for protecting others, who work or use the school premises, from asbestos exposure.
In some schools, the responsibility for maintenance or repair is shared, for example between a local authority as the employer and the school. In other schools, the responsibility may fall solely to a governing body as the employer. All ‘dutyholders’ must ensure that any asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) are managed properly.
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 came into force on 6 April 2012. Failure to comply with these regulations is a criminal offence. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigates incidents where dutyholders fail to manage the risks and takes enforcement action where appropriate.
There are actually different colours of asbestos:
All asbestos is odourless, tasteless and its colour is indistinguishable unless inspected under a microscope so it’s possible to be exposed to its menace whilst being blissfully unaware of it burrowing into your chest!
Asbestos causes around 5,000 deaths every year according to the HSE, which is more than the number of people killed on the road! So, although the fibres are small they can certainly have a significant negative impact when they are disturbed.
When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. When these fibres are inhaled, they can cause serious diseases. These diseases won’t affect your school’s occupants immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything. This is why it is important that you protect yourself and those in your school now.
What makes asbestos in schools more dangerous than other minerals is that it doesn’t break down into small grains, but rather the tiny fibres we mentioned earlier. These are thinner than human hair which makes them brilliant candidates for building a blockage inside our lungs, causing gradual breathing difficulties.
Areas within your school buildings that are particularly high risk include:
Remember, although these are the most likely uses and places where asbestos will be found, asbestos was used in many other materials. If in doubt, it is safer to presume that a material contains asbestos unless there is strong evidence that it does not.
Inhalation of asbestos fibres can lead to various dangerous lung conditions, including:
Asbestos isn’t an instant killer, but it can stay in your system and slowly damage your organs for 10-60 years so unlike quitting smoking or going on a diet, you can’t reverse the effects.
Asbestos is now notorious as a serious health and safety hazard.
If you have carpenters, plumbers, electricians, builders, decorators, or any other person coming into your school or college that may come into close contact with asbestos and damage its structure through hammering, drilling, or cutting, you need to be aware of the risks and keep everyone in and visiting your school safe from its fibrous jaws.
Young people are also at greater risk of danger as they’re still developing, but that doesn’t mean your older teachers, helpers etc are off the hook either!
The HSE are prioritising asbestos management in schools and have announced that schools must be ready for imminent asbestos inspections, so it’s important to be prepared so you’re not caught out if you’re paid a visit.
Here are our insider tips on how to prepare for when the call comes in or the HSE arrive at your school reception.
If you’ve not already got an asbestos survey, this is definitely the place to start. Without a survey you won’t know if there’s any asbestos on your site, what condition it’s in, and if there’s any action needed, so it’s a fundamental first step.
We’re all for saving money for your school by doing as much as possible yourself but asbestos is such a specialist area that we’d really recommend getting a good quality survey carried out by an accredited UCAS UK surveyor. Getting these foundations right is critical to effectively and safely managing asbestos on your school site so it’s worth the investment.
The surveyor (make sure you see evidence of appropriate experience and training!) will carry out a thorough assessment of your site, really examining everything in minute detail.
The outcome of this survey will provide you with information on what Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) you have in your school building that your building users may come into contact with in the normal school day-to-day running of things.
If you’re going to undertake maintenance, refurbishment, or any type of work within your school or college, even if it’s just installing IT cabling, you should not ideally perform any of these until you’re sure the people carrying out the work won’t be encountering asbestos. So, in this situation, you’ll need a Maintenance/Refurbishment Survey in addition to your day-to-day asbestos survey.
The HSE have a handy asbestos management for schools checklist that will assist you in reviewing asbestos management arrangements. It takes you through a range of questions to check whether suitable precautions are in place, and you can record further action required.
Now you’ve got your asbestos survey in place that’s a great start, but there are some other critical elements you need in place to ensure you’re fully compliant.
So, you’ve got all your documentation, plans, training, and briefings, in place but what is it that the HSE are specifically going to ask when they come knocking or call your reception?
All non-domestic premises built before the year 2000 must have an asbestos management plan.
Asbestos that’s identified is usually detailed in an asbestos register.
Asbestos in a good condition means that it is being managed properly.
This usually comes in the form of a priority risk assessment. These assessments look at the risk of people being exposed to asbestos and not just the asbestos material itself.
The good news is if you’ve got a robust asbestos survey, risk assessment and action plan in place for your school, none of the above will cause a problem. But it’s key to make sure you’re prepared ahead of that knock on the door or call to reception.
A few years back the HSE ran some asbestos inspections across a range of schools and issued 20 improvement notices.
There were some common areas the schools needed to make improvements to be fully compliant. Here we share the key areas they tripped up on so you can ensure you avoid them when it’s your turn for inspection.
Take a look at our Free Be Asbestos Ready Toolkit – it contains everything you need to swot up on asbestos including our awareness course, asbestos materials checklist, how to prepare for an HSE inspection, how to ensure you’re compliant and how to spot asbestos in your school. It’s your one-stop shop for all things asbestos!
Download Your Free Be Asbestos Ready Toolkit
Want to see if iAM Compliant is right for your school? Book a quick no-obligation demo with the team to discuss your particular needs.