Asbestos Management Plans

May 21, 2022

Sebastian Tiller

Asbestos Management Plans: Manage and Plan Asbestos Safety

All businesses have an obligation to take asbestos management seriously, both for health safety and compliance reasons. Part of this obligation involves the creation of robust and actionable asbestos management plans that:

  • Can be easily disseminated amongst your employees
  • Will update whenever necessary (which will be often)
  • Has some form of data validation to eliminate human error

With a successful asbestos management plan; you are able to record asbestos effectively in an asbestos register, inform your employees that the register has been changed, ensure that they are aware of the consequences of asbestos exposure and provide them with other appropriate measures of control.

What does an asbestos management plan need to do?

The goal of an asbestos management plan is to aid both you and your employees in preventing exposure to asbestos fibres and asbestos containing materials in the workplace. In order to achieve that, there are certain criteria that an asbestos management plan must meet.

These criteria include the following:

An asbestos management plan must be clear in its presentation.

If your asbestos management plan does not specify clear aims, it is objectively useless. It should outline the steps to be taken in the event of asbestos containing material (ACM) identification, as well as the timeline for these steps to take place.

You need to make sure that your asbestos management plan contains the following:

  • the workplace's register of asbestos
  • details of maintenance or service work on the asbestos including:
    • who performed the work
    • the dates it was done
    • the scope of the work
    • any clearance certificates
  • how people at risk are informed about:
    • asbestos in the workplace
    • the risks ACMs pose
    • the control measures in place
  • decisions about management options and the reasons for these decisions
  • a timetable for action, including:
    • priorities and dates for reviewing risk assessments
    • specific circumstances that may affect the timetable
  • monitoring arrangements
  • the responsibilities of people involved in the plan
  • training arrangements for workers and contractors
  • a procedure for reviewing and updating the management plan and the register of asbestos, including a timetable
  • safe work methods

An asbestos management plan must aid asbestos management.

It sounds obvious, but it is worth noting nonetheless. You must write your asbestos management plan in relation to identified or assumed asbestos or ACM, as well as naturally occurring asbestos at your workplace.

To that end, it’s important that your asbestos management plan contains:

  • the identification of the asbestos or ACM (e.g. a reference or link to the asbestos register and location of signs and labels)
  • decisions and reasons about management of asbestos such as:
    • safe work procedures
    • control measures
  • procedures for dealing with incidents or emergencies in relation to asbestos or ACM
  • workers carrying out work involving asbestos i.e:
    • consultation
    • information
    • training responsibilities

An asbestos management plan must be kept up to date.

Your asbestos management plan must be readily accessible to everybody at your workplace, and kept up to date. On top of reviewing your asbestos management plan every five years, you should also review it if:

  • a control measure or the register is reviewed
  • asbestos is removed from, or disturbed, sealed or enclosed
  • the plan is no longer adequate for managing asbestos or ACM at the workplace
  • a health and safety representative requests a review in certain circumstances

What is the best software to use with your asbestos management plan?

Octfolio is a simple yet comprehensive asbestos software solution that gives you full control over the management of your asbestos assets. It contains every function that you need in order to successfully handle all aspects of your asbestos management plan, including;

See Octfolio in action

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Sebastian Tiller

Seb has a long history of delivering elegant solutions to complex business problems that conform to the most exacting compliance standards. He prides himself on his ability to connect with customers and humanise software solutions to be understandable and useful to all parties. He’s also enjoys playing story-based single player games and spending time with his young family, building LEGO, attending recitals, and experiencing new restaurants with his wife.

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