Why Is Asbestos Not Covered by the COSHH Regulations?
If you’ve spent any time trying to untangle UK asbestos law, you’ve almost certainly hit this question: why is asbestos not covered by the COSHH regulations? It’s one of the most common points of confusion for building owners, facilities managers, and employers — and getting it wrong carries real legal consequences.
The short answer is that asbestos is considered so uniquely dangerous that Parliament gave it its own dedicated legal framework. But understanding why that decision was made — and what it means for your obligations today — is what this post is here to explain.
What COSHH Actually Covers — and Where It Stops
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations — universally known as COSHH — set out how employers must identify, assess, and control exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace. COSHH casts a wide net: chemicals, biological agents, dusts, fumes, vapours, and mists all fall within its scope.
However, COSHH explicitly excludes certain substances that are considered so hazardous, or so technically specific, that a general framework simply isn’t sufficient. Asbestos is one of those exclusions. Lead is another.
This isn’t an oversight or a regulatory gap. It’s a deliberate policy decision. The risks posed by asbestos — and the management requirements that flow from those risks — are so far beyond what COSHH was designed to handle that a separate, standalone set of regulations was always necessary.
The Control of Asbestos Regulations: The Dedicated Legal Framework
The Control of Asbestos Regulations is the primary piece of UK legislation governing everything to do with asbestos — from its management in occupied buildings, through to the licensing of removal contractors and the medical surveillance of exposed workers.
These regulations consolidate earlier asbestos-specific legislation into a single, coherent framework. They are supported by HSG264, the HSE’s official guidance document on asbestos surveys, which sets out the precise methodology that surveyors must follow when inspecting buildings for asbestos-containing materials (ACMs).
Together, the Control of Asbestos Regulations and HSG264 form the backbone of asbestos compliance in the UK. No COSHH assessment, however thorough, can substitute for compliance with this framework.
Why Asbestos Demands Its Own Regulations
To understand why asbestos sits outside COSHH, you need to understand what makes it so different from other workplace hazards.
Asbestos fibres are microscopic — invisible to the naked eye — and when disturbed, they become airborne and can remain suspended for hours. Once inhaled, they cannot be expelled from the body. They embed permanently in lung tissue and can trigger fatal diseases including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer, often decades after the original exposure.
There is no known safe level of asbestos exposure. Even brief, low-level contact carries a measurable risk. That is categorically different from most substances covered by COSHH, where a threshold below which exposure is considered safe can generally be established.
That combination — permanence, latency, and the absence of a safe threshold — demands a regulatory response that goes far beyond a general risk assessment and control hierarchy. The Control of Asbestos Regulations provides that response.
The Long Latency Period
Asbestos-related diseases can take anywhere between 15 and 60 years to manifest after exposure. This means that someone exposed on a building site in the 1980s may only receive a diagnosis today. It also means that the regulatory system must account for long-term monitoring, record-keeping, and medical surveillance in a way that has no parallel under COSHH.
The Three Categories of Asbestos Work
One of the clearest illustrations of why asbestos cannot sit within the COSHH framework is the tiered licensing system under the Control of Asbestos Regulations. No other hazardous substance in the UK has anything remotely like it.
The regulations divide asbestos work into three categories based on risk:
- Licensed work: The highest-risk activities — removing asbestos insulation, lagging, or sprayed coatings. Only contractors holding a current HSE licence can carry out this work. Prior notification to the relevant enforcing authority is mandatory before work begins.
- Notifiable Non-Licensed Work (NNLW): Lower-risk tasks that still require notification to the enforcing authority, health surveillance of workers, and detailed record-keeping.
- Non-Licensed Work: The lowest-risk category, such as minor work on asbestos cement sheets. A licence and formal notification are not required, but risk assessment, appropriate controls, and trained operatives remain mandatory.
The existence of this tiered, licence-based system alone demonstrates why asbestos cannot simply be managed under the COSHH umbrella. COSHH has no equivalent structure for any substance it covers.
The Duty to Manage: A Legal Obligation With No COSHH Equivalent
Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations imposes what is known as the “duty to manage” asbestos in non-domestic premises. This is arguably the most important provision in the entire regulatory framework — and it has absolutely no equivalent in COSHH.
The duty falls on the person responsible for the maintenance or repair of non-domestic premises. In practice, that means building owners, landlords, and facilities managers. The obligation is to identify whether asbestos is present, assess its condition and the risk it poses, and produce a written asbestos management plan.
Critically, this duty applies even when no work involving asbestos is planned or being carried out. The mere presence of ACMs in a building triggers the obligation. You cannot discharge it with a COSHH assessment.
What the Duty to Manage Requires in Practice
Meeting your duty to manage means taking the following steps:
- Commission a suitable asbestos survey — a management survey for occupied premises in normal use, or a refurbishment and demolition survey before any intrusive work begins.
- Assess the condition and risk of any ACMs identified, using a risk assessment methodology consistent with HSG264.
- Produce a written asbestos management plan that sets out how ACMs will be managed, monitored, and — where necessary — removed.
- Keep the asbestos register up to date and make it available to anyone who may disturb the materials, including contractors and maintenance staff.
- Review and update the plan regularly, and whenever there is reason to believe it may no longer be valid.
Failure to comply with the duty to manage is a criminal offence. The HSE has prosecuted dutyholders for failing to have an asbestos register in place. Consequences can include substantial fines and, in serious cases, imprisonment.
Medical Surveillance: Another Area Where Asbestos Stands Apart
The Control of Asbestos Regulations requires medical surveillance for workers undertaking licensed asbestos work and Notifiable Non-Licensed Work. This means regular health checks — including chest examinations — carried out by an employment medical adviser or appointed doctor.
Records must be retained for a minimum of 40 years. That requirement directly reflects the long latency period of asbestos-related diseases. COSHH does include provisions for health surveillance, but nothing approaching this level of specificity or duration.
No other substance under COSHH demands 40-year record retention. That single requirement illustrates, more clearly than almost anything else, why asbestos needs its own regulatory framework.
Asbestos Exposure Limits and Air Monitoring
The Control of Asbestos Regulations sets specific control limits for asbestos fibre concentrations in workplace air, expressed in fibres per millilitre over defined sampling periods. Employers must reduce exposure to as low a level as reasonably practicable and must not exceed the control limit under any circumstances.
During licensed asbestos work, air monitoring must be carried out throughout the process. Before a licensed removal enclosure can be dismantled, a four-stage clearance procedure must be completed — including a thorough visual inspection and independent air testing.
This level of procedural rigour has no parallel in the general COSHH framework. It exists because the consequences of getting it wrong are irreversible.
What This Means for Building Owners and Managers
If you own or manage a non-domestic building constructed before the year 2000, asbestos-containing materials are very likely present somewhere in the fabric of that building. Asbestos was used extensively in UK construction right up until its full ban in 1999 — in floor tiles, ceiling tiles, pipe lagging, roof sheets, textured coatings, and dozens of other applications.
Your obligations under the Control of Asbestos Regulations are not optional, and they cannot be satisfied by applying a COSHH risk assessment. You need a proper asbestos survey, carried out by a competent surveyor working in accordance with HSG264.
Management Surveys vs Refurbishment and Demolition Surveys
HSG264 defines two main types of asbestos survey, and choosing the right one matters both legally and practically.
A management survey is used for occupied, in-use premises. It locates ACMs that could be disturbed during normal occupation and minor maintenance work. It is the survey you need to fulfil the duty to manage under Regulation 4.
A demolition survey — formally known as a refurbishment and demolition survey — is required before any refurbishment or demolition work. It is fully intrusive and must locate all ACMs in the areas to be worked on, including those that are hidden or inaccessible behind walls, under floors, and above ceilings.
Using the wrong type of survey, or commissioning a surveyor who doesn’t follow HSG264 methodology, can leave you legally exposed — and, more importantly, can put workers and occupants at genuine risk.
Common Misconceptions About Asbestos and COSHH
Several persistent misconceptions lead to serious compliance failures. Here are the ones we encounter most frequently:
- “We did a COSHH assessment, so we’re covered.” A COSHH assessment does not satisfy your duties under the Control of Asbestos Regulations. They are entirely separate legal requirements with different obligations.
- “Asbestos is only a risk if you disturb it.” Partially true — undisturbed ACMs in good condition pose a lower risk. But the duty to manage applies regardless of whether you plan to disturb materials. You need to know what’s there and in what condition.
- “Our building is modern, so there’s no asbestos.” If the building was constructed or refurbished using materials sourced before 1999, asbestos may still be present. Refurbishments in particular can introduce ACMs into otherwise newer structures.
- “Any contractor can remove asbestos.” Absolutely not. Licensed work must be carried out by an HSE-licensed contractor. Using an unlicensed contractor for licensable work is a criminal offence — for both the contractor and the client who instructed them.
- “We can identify asbestos by looking at it.” You cannot. ACMs look identical to non-asbestos materials. Laboratory analysis of a sample taken by a competent surveyor is the only reliable identification method.
The Relationship Between the Control of Asbestos Regulations and Other Legislation
While asbestos sits outside COSHH, the Control of Asbestos Regulations does not operate in isolation. It works alongside the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, and — for residential landlords — the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act.
The HSE is the primary enforcing authority for asbestos in most workplaces, though local authorities enforce in certain premises. The HSE has wide powers to inspect, issue improvement and prohibition notices, and prosecute. Penalties for serious breaches can include unlimited fines and custodial sentences.
Compliance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations does not mean you can ignore your broader health and safety duties. The two frameworks are complementary, not alternatives.
Practical Steps to Ensure Compliance
If you’re responsible for a non-domestic premises and you’re not yet fully compliant with the Control of Asbestos Regulations, here’s where to start:
- Commission a management survey if you don’t already have an up-to-date asbestos register. This is the legal foundation of everything else.
- Review your asbestos management plan. If you have one, check when it was last updated and whether it reflects the current condition of any ACMs in the building.
- Brief your contractors. Anyone working in your building must be informed of the location and condition of ACMs before they start work. This is a legal requirement under the Control of Asbestos Regulations.
- Check contractor credentials. For any work that may disturb asbestos, verify that your contractor holds the appropriate HSE licence or relevant training, depending on the category of work involved.
- Keep records. Document surveys, risk assessments, management plans, contractor briefings, and any work carried out on ACMs. Good records protect you legally and demonstrate due diligence.
- Commission a demolition survey before any refurbishment. Even minor works can disturb hidden ACMs. A demolition survey before intrusive work is not optional — it’s a legal requirement.
Asbestos Surveys Across the UK
Supernova Asbestos Surveys operates nationally, with UKAS-accredited surveyors working strictly in accordance with HSG264. We’ve completed over 50,000 surveys across the country.
Whether you need an asbestos survey London for a commercial property in the capital, an asbestos survey Manchester for an industrial unit in the North West, or an asbestos survey Birmingham for premises in the Midlands, our surveyors are on hand to help you meet your legal obligations quickly and correctly.
We work with building owners, facilities managers, housing associations, local authorities, and contractors of all sizes. Every survey we carry out is fully compliant with the Control of Asbestos Regulations and HSG264 methodology.
Get Your Asbestos Survey Booked Today
If you’re unsure whether your building is compliant — or if you simply need a survey carried out by a team you can trust — contact Supernova Asbestos Surveys today.
Call us on 020 4586 0680 or visit asbestos-surveys.org.uk to request a quote. Our team will advise you on the right type of survey for your premises, your obligations under the Control of Asbestos Regulations, and how quickly we can get a surveyor to you.
Don’t leave asbestos compliance to chance. The legal duties are clear, the consequences of non-compliance are serious, and the right survey is the first step to getting it right.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is asbestos not covered by the COSHH regulations?
Asbestos is excluded from COSHH because it is considered so uniquely hazardous that a general workplace substances framework is insufficient to manage the risks it presents. Instead, asbestos is governed by the Control of Asbestos Regulations, which imposes specific duties around surveying, management planning, licensed removal, air monitoring, and medical surveillance — none of which have equivalents in COSHH.
Does a COSHH assessment cover asbestos?
No. A COSHH assessment does not satisfy your legal duties in relation to asbestos. The Control of Asbestos Regulations is a separate piece of legislation with its own distinct requirements. If you manage a non-domestic building, you need an asbestos survey and a written asbestos management plan — a COSHH assessment is not a substitute for either.
What is the duty to manage asbestos?
The duty to manage is set out in Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations. It requires the person responsible for the maintenance or repair of non-domestic premises to identify whether asbestos is present, assess its condition and risk, and produce a written asbestos management plan. The duty applies even when no work is being planned — the presence of ACMs alone triggers the obligation.
What types of asbestos survey are there?
HSG264 defines two main types. A management survey is used for occupied premises in normal use and is the survey required to fulfil the duty to manage. A refurbishment and demolition survey is required before any intrusive work, including refurbishment or demolition — it is fully intrusive and must locate all ACMs in the areas to be worked on. Using the wrong survey type for the circumstances is a compliance failure.
Can any contractor remove asbestos?
No. The Control of Asbestos Regulations divides asbestos work into three categories. The highest-risk work — such as removing asbestos insulation or lagging — is licensed work, and only contractors holding a current HSE licence can carry it out. Using an unlicensed contractor for licensable work is a criminal offence for both the contractor and the client who instructed them.