According to a recent research, 1,060 schools in England are not managing asbestos hazards properly, are not carrying out any risk
management, or are not completely comply with current regulations.
As a result, the government has stepped in and given schools with new asbestos management safety standards to install and observe.
For 2017, the EFA (Education Funding Agency) has released two separate guideline papers.
They’re called ‘Managing Asbestos in Your School’ and ‘Where Asbestos Could Be Found.’
These new documents will take the place of the DFE’s previous ones (Department of Education).
These new guidelines are directed at school administrators, such as principals.
Other instructors and school personnel, as well as duty bearers and governing bodies, will benefit from them.
The rules apply to public schools, private schools, and academies.
Each study includes instructions on how to identify asbestos, assess the hazards, and manage it in schools.
Relevant regulations and links to essential resources, such as the‘HSE asbestos checklist’ and ‘HSE’s priority assessment algorithm,’ are
also provided in the reports.
New asbestos guideline for schools is issued by the government, and a student writes with a pencil.
Asbestos management and advice materials include case studies.
A number of genuine case studies are provided in the ‘Managing Asbestos in Your School’ guide.
For example, in one case, asbestos insulation boards were improperly removed, resulting in the exposure of numerous persons.
The school was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £13,000 in extra costs by the court.
The advice offered to schools is split down into five steps for day-to-day asbestos management:-
A management survey of asbestos containing materials (ACMs) must be undertaken at your school by a United Kingdom Accreditation
Service (UKAS) and in accordance with HSE guidelines. This is required for any structures built before the year 2000.
Examine the potential dangers of ACMs in your school. This must be completed for each asbestos-related finding and consists of three
parts: material, priority, and overall assessments.
Create an Asbestos Management Plan (AMP) that includes specifics on how to notify all employees about the location of ACMs and how
to monitor their status.
Make sure that all employees, visitors, and contractors are aware of the hazards and measures that must be taken, especially the
dangers of pinning children’s work to the walls.
Keep track of asbestos management at your school by keeping track of damage to asbestos and work done on ACMs.
The second paper, titled “Where asbestos may be found,” discusses the many sorts of construction and maintenance activities that may
disturb ACMs.
Teachers hanging decorations from ceiling grids when the ceiling void was contaminated with asbestos material, for example, are
examples of actions that have previously disturbed asbestos in schools.
There are pictures of frequent places where asbestos is found.
Walls, ceilings, window and door surrounds, pipework insulation, and sprayed coatings on structural columns are just a few of the typical
places where asbestos may be found.
“If you do not take the procedures outlined in this advice, you may jeopardise the future health of your employees and students,” the
paperwork cautions.
“Failure to comply with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 might result in prosecution for duty-holders.”
The revised standards were developed following a voluntary assessment of 5,592 schools conducted by the EFA Asbestos Management
in Schools Data Collection Report.
19% of the schools examined were found to be either not completely compliant or not properly managing asbestos hazards.
Furthermore, when it came to asbestos management, a subgroup of 114 schools raised “serious cause for concern,” prompting DFE
action.
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