Download Asbestos Licensing Unit

Asbestos Licensing Unit
Information for clients concerning licensed work with asbestos
The purpose of a Supervisory Licence
Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006
Asbestos Licensing is a permissioning regime, one of only a very few that operate in the
United Kingdom. The Heath and Safety Commission’s (HSC) Policy Statement on ‘Our
approach to permissioning regimes’, which is available from the Health and Safety
Executive’s (HSE) website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/permissioning.pdf gives
information. You will see that licensing is an addition to the general framework of health and
safety law and is very resource intensive, and builds on the fact that the legal duty to
manage risks lies with the organisations that create them.
Therefore, licences will only be granted to organisations that actually require the licence to
carry out their undertaking and meet the requirements needed to be granted the licence.
Licences will not be granted when a licence is not required.
A supervisory licence holder is assessed by HSE on their ability to act as the supervisor of
a licensable job, directly supervising the work and in effect doing the job of the supervisor of
the licensed contractor working with the asbestos. They are therefore part of the licensed
contractor team carrying out the asbestos work when carrying out supervisory work under
the conditions of their licence.
HSE has not assessed their ability to manage projects, carry out quality assurance work or
analytical work.
Project management, development and installation of asbestos management systems and
quality assurance, can play a vital role in improving the health and safety of workers and
ensuring clients get best value when appointing licensed contractors to carry out asbestos
removal. Effective project management can greatly improve the overall performance of an
asbestos contract. However, none of these activities require a licence.
Clients are misguided in asking for a supervisory licence to work with asbestos when
it is not required.
GREG HAYWOOD
Head of Asbestos Licensing Unit
Belford House, 59 Belford Road, Edinburgh EH4 3UE
Tel: 0131 247 2135 Fax: 0131 247 2143
www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos
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