Asbestos (Hansard, 15 June 2004)

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the840W tonnage of materials containing white asbestos in use by the farming industry; and what the total costs of disposal would be at current prices. [176644]

§ Jane Kennedy
Asbestos is present on a large proportion of farms in the form of asbestos cement sheeting. Much, though not all, of this material contains white asbestos. There is no requirement under the new duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises regulation to remove or dispose of asbestos-containing material if it is in good condition. HSE advice is that in this case it is safer to leave it in place and manage it.
The Regulatory Impact Assessment for the new regulation estimated the total cost of compliance for agricultural buildings at a present value of £180 million over the 50 years, 2000–50. There are approximately 163,540 agricultural premises in Great Britain. The cost of disposal was not estimated separately.

§ Mr. Paterson
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when farmers will be expected to be fully compliant with the provisions of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002. [176650]

§ Jane Kennedy
The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 came into force in November 2002 with the exception of Regulation 4: the Duty to Manage Asbestos in Non-Domestic Premises, which came into force on 21 May this year.
Now that the new duty is in force, HSE expects duty-holders to have adopted a precautionary approach to prevent accidental exposure and to deal with emergency situations. They also expect to see a compliance strategy in place, which should set out how and when the specific steps required in the legislation will be complied with.
Assuming these steps have been taken, HSE inspectors do not necessarily require farmers or any group to be fully compliant with the duty to manage asbestos in these early stages.
However, HSE inspectors will take enforcement action where disregard for the Regulation means that people are being put at serious risk of asbestos exposure.