The Landlord's Responsibility
Asbestos in the Home
There is a very good chance that asbestos is present in homes built between the 1950s and the early 1980s. It may also be found in homes built before or after these dates. If it is in poor condition, gets damaged or releases fibres in any way, you and other residents are at risk. If you carry out DIY on asbestos products, you are putting yourself in danger. This factsheet describes the hazards of asbestos, where it could be found in your home and how it should be dealt with. It also covers legal rights and responsibilities and how residents can take action to ensure their safety.
What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a mineral which is resistant to heat, fire and corrosive chemicals. There are three main types: crocidolite (blue), amosite (brown) and chrysotile (white). It is composed of fibres which are so small most can only be detected under a microscope. As asbestos ages, it becomes crumbly or "friable" and fibres are released more easily.
What Illnesses can Asbestos Cause?
The minute fibres can penetrate deep into the lung and remain there more or less indefinitely. Massive exposure to dust can cause scarring of the lung and the respiratory disease asbestosis. Much smaller exposure can cause lung cancer. It can also lead to mesothelioma, a form of cancer almost exclusively due to asbestos exposure, and cancers of the larynx and stomach. All conditions can take 10-40 years to develop and all are fatal. All types of asbestos can kill. Children are especially at risk.
Where is Asbestos Found?
Asbestos was used in all sorts of materials found in the home. The following list is not complete and should only be used as a guide. Combined with different quantities of bonding agent, asbestos was used to lag the steel support framework in tower blocks and services such as heating pipes, electrical conduits and ventilation ducts. In hard-board form it was used on the back of service intake doors, panels at the back of gas fires, bath panels, etc. In plaster-board form it was used as wall board, especially where there are service ducts running behind. It was also used as a filler in textured ceiling and wall coverings like Artex, in linoleum floor tiles and artificial slate roofing. It is found in some storage heaters, ironing boards, brake and clutch linings and garage roofs and walls. It was combined with cement for use in corrugated roofing, pipework, etc. You cannot determine whether a material contains asbestos by visual inspection. Detection requires analysis (see later).
Is Asbestos Still Being Used?
All asbestos imports have been banned in the UK since the mid-1980s. The use of all asbestos containing materials is also banned.
Asbestos Sampling
Sampling for analysis is a special skill and should only be done by qualified people. Taking a piece of solid material from products such as wall panels is called bulk sampling. Taking samples of dust from surfaces is known as wipe testing. Air can be sampled by drawing it through a pump when fibres are retained on a filter. More reliable results are obtained when dust is made airborne by, e.g., opening and closing doors. This is called a disturbance air test.
Asbestos Analysis
There are two standard tests for asbestos both requiring microscopic examination. The cheaper method uses an optical microscope; the more expensive and accurate way is by electron microscopy. Analysis should only be performed by companies with UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) accreditation.
When is Asbestos a Problem?
Asbestos is dangerous when fibres can be released. Even minor damage can produce many fibres, sometimes directly in the area of breathing (drilling a hole, for example). Damage can also be done by wallpaper scrapers, rubbing down asbestos panels or Artex with sandpaper and removing asbestos panels to gain access to services. Asbestos products can also be damaged accidentally if they are scraped, knocked or vandalised. Cutting asbestos with electrical tools and smashing asbestos products with a hammer are extremely dangerous and must be avoided at all costs.
If product containing asbestos is damaged it can continue to give off fibres for a considerable time. In 1985, the London Hazards Centre revealed that even banging a door closed near asbestos wall panels could lead to serious fibre release.
When is Asbestos not a Problem?
If asbestos is removed from your home and disposed of safely, it is no longer a problem. If it is sealed safely ("encapsulated"), then it will not be a problem unless the sealant gets damaged. Further if asbestos is surveyed and managed it can be safely left in situ for years. Unless the asbestos containing material is damaged or emitting particles the HSE recommend that it should be managed and undisturbed.
What Should be Done?
Eventually, all asbestos will have to be removed from buildings. But the amount in homes is so huge that total removal in the short run is not on the cards. Other approaches may need to be taken. In some cases it may be easier to remove all the asbestos from each home in an estate following a programme of works. In other cases it might be better to follow the management approach below. Residents should be fully involved in the planning and execution of this process.
Asbestos Management
All properties should be surveyed to see if there is asbestos present. Any found in a dangerous condition should be removed, preferably, or encapsulated. Asbestos left behind should be put on a public register. All residents should be informed of the asbestos present and of the risk. All properties should be inspected regularly, say every six months. If asbestos is found to be damaged it should be removed or re-encapsulated and the register updated.
Removal versus Encapsulation/Renovation versus Demolition
Encapsulation is often, misguidedly, seen as the cheaper option compared with removal. What is often left out of the equation is the continual need to inspect, test and maintain or remove any asbestos present, which can be time consuming and costly. Renovation of an estate may not be the best option as many have intrinsic design faults on top of the asbestos problem. Demolition and rebuilding may be the better option. Grants from central government available for this kind of work tend to be given only if estates are privatised. Whichever policy is pursued, residents must be allowed to decide what becomes of their homes and estates.
Home Owners
Home owners are responsible for any asbestos in their homes. The law only comes into play if asbestos in private homes could harm anyone other than the owner, obviously this does include paying tenants and people working on the building. Many right-to-buy owners are pursuing compensatory claims against their Council for money for asbestos surveys and removal. There is an obvious argument for special treatment but the bill for local authorities would be massive and there is no commitment by central government. Consult a solicitor with experience of this issue if you are a tenant thinking of making a claim.
Landlords and Tenants
The landlord has responsibility for asbestos. But the law does not spell out exactly what this means. It is clear that the landlord or management company is responsible for all asbestos exposures in the building's public areas. There are a number of lawsuits progressing regarding asbestos exposures in private buy-to-let properties. None have been publically settled most have resulted in out of court payments. Check with your tenants' association or with a law centre or solicitor if you are thinking of taking some action, or if you are being sued. Laws regulating asbestos are divided into those which can be used by tenants to pressure landlords into taking action and those which place a responsibility upon employers to protect the health and safety of their employees and the public.
Landlords and statutory nuisance
The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulation 2002 (CAWR) the law does place specific duties on a landlord in respect of asbestos in their property, The Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990 defines statutory nuisance as "any dust...likely to cause injury...to the public". The Act gives local authorities, through Environmental Health Officers (EHOs), the power to serve abatement notices where premises are in such a state as to be prejudicial to health, or a nuisance. If an Environmental Health Department is not acting upon a complaint, residents should contact their local councillor to add weight to their case. However, local authority tenants must approach the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regarding statutory nuisance as local authority EHOs do not police the authority they work for. If you are unsure who would be able to act in your case, ring both the local HSE office and the Environmental Health Officer at the Town Hall. Action to abate a statutory nuisance may also be taken by an individual through the Magistrates' Court. Anyone considering such action should seek advice from the Magistrates' Court, their local Law Centre or Citizens Advice Bureau.
Workplace safety laws and asbestos
The measures required to protect people whose work may bring them into contact with asbestos will, if properly implemented, usually prevent exposure of the public. There is a general responsibility under Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and a specific requirement under Regulation 3 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987 to protect the health and safety of the general public who may be affected by work activities.
The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations (2002) require landlords to manage the asbestos within environments they control. This means a management plan to assess the risk of exposure to asbestos and to record the assessment, before any proposed work begins. The regulations require an landlord to prevent exposure or to reduce it as far as reasonably practicable. In the case of asbestos encapsulation or removal the landlord is required to prepare a safe working method statement detailing the equipment to be used to protect those carrying out the work and "other persons on or near the site". For example, the method statement should detail whether a protective enclosure will be erected and the proposed methods of safe disposal. Although tenants have no rights in law to see the method statement, private landlords and local authorities should be pressed to release it to tenants.
You should check whether contractors have an HSE licence under the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations which they need for certain types of removal or if they are a member of the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA). The Defective Premises Act 1972 requires a dwelling to be fit for habitation after the work is completed. Section 82 of the Building Act 1984 gives local authorities the right to impose conditions on the demolition of buildings.
Legal Action
Tenants have achieved a number of successes in forcing landlords and local authorities to identify, locate, remove or encapsulate asbestos. In Southwark the local authority pledges to spend £7m to remove asbestos from the Heygate Estate and to survey 10% of its 54,000 homes to establish the likely location of asbestos. In Waltham Forest tenants of three tower blocks with asbestos in the walls vote to have them demolished. Tenants to be rehoused. In Hackney tenants on the Kingshold estate mount a campaign for the safe management of asbestos to reinforce a longstanding campaign to force local authority action on repairs. In Southampton improvement notice was served on the city council when a tenant called in an HSE inspector after being exposed to asbestos during rewiring work. Contractor fined £3000 plus costs. Southampton city council fined £26,000 plus costs. A representative survey of council premises will create a database of materials containing asbestos in council properties. In Birmingham 150 right-to-buy home owners take legal action against the local authority after asbestos is discovered in their homes. Removal will cost £1.5 million.