The register is the living document and the survey is where it starts. A survey describes a building on one day; the register is what the duty holder keeps updated as materials are damaged, removed, sealed or found. Regulators, contractors and buyers all ask for the register rather than the survey, and the commonest failure in this whole subject is a good survey filed as a PDF that nobody ever turned into one.
What goes in it
Every identified and every presumed asbestos containing material, where it is, what it was identified as and on what evidence, its condition, its material and priority assessment, the action decided for it, and the date each of those was last reviewed. Where a material was presumed rather than analysed, the register says so, because presumed means treated as asbestos until somebody proves otherwise.
The plan is the other half
The management plan says what will actually be done: who is responsible, how the register is shown to contractors before they start, what the re-inspection interval is, what happens if material is damaged, and how the plan itself gets reviewed. A register with no plan is a list, and a plan with no named owner is a document that will be out of date within a year.
Templates
A template is a convenience and it is not the work. Spreadsheets, survey software and paper folders are all used, and what matters is that the thing is current, is found quickly by somebody who needs it at eight in the morning, and can be handed to a contractor before they open a ceiling. Copying a template without assigning the ownership solves nothing.
Audits and checks
An asbestos audit or check is a review of whether the register still describes the building and whether the plan is being followed. It is quicker and cheaper than a survey, and it is the routine that keeps a survey from expiring. Diary it against the re-inspection interval the survey recommended rather than waiting for a reason.
Questions people ask about asbestos register
Is a register legally required?
The duty is to keep a record of the location and condition of asbestos, to assess the risk and to have a plan for managing it, and to review those. A register is the ordinary way to evidence all three.
Who keeps the register?
The duty holder, meaning whoever is responsible for maintenance and repair of the premises. In practice a managing agent or facilities manager holds it, and the duty stays with the person the lease or the ownership puts it on.
Does a house need one?
A private dwelling is outside the duty to manage. The common parts of a block are not, and a landlord with repair obligations has reason to know what is in the building whatever the duty says.