ACoP revisions and licensed labour supply
Asbestos-related Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) revisions and licensed labour supply.
This brief note was issued by the HSE and is an update on progress with revisions to the Asbestos-related ACoP and the specific implications this will have for the supply of labour.
A consultation document was circulated earlier in the year, addressing updates to the ACoP following enactment of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. Comments have been received by HSE’s Asbestos Policy team and the new ACoP was due to go before HSE’s Board on 4 December 2013. It will then be subject to Ministerial approval. If the Board and Minister approve, the ACoP’s publication date is currently expected to be 17 December 2013. The Asbestos Licensing Unit (ALU) does not control this process and it is understood that it is possible these dates are subject to change. ALU will add further information on the web-community when it becomes available.
The consultation document removed reference to the provision of labour supply as a licensed activity. Assuming that the document is published in its current form, the provision of labour will no longer be a licensed activity: after the ACoP’s publication ALU will contact all such licensees directly to ask for licences to be returned and licences would be cancelled on HSE’s database.
‘Full’ licence holders have always had responsibility for the competency, adequacy of equipment etc of anyone working on their notified work. Employment duties (under Health and Safety law) remain unchanged and the removal of licensed status for labour supply should help emphasise the notifying licence holders’ responsibilities:
Anyone working under the terms and conditions of a notifying licence holder will be, by definition, an employee and must be provided with suitable and sufficient training, instructions and supervision;
Licence assessment meetings cover the provision of training needs analysis and arrangements for checking competency on an ongoing basis. Therefore, any existing licence has been granted on the basis that such arrangements are in place; licence holders are expected to be able to demonstrate effective arrangements that cover all staff working on a notified job, however they have been sourced;
HSE will issue an update on the HSE Web Communities Site in due course. The ACoP will be ‘live’ as soon as it is published, i.e. there is not a ‘lead-in’ period for changes.