The plan to bring in amended guidelines for asbestos survey by the HSE this autumn will influence people who conduct asbestos surveys, as well as duty holders since they are the ones ensuring that people and workers are protected from the hazards of asbestos, at their workplace or their house.

The guidelines say that the surveyor and the duty holder must meet at the site before beginning an inspection. Correctness of the inspection report has to be verified, including details like of all the areas covered and the required samples to be collected, by the duty holders.

The impending changes has been confirmed by a firm which has stated that the responsibility under the new guidelines covering inspecting, sampling and analysis of material containing asbestos have to be fully met by both duty holders and asbestos surveyors. COSHH assessor training can be of benefit to organisations to enable them to put together plans to prevent and control the use of hazardous substances so that businesses and employees can work safely – click on COSHH training.

Details of the inspectors like references, insurance and their plans for the locations where samples of asbestos will be acquired and the nuisance it can cause have to be checked by the duty holders. This is because the duty holders are directly responsible for the preparation and implementation of inspections as well as giving data on the assessment of the structure, all dangers already known, number of inspected structures and access information.

Angela Taylor, an expert on asbestos as well as a partner in Shoosmiths legal firm, has welcomed this change in guidelines, placing equal importance on the duty holders and the surveyors, to ensure that the quality of work is maintained at an acceptable level.