Who Should Report Asbestos? Duties, Documentation and the Law
Asbestos doesn’t just disappear when a building is renovated or demolished. Someone has a legal duty to report it, document it, and ensure it’s handled correctly — and getting that wrong can mean serious fines, prosecution, or worse, preventable harm to workers and the public.
Understanding who should report asbestos is not a bureaucratic nicety. It’s a legal obligation with real consequences. Whether you’re a property owner, employer, contractor, or facilities manager, this post sets out exactly where the responsibilities lie, what the law requires, and how to stay on the right side of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Why Reporting Asbestos Matters
Asbestos remains the single largest cause of work-related deaths in the UK. It’s present in a significant proportion of buildings constructed before 2000, and the risk doesn’t come from asbestos simply existing — it comes from disturbing it without proper controls in place.
Reporting obligations exist to create a clear paper trail: who found the asbestos, what type it is, where it’s located, what risks it poses, and how it will be managed or removed. That trail protects workers, occupants, future contractors, and the environment.
Without it, asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) get disturbed by workers who don’t know they’re there. Fibres become airborne. People are exposed. The diseases that follow — mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, diffuse pleural thickening — can take decades to develop but are invariably fatal or severely debilitating.
Who Should Report Asbestos: The Legal Framework
The primary legislation governing asbestos in the UK is the Control of Asbestos Regulations. These regulations establish a clear chain of responsibility and set out exactly who must report, notify, and document asbestos-related activity.
The short answer to who should report asbestos is: anyone who has a duty of care over a building or its occupants, and anyone who carries out or manages work involving ACMs. In practice, this means:
- Duty holders — building owners, landlords, and those responsible for the maintenance of non-domestic premises
- Employers — anyone who directs workers to carry out tasks that could disturb asbestos
- Principal contractors — those managing construction or refurbishment projects
- Licensed asbestos contractors — when carrying out notifiable licensed work
- Property managers and facilities managers — where they hold delegated responsibility for the building
It’s worth noting that the duty to manage asbestos applies to non-domestic premises. Residential landlords also have obligations, particularly in communal areas of multi-occupancy buildings.
The Duty Holder’s Reporting Obligations
If you’re the duty holder for a building, your first obligation is to carry out — or commission — a suitable and sufficient asbestos survey. This must be done in line with HSG264, the HSE’s guidance on asbestos surveys.
The survey identifies ACMs, assesses their condition, and informs a management plan. That management plan must be written down, kept up to date, and made available to anyone who might disturb the building fabric — including maintenance workers, contractors, and emergency services.
This is itself a form of reporting: a formal record that asbestos has been identified, assessed, and is being managed. For most occupied buildings, the appropriate starting point is a management survey, which provides the baseline documentation your duty of care requires.
What the Asbestos Register Must Include
The asbestos register is the cornerstone of asbestos management. It must record:
- The types of asbestos identified (chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, etc.)
- The precise location of each ACM within the building
- The condition and risk rating of each material
- Any decisions made about management, encapsulation, or removal
- Dates of inspections and any changes to the register
Failing to maintain an accurate, updated register isn’t just poor practice — it’s a breach of the Control of Asbestos Regulations and can result in enforcement action by the HSE.
Employer Reporting Duties Before Asbestos Work Begins
Before any asbestos work takes place, employers have specific notification duties depending on the type of work involved. The regulations divide asbestos work into three categories: non-licensed work, notifiable non-licensed work (NNLW), and licensed work. Each carries different obligations.
Notifiable Non-Licensed Work (NNLW)
For NNLW, employers must notify the relevant enforcing authority — usually the HSE — before work starts. This notification must be submitted at least 14 days in advance, unless there’s an emergency, and must be completed online through the HSE’s notification portal.
Alongside the notification, employers must:
- Ensure workers have received appropriate training
- Provide suitable personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Arrange health surveillance for workers — required at least every three years
- Keep records of the work and the workers involved for a minimum of 40 years
That 40-year record-keeping requirement reflects the long latency period of asbestos-related diseases. A worker exposed today might not develop symptoms for 20 or 30 years — and those records may be the only evidence of what happened.
Licensed Asbestos Work
For higher-risk activities — such as removing asbestos insulation, asbestos insulating board, or sprayed asbestos coatings — a licence from the HSE is required. Licensed contractors must notify the HSE before each job, maintain detailed records, and produce a written plan of work before any removal begins.
Only licensed contractors can legally carry out this category of work. If you’re commissioning asbestos removal in your building, verifying that the contractor holds a current HSE licence is not optional — it’s a legal requirement on your part as the client.
Reporting Asbestos Incidents Under RIDDOR
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) create a separate but related reporting obligation. Under RIDDOR, certain asbestos-related events must be reported to the HSE.
These include:
- A diagnosis of an asbestos-related disease in a worker — including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and diffuse pleural thickening — where this is linked to their current or past employment
- Accidental releases of asbestos fibres that could expose workers or members of the public
- Dangerous occurrences involving asbestos during demolition or construction
The responsibility to report under RIDDOR sits with the employer — or, in the case of self-employed workers, with the person in control of the premises. Failure to report is a criminal offence.
What Must Be Included in an Asbestos Removal Report
When asbestos is removed — whether by a licensed contractor or under NNLW conditions — documentation must accompany the work. An effective asbestos removal report is not a brief summary. It’s a detailed record that covers the entire process from survey to disposal.
Identification and Risk Assessment
The report must clearly identify the type and location of all ACMs removed. This should cross-reference the asbestos register and the pre-removal survey. It must also include a risk assessment — detailing the potential for fibre release, the proximity of other workers or building users, and the controls put in place to manage exposure.
Safe Removal and Disposal Procedures
The report must document the methods used to remove the asbestos safely. This includes the use of enclosures, airlocks, negative pressure units, RPE (respiratory protective equipment), and decontamination facilities. Air monitoring results — confirming that fibre levels remained within safe limits throughout — should be included where applicable.
Disposal is equally important. Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations, asbestos waste must be properly packaged, labelled, stored, and transported to a licensed waste facility. Any asbestos waste containing more than 0.1% asbestos fibres is classified as hazardous waste and must be handled accordingly. Waste transfer notes must be retained — records of disposed asbestos waste should be kept for at least two years.
Common Failures in Asbestos Reporting
Despite clear legal obligations, asbestos reporting failures are common. The HSE regularly identifies the same recurring problems during inspections and investigations.
Incomplete or Vague Survey Reports
An asbestos survey that doesn’t clearly identify every ACM, or that uses imprecise language about location, is effectively useless as a management tool. If a contractor can’t determine from the survey whether a particular ceiling tile or floor covering contains asbestos, they may disturb it without taking precautions — with potentially serious consequences.
Surveys must be conducted in line with HSG264 by a competent surveyor. The type of survey — management survey or refurbishment and demolition survey — must be appropriate to the work being planned.
Failure to Update the Asbestos Register
An asbestos register that was accurate when first compiled can become dangerously misleading if it’s not updated after removal work, building alterations, or re-inspection. Every time ACMs are removed, encapsulated, or their condition changes, the register must be updated to reflect this.
The register itself should be reviewed at regular intervals — and immediately following any work that affects ACMs. Employers must also maintain health records for workers involved in licensed asbestos work for 40 years after their last entry.
Not Notifying the HSE in Time
The 14-day advance notification requirement for NNLW catches out many employers, particularly those who don’t realise the work they’re planning falls into this category. If you’re unsure whether a job requires notification, the safest course is to treat it as though it does — or to seek advice from a qualified asbestos consultant before work begins.
Who Should Report Asbestos in Specific Settings
The question of who should report asbestos becomes more nuanced depending on the type of property and the work being carried out.
Commercial and Industrial Buildings
In commercial premises, the duty holder is typically the building owner or the organisation with overall control of the premises. Where the building is let, the lease will usually determine whether responsibility sits with the landlord or the tenant — though this doesn’t override statutory duties.
In practice, both parties may share obligations, and it’s worth seeking legal clarity on where responsibility falls before any refurbishment or maintenance work is commissioned.
Schools and Public Buildings
Schools, hospitals, and other public buildings have the same legal obligations as any other non-domestic premises. The duty holder is usually the governing body, trust, or local authority. Given the volume of people — including children — who use these buildings, robust asbestos management and reporting is especially critical.
Any contractor working in a school or public building must be provided with the asbestos register before work begins. Failure to do so puts both the contractor and the duty holder at risk of prosecution.
Residential Properties with Communal Areas
For residential blocks of flats, the duty to manage asbestos applies to communal areas such as corridors, stairwells, and plant rooms. The landlord or managing agent is typically the duty holder for these areas.
Individual domestic dwellings are not covered by the duty to manage, but landlords should still be aware of ACMs and manage them responsibly — particularly when planning maintenance or improvement works.
When Refurbishment or Demolition Is Planned
If your building is due for significant refurbishment or demolition, the reporting obligations change substantially. A standard management survey is no longer sufficient — you need a refurbishment and demolition survey before any intrusive or structural work begins.
This type of survey is more invasive by design. It involves accessing areas that may be disturbed during the work — above ceilings, within wall cavities, beneath floors — to identify all ACMs that could be encountered. The findings feed directly into the removal plan and the notifications that must be submitted to the HSE.
Skipping this step is one of the most serious failures in asbestos management. Workers who begin demolition or strip-out without a completed refurbishment survey are at significant risk of uncontrolled asbestos exposure.
Getting the Right Survey in Place
The foundation of any asbestos reporting obligation is a proper survey. Without knowing what’s in your building, you can’t manage it, report on it, or ensure contractors are kept safe.
Supernova Asbestos Surveys provides surveys across the UK, including asbestos survey London, asbestos survey Manchester, and asbestos survey Birmingham — all carried out by qualified, experienced surveyors in line with HSG264.
Both survey types produce the documentation you need to fulfil your reporting obligations, protect your workers, and demonstrate compliance to the HSE. Acting before work begins — not after an incident — is always the right approach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is legally responsible for reporting asbestos in a commercial building?
The duty holder — typically the building owner, landlord, or the person or organisation with overall control of the premises — holds the primary legal responsibility. Where a building is leased, the lease terms may determine whether responsibility sits with the landlord or tenant, but statutory duties cannot be contracted away. Employers who direct workers in the building also carry reporting obligations for any work that could disturb ACMs.
Does asbestos need to be reported to the HSE before removal work starts?
Yes, in most cases. For notifiable non-licensed work (NNLW), employers must notify the HSE at least 14 days before work begins using the online notification portal. For licensed asbestos work — which covers higher-risk removal activities — licensed contractors must also notify the HSE before each job. Failure to notify in time is a breach of the Control of Asbestos Regulations.
What records must be kept after asbestos is removed?
After removal, duty holders and employers must retain waste transfer notes for at least two years. Health records for workers involved in licensed asbestos work must be kept for 40 years. The asbestos register must be updated to reflect any ACMs that have been removed, and the overall management plan should be reviewed to ensure it remains accurate and current.
Do residential landlords have to report asbestos?
The duty to manage asbestos under the Control of Asbestos Regulations applies to non-domestic premises. However, residential landlords do have obligations in communal areas of multi-occupancy buildings — such as corridors, stairwells, and plant rooms. For individual domestic dwellings, there is no formal duty to manage, but landlords should still identify and manage ACMs responsibly, particularly before any maintenance or refurbishment work is carried out.
What happens if asbestos reporting obligations are not met?
Failing to meet asbestos reporting obligations can result in enforcement action by the HSE, including improvement notices, prohibition notices, and prosecution. Penalties can include unlimited fines and, in serious cases, custodial sentences. Beyond the legal consequences, failure to report and manage asbestos correctly puts workers, building occupants, and the public at genuine risk of life-threatening disease.
Speak to Supernova Asbestos Surveys
If you’re unsure about your reporting obligations — or you need a survey carried out quickly and correctly — Supernova Asbestos Surveys can help. With over 50,000 surveys completed nationwide, our qualified surveyors provide management surveys, refurbishment and demolition surveys, and full asbestos consultancy services across the UK.
Call us on 020 4586 0680 or visit asbestos-surveys.org.uk to book your survey or speak to a member of our team.