On 31 January 2006, the consultation period for the revisions to the Asbestos Regulations and the Approved Code of Practice came to a close. The majority of the changes within the documentation were necessary to implement the amendments required to the European Asbestos Worker Protection Directive (AWPD). A number of the changes are technical and will have little noticeable impact beyond the asbestos abatement industry. Asbestos fibre counting is currently undertaken using the European Reference Method, this will be changed to the World Health Organisation method, the impact of this will be the need for cross training of those involved in asbestos monitoring works. Alongside this we will see the introduction of a uniform Control Limit for asbestos fibres, this will mean that the differentiation between Amphibole and Serpentine asbestos materials will disappear and all asbestos types will now be subject to the same levels of control. The directive requires that this Control Limit be measured over an eight-hour period, in the UK the standard period for measurement of Control Limits is four hours and the proposal is that this should remain thereby providing a higher level of control in the UK than elsewhere in Europe. On this basis it will be important for the HSE to ensure that the correct message and detail of the requirements is issued in the near future to clarify the requirements of the AWPD. The HSE has, within the consultation document, sought agreement to clarify the current regulatory requirements by combining the requirements of the Asbestos Licensing Regulations, the Asbestos Prohibition Regulations and the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations into a single combined set of Control of Asbestos Regulations. This, in conjunction with rationalised supporting documentation, should make the requirements concerning asbestos less confused.
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