What the Law Requires

The Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989 requires you to protect the health and safety of people who might be affected by your undertaking whether they work for you or not.

Article 3 (3) requires all employers with 5 or more employees to prepare a written health and safety policy document. This should include the arrangements for controlling the risks of exposure to asbestos fibre.

Article 4 sets out the duties of employees. They are required to take reasonable care of themselves and other people who may be affected by the way they work. Employees must also co-operate with their employer and any other person upon whom any legal requirements are imposed, for example, by adopting safe systems of work, wearing appropriate personal protective equipment provided such as respirators etc.

Article 5 requires employers to take into account the effect their work may have on others, including the general public or other groups of workers etc. The self employed must also take into consideration the manner in which they carry out their work and the effect it may have on both themselves and others.

Article 6 requires that persons, in control of premises which are used as a place of work by individuals other than their employees, ensure that any areas which are under their control do not pose a risk to those persons using them.

Article 7 sets out the duties on designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers to ensure that products intended to be used at a place of work can be used safely and without risk to health.

Finally, Article 8 requires that no person shall intentionally or recklessly interfere with, or misuse, anything provided in the interests of health, safety or welfare as required by Law.

Legal precedents have established that common parts of blocks of flats are not part of the private dwelling and are therefore classified as non-domestic, thereby falling within the scope of this ACoP.

This would include foyers, corridors, lifts and lift shafts, staircases, boiler houses, gardens and outhouses.

Owners and occupiers of domestic premises (private dwellings where somebody lives) do not have the same legal responsibilities as the above categories, but it is important to realise that contractors working in or on domestic premises are at work and are therefore subject to the standards set out in this ACoP, even though the owner or occupier may not have any obligations themselves.

The Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989 expands on these duties by requiring employers to assess risks to the health and safety of employees and others who might work on their premises, in order to identify what measures are needed to protect them. Employers must then make appropriate arrangements for the necessary preventative or protective measures.

The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987 (as amended 1998) specifically requires employers to prevent the exposure of employees to asbestos. If this is not reasonably practicable the law says their exposure should be controlled to the lowest possible level. Before any work with asbestos is carried out, the Regulations require employers to make an assessment of the likely exposure of employees to asbestos dust. The assessment should include a description of the precautions, which are to be taken to control dust release and to protect workers and others who may be affected by that work. If we are employing a contractor to work on our installations we must make sure that either, (a) the work will not lead to asbestos exposures or, (b) that they have carried out this assessment and identified work practices to reduce exposures.

The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002. Regulation 4 – The Duty to Manage Asbestos in Non-Domestic Premises 2002. If you own, manage or maintain non-domestic premises you will either have a duty to manage all ACMs on the premises or co-operate with whoever has this responsibility.

Duty Holder: Any person who has by virtue of contract or tenancy, an obligation of any extent in relation to the maintenance or repair of non domestic premises.

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 combined three previous sets of legislation

 Control of Asbestos at Work regulations 2002

 Asbestos Licensing Regulations 1983

 Asbestos Prohibition regulations 1992

Asbestos Licensing (Jersey) Regulations The Regulations came into force on 5 February 2008, and replaced the Asbestos (Licensing) (Jersey) Regulations 1997. Most work with Asbestos insulation, Asbestos coating or Asbestos insulating board is to be carried out only by companies who have been granted a license as issued by the Minister for Social Security. A requirement of licensing is that all work must be pre-notified to the enforcing authority giving 14 clear days notice. Exceptions include, most work with decorative coatings, work of sporadic or low exposure intensity (less than 0.1cm3 over a four or eight hour period or 0.6cm3 over a short term (10 minute) period, (STEL). Short Duration Works: – work of less than one hour for 1 man in 7 consecutive days or two person hours if work is carried out by more than 1 man, subject to the persons being properly trained, all risk assessments in place and all works carried out in accordance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations.

The Asbestos (Prohibition) Regulations 1985 banned the import, supply and use of Crocidolite and Amosite asbestos.

The Asbestos (Prohibition) Regulations 1992 banned the import, supply and use of Actinolite, Anthophyllite and Tremolite.

The Asbestos (Prohibition) Regulations 1999 make it illegal to import, supply or use chrysotile asbestos in the United Kingdom 5 years ahead of the deadline for compliance with the European directive which was January 2005.

NOTE: These Regulations apply to new uses for asbestos. Asbestos containing materials may be left in place and managed.

Waste Management (Jersey) Law 2005. Any asbestos containing material (ACM), regardless of asbestos content is classed as hazardous waste if it is to be disposed of. Building owners must register their premises with Environment Agency prior to disposing of any hazardous waste. A licensed carrier must transport the waste using a consignment note system which includes the unique building reference number issued by the Environment Agency. The hazardous waste must only be disposed of at disposal sites licensed for the particular waste.

AcoP 8 (Jersey) (Approved Code of Practice) provides practical guidance required to meet the legal requirements set out by legislation. If you follow the advice you will be seen to be doing enough to Comply with the Law.

An Approved Code of Practice has a special legal status. Although alternative methods to those set out in the Code of Practice can be followed, the Code is admissible in the courts as evidence of best practice. If you comply with the Code you will be doing enough to comply with the Law; if you do not, you must be able to demonstrate the Law has been complied with in some other way, or the court will find you at fault.

Employers must ensure that any work with Asbestos is covered by their Insurance Policy, as required by the Employer’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Jersey) Law 1973. Employers should also check their policy documents to ensure that work with any Asbestos containing materials is covered (including non-licensed Asbestos containing materials)

The UK Government has released new regulations in 2012 with regards to the Control of Asbestos, these regulations changes can be viewed here – The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012