The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reviewed the latest international scientific, technical and workplace evidence on the asbestos control limit.
The review followed HSE’s published workplace exposure level-setting process. It concluded that the Great Britain asbestos control limit (CL) will remain at 0.1 fibres per millilitre (f/ml), measured as a four-hour, time-weighted average (TWA).
Undertaken in response to the European Union’s (EU) decision to reduce its occupational exposure limit (OEL) for asbestos, and the 2022 Work and Pensions Committee report, HSE’s approach to asbestos management, the review concluded that, currently, there is no clear evidence that lowering the GB CL in law would reduce current or future exposures and improve health outcomes.
HSE’s chief scientific adviser, Professor Andrew Curran, said: “The current regulatory framework, which requires exposures to be reduced as low as reasonably practicable, already provides robust protection for workers handling asbestos.
“In addition, we found that lowering the Great Britain control limit would in practice bring most asbestos-related work into the scope of licensable activity, imposing significant costs on businesses without a corresponding reduction in exposure risk.”
The review noted the practical difficulties in measuring lower levels of exposure, which would be a barrier to accurately implementing a lower limit and could introduce risk.
It found that most asbestos work is already designed to minimise exposure to well below the control limit through effective control measures, when requirements are followed. Its findings stated that training, competence, site discipline and regulatory enforcement have greater influence on reducing asbestos exposure risks than changing numerical limits.
Asbestos awareness
The HSE says it will continue to monitor emerging evidence and international developments, including the EU’s planned review in 2029.
In April, and to mark Asbestos Awareness Week, the regulator made several workplace visits to check if asbestos was being managed in compliance with the legal requirements. It followed a prosecution in March, which resulted in a site manager receiving a suspended prison sentence, after failing to appoint a licensed contractor to manage the clear-up of a large-scale asbestos disturbance.
The legal duty to manage asbestos applies to a wide range of non-domestic and multi-occupancy premises and to building owners, landlords and those responsible for maintenance and repair. It ultimately requires proactive management and monitoring.
