Claim repairs must be properly managed to avoid the risk of contact with asbestos. That's the warning from an asbestos seminar held by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Cunningham Lindsey.
Speaking at the seminar, Bill Macdonald, principle inspector at the HSE warned: "It's the drip, drip effect of repeated asbestos exposures that is the killer and if the requirements of the new duty to manage are effectively implemented, around 5,000 lives could be saved over the next 50 years."
The ABI's Gemma Hawes also warned that failure to manage the risks associated with asbestos will lead to "disastrous implications".
In response, Macdonald said that under the HSE's new Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations(CAWR), those responsible for non-domestic buildings must keep records of asbestos containing materials in the building and inform anyone who will be working on them.
He said: "The risk must be assessed, recorded and then managed in both the short and long term, ie., over the next 50 years. It's about learning to live with asbestos - there are more practical problems in removing asbestos than leaving it where it is and managing it."
