Asbestos Management Survey: what the job involves and who is licensed to do it

How asbestos management survey works

1. Understand what it is allowed to disturb. A management survey involves minor intrusion and minor disturbance only. The surveyor lifts a ceiling tile, looks behind a panel, samples what is reachable. Sealed floor voids, the inside of a wall and the underside of a screed are not opened, so a management survey never claims a building is free of asbestos.
2. Record the material and priority assessments. Each material found is scored twice: a material assessment for how readily it would release fibres if disturbed, and a priority assessment for how likely disturbance actually is in that location. The two together are what turn a list of materials into a plan, and a report with only the first is half a survey.
3. Turn the report into a register. The duty to manage is discharged through a written record and a plan, not through owning a survey. The register lists every presumed and identified material, its location and its condition, and it is the document a contractor should be shown before starting any work in the building.
4. Set a re-inspection interval. Condition changes. Materials get knocked, get damp, get drilled through by somebody who was not shown the register. A management survey normally comes with a recommended re-inspection interval, and the interval is the part of the report that quietly expires if nobody diaries it.
5. Know when it stops being enough. The moment refurbishment or demolition is planned, the management survey is no longer the right document, because the work will reach places it was never allowed to look. A refurbishment and demolition survey is what that work needs, and it is a different scope and a different price.

Paperwork and evidence

Common questions

Does a management survey mean my building is safe?

It means the asbestos that could be disturbed in normal use has been located and assessed, and that there is a plan for it. It does not mean there is no asbestos in places the survey was not allowed to open.

Who has the duty to manage?

Whoever is responsible for maintenance and repair of the non-domestic premises, which is usually the owner or, where a lease puts repairs on the tenant, the tenant. Where a lease is silent the duty follows the person in control of the premises.

How often should it be re-inspected?

There is no single legal interval. The survey should recommend one based on the condition and location of what it found, and the duty holder has to keep the assessment up to date, which means re-inspecting and recording rather than filing the report.

Do I need one for a house I rent out?

The duty to manage does not apply to a purely domestic dwelling, but it does apply to the common parts of a block of flats. Landlords still have repair duties that make knowing about asbestos in the building sensible.

Licensed contractors by county