Asbestos in schools ‘CLASP’ Working Group
Health and Safety Executive
Hope Room, Rose Court,
2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS
Meeting held Monday 26 February 2007
Attending:
- Rosalind Roberts – Chair – HSE, Head of Public Services Sector
- Lorraine Shepherd – HSE, Public Services Sector, Education
- Simon Longbottom - HSE, Public Services Sector
- Janet Price - HSE, Public Services Sector
- Nick Ratty – HSE, Head of Operations, West Midlands
- Martin Gibson – HSE, Specialist Group, Scotland
- Kevin Walkin – HSE, Asbestos Policy Unit
- Garry Burdett – Health & Safety Laboratory (HSL)
- Ruchi Shah-Mehta, HSE, Press Office
- Phil Singleton – Institute of Clerk of Works
- Simon Morley – Nottinghamshire County Council – Surveyor
- Richard Daniels – DfES, Building Services
- Bob Johnson – NASUWT
- Donald Findlay, COSLA
- Steven Sumner, LGE
Apologies:
- David Mackness – SCAPE
- Francis Lee – UNISON
- Fiona Fanning – DfES
- Jonathan Lloyd – WLGA
- Paul Billinger HSE, (Midlands)
1. Welcome and Introductions
Rosalind welcomed everybody to the meeting introducing new members, and apologies were made for non-attendees.
2. Notes of last meeting and matters arising
2.1 Notes of meeting held 13 December 2006 agreed.
2.2 Draft Terms of Reference
These were agreed and signed off subject to the following minor amendments being made:
- title – change title to reflect expanded remit of working group ie encompass all ‘system’ buildings in the public sector
- membership – change DfES details to reflect the need for their representatives to provide technical support
- Extend the life of the Working Group to 30 June 2007
- Amend title of WLGA
ACTION - HSE to amend TOR as above and post on web site
2.3 Local Authority Survey Results from COSLA
Donald Findlay presented the results of the local authority survey on asbestos management in ‘system built’ schools in Scotland. A copy of the findings together with a summary of comments to be distributed to members.
ACTION - Donald Findlay to provide a summary of comments to HSE. HSE to distribute findings of survey to members.
2.4 Wider Communications
A statement explaining the purpose of the working group was circulated to members for comment. Amendments were agreed to reflect the wider remit of the WG in looking beyond just CLASP buildings and including all ‘system’ buildings in the public sector.
ACTION – HSE to amend statement and discuss with press office appropriate use
3. Sampling Strategy (HSL)
3.1 Garry Burdett presented the findings from his assessment of the airborne fibre concentrations in ‘system’ buildings. He acknowledged the difficulty in getting samples from schools and therefore the work was ongoing.
An initial report will be published and made publicly available shortly.
A summary of the main conclusions from the work to date are:
- In any asbestos containing building when direct damage and disturbance to asbestos containing materials (ACMs) is taking place, some airborne asbestos fibre release will occur.
- The amount of release depends on the type/s of ACM being disturbed and the amount and type of disturbance taking place.
- The amount of disturbance and hence the concentration of the airborne asbestos fibres in the adjacent area will be reduced if the ACM is enclosed.
- The amount of reduction depends on how airtight the enclosure is and the level of protection it affords to the ACM from damage and vibration.
- The phase contrast microscopy results to date have shown that by sealing any gaps in the casing at least one to two orders of magnitude reduction in the airborne fibre release is achieved and short term peak emissions during disturbance are below the clearance indicator (0.01 f/ml).
- TEM results from reoccupied classrooms after sealing of the columns have taken place are showing that levels of airborne asbestos are below the background expected for asbestos containing buildings.
- There is at present no significant evidence of any extra benefit from sealing the tops of the columns, for the levels found at room level but this is still under investigation.
- Making the enclosure (column casing) intact is the best way to prevent the release of airborne fibres to occupied areas.
- It is planned to carry out sampling in the air spaces (e.g. ceiling voids) adjacent to the column tops.
- To date the low fibre levels sampled during removal of ceiling tiles and inspection/disturbance of the ceiling void, suggests little asbestos dust has accumulated on top of the ceiling tiles. However, work is ongoing and this will also help to assess the level of risk for maintenance work in the ceiling voids.
3.2 The results of the survey were discussed and it was agreed that on the basis of the evidence so far there is low risk to those working in the offices and classrooms. There is a potential risk to maintenance workers who access and work in the ceiling voids where the ACMs and dust could be disturbed by the work they carry out. Control and supervision of maintenance workers as required by the duty to manage (reg. 4 CAR, 2006) will also reduce exposures to others.
- Richard Daniels questioned the need for duty holders to take action given the low level of risk indicated by the sampling results and in the light of what duty holders are already doing to manage asbestos. However, members agreed that as individual ‘system’ buildings differ that this is an unknown situation and the HSE advice being given to manage the risk and take remedial action as necessary was proportionate and correct.
4. Information Note for education authorities and Governing Bodies as duty holder
4.1 The draft paper was discussed and a number of amendments were agreed including:
- Change of title to reflect wider coverage ie all system buildings in public sector
- Expansion of the ‘action required’ section to include what physical signs to look for.
- Clarification of the guidance on competent person
- Clarification of the guidance on entry to ceiling voids and remediation work at tops of columns
- Clarification of the guidance on PPE
- Additonal sentence on the impact the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme will have on asbestos management.
- Additional guidance about making document readily available for reference/inspection either in asbestos register or health and safety file.
- Additional photo to show gap in column casing
- Enhanced drawing of the sketch of the column detail to better represent the issues
Action:
- Members to confirm these amendments and provide any further comments to HSE via e-mail by Friday 2 March.
- HSE to amend guidance, seek approval from Chair of WG and distribute to duty holders via WG members
- HSE to write formally to DfES to request information about their role as duty holder in relation to the BSF programme.
5. HSE Inspection Initiative
5.1 A draft SIM was circulated to members for comment. The SIM details the background to this asbestos issue and provides a course of action by HSE operational inspectors to (i) ensure duty holders are complying with the law and (ii) provide assurance that they are managing this new asbestos issue. It was agreed that the approach should cover both education and other parts of the public sector where ‘system’ buildings exist. The inspection approach would be enforcement based.
Action – SCAPE to provide HSE with any available information about the owners of other types of system buildings.
6. Press Strategy
6.1 Ruchi Shah-Mehta from HSE’s Press Office attended the meeting to discuss a proactive communications strategy. The main question asked was ‘who is the primary target audience’ and it was agreed that this needed to be put into perspective with the current work taking place on the duty to manage asbestos.
Following discussion it was decided that a press strategy would be drawn up and agreed by the Chair to this working group. This was decided on the basis that any earlier work on this issue may be at risk of being misunderstood. The communications strategy and plan would identify the audience groups and messages and be timed to capitalise on the action that this group and HSE has taken to deal with the issue. The awareness of the issue amongst duty holders had already been addressed with dissemination of guidance, and our communications focus will be to drive duty holder action via a multipier effect of publicising the results of any enforcement work in local press and in relevant journals/sector press.
Action: HSE to draft plan covering who to target, timing, key messages, scale of problem etc.
7. AOB
In view of the extension to the life of the WG it was agreed that a further meeting would be required. Proposed dates will be circulated.
Meeting closed at 4.15pm
