HSE Inspectors Focus on Asbestos Management

6th May 2026

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has marked Global Asbestos Awareness in April by reminding building owners, landlords, and tradespeople to properly manage asbestos risks and follow the law.

HSE inspectors regularly visit sites without warning to check asbestos is being safely managed. If rules are not followed, enforcement action, fines, or prosecution may follow. As mentioned in our last newsletter, the HSE have increased its hourly rates for full cost recovery activities. These new rates came into effect on 1 April 2026 and apply across its main cost recovery areas, including Fee for Intervention (FFI), Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH), and offshore safety.

Inspectors commonly find three main problems:

  • No proper asbestos management plans in place
  • Inadequate training and information for workers
  • Poor procedures for handling work that may disturb asbestos

The HSE says asbestos must be actively managed, not just checked once. This includes identifying it, monitoring its condition, having clear safety plans, and ensuring workers are properly trained.

The legal duty applies to many non-domestic buildings such as offices, schools, factories, shops, hospitals, and places of worship.

Duty holders must:

1. Arrange or review an asbestos survey
2. Record and assess the risk
3. Create a management plan
4. Put the plan into action and keep it updated

Workers in construction are especially at risk and must receive asbestos awareness training before starting work. Any asbestos must be identified before work begins, and only properly trained workers can handle it.

The HSE have also warned of the dangers of poor compliance, highlighting a recent case where a site manager and two companies were penalised after unsafe asbestos removal during demolition. The companies were fined over £88,000 in total.

HSE Inspector, Rob Gidman, said: “Asbestos is a Class 1 carcinogen which is known to kill around 20 tradespeople each week due to past exposure. By failing to ensure the demolition was properly planned and managed, considering the presence of asbestos on site, these companies and the site manager put workers and members of the public at risk of being exposed to a substance known to cause fatal lung disease.

This case should serve as a reminder to those engaged in demolition and refurbishment work that they have responsibilities when it comes to managing the risks associated with asbestos.”

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