Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Education
1. During 2007/08 HSE inspectors contacted public sector duty holders with responsibility for system built schools and other premises and requested information about the management of asbestos and, in particular, confirmation of the action taken in response to advice issued by HSE in October 2006 (this guidance is attached at Annex 2) and March 2007(this guidance is available from HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/education/asbestos.htm) about potential release of asbestos fibres from poorly sealed columns in CLASP and other system constructed buildings.
2. Full and detailed replies were received from the majority of the duty holders contacted. These indicated that the standard of compliance and strength of asbestos management arrangements were generally good and that action had been/was being taken in response to HSE advice on system buildings. Other sources of information available from employer organisations support this finding.
3. HSE Inspectors carried out 130 sample visits to CLASP and other types of system buildings built between 1945 and 1980 to check compliance with the duty to manage asbestos. The sample visits were targeted on the basis of an inadequate duty holder response to the initial contact. 120 of the visits made were to school sites. The nine non school visits comprised 2 universities, 4 colleges, 2 community centres, 1 demolition site (CLASP school) and 1 LA head office.
4. 20 Improvement Notices were served on school sites. 18 of these were to schools under the control of two local authorities in the West Midlands and 2 were to a school under the control of a local authority in London.
5. In September 2006, it was reported to HSE that following window replacement and associated asbestos removal work at a ‘CLASP’ system built school in South Wales, contractors recorded total fibre in air measurements above the clearance test level when they deliberately struck parts of the metal casing around the building columns as part of routine disturbance testing.
6. CLASP (and other system types) are steel framed buildings. There is an assumption that the steel columns are clad with asbestos containing materials (ACMs) as these were widely used in system buildings constructed between 1945 and 1980. The ACM is encapsulated within a metal casing, which in some cases is fixed to the ACM using screws. In some circumstances there are gaps in the metal casings of various dimensions and/or the casing may be loose.
7. The foreseeable circumstances that could lead to a potential release of asbestos fibres from the casings require a combination of the following events to occur together:
8. The majority of system buildings are schools in the public sector. It is HSE's understanding that there are more than 1400 school sites with CLASP (and/or other system types) buildings.
9. In October 2006, HSE circulated an advisory note (attached at Annex 2) to Local Authority Directors of Education and School Governing Bodies informing them of the potential for release of asbestos fibres and asked them to visibly check their CLASP (and other system type) school buildings, identify any gaps in the casings and seal any that were found using silicone sealant and if necessary, tape. Research by the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) subsequently demonstrated that sealing column casing gaps in this way is effective in preventing fibre release. Two reports HSL/2007/22 - ‘Summary of Fibre Concentrations in CLASP Construction Schools containing Asbestos’ and RR624 – ‘Further measurements of fibre concentrations in CLASP Construction Buildings’ are available to download from HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/information.htm and http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr624.htm respectively.
10. SCAPE System Build Ltd also wrote directly to all known owners/duty holders of non-school CLASP buildings to alert them to this concern. HSE provided information at all relevant stakeholder group meetings.
11. An HSE led stakeholder group developed specific guidance for duty holders. This was disseminated in March 2007 to all local authorities, education authorities, schools and other public service duty holders with identified system buildings. The guidance and the minutes of the Stakeholder Group meetings are publicly available on HSE’s website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/education/asbestos.htm
12. From April 2007 to March 2008 HSE inspectors contacted directly those public sector duty holders identified as having responsibility for system buildings and requested written information about the management of asbestos and confirmation of the action taken in response to HSE advice.
13. The majority of duty holders’ written responses indicated that there was generally good compliance with the duty to manage asbestos and that action had been/was being taken in response to HSE advice. The table at Annex 1 summarises the findings of HSE’s contact with dutyholders identified from information provided by SCAPE and subsequent information provided by ITN following their e-mail survey of local authorities.
14. HSE inspectors carried out 130 sample visits to CLASP and other types of system constructed buildings, targeted on the basis of an inadequate duty holder response, to verify conditions, check what action had been taken in response to HSE advice and examine the implementation of the asbestos management plan. The majority of the visits were to school sites.