Permit to Work Asbestos
Health & Safety Xpert™ Total Toolkit is an easy to use software package that will save you massive amounts of time producing crucial health and safety documentation legally required under current UK law. This includes the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and the new Construction Design Management (CDM) Regulations 2007.
The Permit to Work Asbestos printout is available with Health and Safety Xpert Total Toolkit. Click here to view a sample Permit to Work Asbestos PDF.
The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006 require employers or the self-employed to prevent exposure at work to asbestos or, where this is not reasonably practicable, to ensure that exposure is kept as low as possible – and in any event below the control limit for asbestos. This regulation requires employers, or those in control of premises to:-
- Find out if there any asbestos containing materials (ACM) in the premises, how much there is and its condition
- Produce and maintain records of the location of the ACM
- Ensure a competent person assesses the risks from ACMs
- Prepare a plan to show how the risks will be managed
- Carry out all work in accordance with The Asbestos Essentials Task Guidance Sheets downloadable from http://www.hse.gov.uk
For any work involving asbestos, including maintenance work that may disturb it, a written plan of work (method statement) must be drawn up before work starts following the Risk Assessment. This is then normally be formalized into a specific Permit to Work for Works on or near Asbestos, applicable to a particular task.
Employers must make sure their employees follow the plan of work as far as is reasonably practicable to do so. Where unacceptable risks to health and safety are discovered whilst work is in progress, any work affecting asbestos must be stopped except for that necessary to render suitable control and prevent further spread. The plan of work should identify procedures to adopt in the light of such emergencies.
A license from the HSE is required to carry out works unless:-
- Exposure is sporadic and of low intensity (i.e. not exceeding 0.6 fibres per cm3 over 10 minute period) and
- It is clear from the risk assessment that exposure will not exceed the control limit and
The work involves:-
- Short, non-continuous activities (e.g. 1 person not exceeding 1 hour per week or total time spent by all workers not exceeding 2 hours per week)
- Removal of materials where fibres are firmly linked in a matrix (e.g. cement, decorative coatings, paints, bitumen, plastic, resin, vinyl tiles, electric cables, roofing felt, gaskets, washers, ropes and seals)
- Encapsulation, sealing, air monitoring and sample collecting
Use the Permit to Work Asbestos included with Health and Safety Xpert software to help you control hazardous work and authorise specific persons to undertake particular tasks in a designated area. The Permit to Work is designed to help you define the safety precautions to be taken depending on the nature of the work being performed and the hazards involved. You should use it to record the methods to be used and precautions to be taken which should be agreed to by all parties concerned beforehand and clearly stated on the Permit to Work. The Permit to Work must be signed off by all parties before any work commences. Permits to Work are only valid for specific short periods of time and therefore help you to monitor the on going use of suitable safe systems of work.
It is important to file these records so that they could be consulted by an inspector if necessary.