UKAS Accredited Asbestos Inspection Bodies
The Asbestos Inspection Bodies initiative is a collaboration project which highlights UKAS Accredited organisations as the first choice for companies who have to commission surveys for asbestos.
The site is sponsored by UKAS Accredited Organisations in the UK who have the necessary training and experience in all aspects of survey work including survey planning, resources, technical specification, quality control and ACM assessment criteria.
Welsh hospital under further asbestos-management scrutiny
The Welsh Government has launched an independent review into the management of asbestos at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth.
The hospital failed to implement effective controls to manage asbestos after a survey in 2004 found the substance in stairwells and lift shafts. The unsafe practices, which required maintenance workers to operate in these areas, continued until 2009, when they were quickly identified by the hospital’s new Health Board and reported to the HSE.
However, the HSE was powerless to pursue a prosecution over the asbestos breaches because of a legislative error, which failed to ensure that issues of previous corporate criminal responsibility were transferred to the Hywel Dda Local Health Board when it was created – along with six others – in 2009, as part of NHS reforms in Wales.
The chief executive of NHS Wales, David Sissling, has now commissioned an independent review into the management of asbestos at the hospital, so that lessons can be learned for the wider organisation. The review will be undertaken alongside the ongoing investigation by the HSE and the internal inquiry by the Health Board.
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Belvedere school closed following asbestos discovery
A Belvedere school has been closed following the discovery of asbestos in the school hall.
Traces of asbestos were found at Belvedere Infant School, in Mitchell Close, on November 17 and the school was closed as a safety precaution the following day.
All lessons have been suspended until December 1 and the school itself is not expected to open again until February next year.
Bexley Council is working with the school to provide alternative arrangements for children while the school remains closed.
The school assures parents children will be taught in the same class groups and by the same teachers when the school re-opens.
Headteacher Linda Mulley said: “This is an unexpected period of disruption for our children and I appreciate the patience that children, parents and carers have shown while we are putting final arrangements in place. Read More
The Great British Asbestos in Buildings Survey 2011 – Now Closed
Earlier this year, British asbestos campaigners launched a national survey exploring general awareness and understanding of asbestos in buildings and the regulations designed to protect UK workers from being exposed to asbestos in their workplace.
The survey was developed in conjunction with the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) the organisation that currently accredits over 100 asbestos inspection bodies to carry out asbestos surveys.
The survey was promoted across all industries via the UK’s leading trade associations and trade unions, membership organisations and industry institutions. Tradesmen, building occupiers, dutyholders, clients, FM’s, property managers of non-domestic buildings were encouraged to take the survey.
We had an overwhelming response and would like to thank all of those that took the survey.
Survey findings and results are being collated and these will be available in the next couple of weeks.
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University fined for asbestos failings
Lincoln University has been fined for putting staff, students and contractors at risk of exposure to asbestos.
The failings came to light on 24 February 2010 when a lecturer became trapped in a room after a door lock broke. She enlisted the help of a colleague to release her and once freed, they noticed debris around the door handle.
They notified the university’s health and safety department which examined the door and others in the area, and discovered most were lined with asbestos insulating board (AIB), and that some were damaged.
The university notified the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which carried out its own investigation. It was found that a number of areas across the university’s estate had been subject to asbestos surveys over a number of years and many areas were found to contain asbestos-containing materials or even asbestos debris, yet no remedial action had been taken. Read More