Industry Bodies Call for HSE’s Asbestos Consultation to be Withdrawn

A lost opportunity to reform asbestos regulations and introduce mandatory accreditation for asbestos surveyors.

On the 10th of November 2025, the HSE launched a formal consultation on proposals to improve the regulations for the control and management of asbestos, to help protect workers and building users.

Long standing campaigners may take some comfort that this has been brought about by their efforts and the recommendations of the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s inquiry into the Health and Safety Executives (HSE) handling of asbestos.

Unfortunately, the consultation manages to avoid all the Inquiry’s main recommendations including the establishment of a 40-year plan to remove asbestos; and the recommendation to establish a national register.

The consultation will instead seek stakeholders’ views on three proposals:

1. The independence and impartiality of roles in the four-stage clearance process to further minimise the risk of exposure from asbestos to workers and building users after the removal of asbestos

2. The standard of asbestos surveys to ensure duty holders have the information they need to safely manage asbestos risks

3. Clarification of what constitutes work with asbestos, known as Notifiable Non-Licensed Work (NNLW)

The consultation does not directly engage with the issue of mandatory accreditation for those undertaking asbestos surveys - another key recommendation of the Inquiry. At present formal accreditation is not legally required for surveyors in the UK, although it is mandatory for laboratories that test asbestos samples. Practically anyone can become an asbestos surveyor.

HSE's preferred option is to keep the requirements unchanged, leaving a large number of surveyors who are not accredited at risk of not meeting the requirements set out by Government guidance. The position also goes against the findings and the spirit of other government reviews, following the Grenfell tragedy, that advocate for mandatory, legislated accreditation to ensure consistent and competent assessments.

At this point in time, the HSE is unable to identify just how many non-accredited organisations are currently undertaking asbestos surveys. Their best estimate is that 3,600 such organisations exist, although there is no evidence to suggest that a single organisation has been assessed in drawing this conclusion.

The main reason for the HSE’s rejection of accreditation is cost, and not the quality of work, or compliance with guidance and regulations. We now have the situation where the HSE has chosen to reject all of the main recommendations of a committee that was chaired by the current Minister, on the basis that the recommendations are too difficult or too costly.

Indeed, the last time the regulations were changed was when the asbestos removal industry challenged HSE for not implementing the requirements or the European Asbestos Worker Protection Directive, which deprived an untold number of asbestos workers the right to medical examinations.

When the first opportunity to amend the asbestos regulations is presented the HSE has chosen to ignore a cross-party committee of MPs. The HSE states that it is an evidence-led organisation so why is it not doing more, firstly in gathering data regarding the presence of asbestos in buildings and then setting a strategy for its removal.

Last month Awaab’s law came into force requiring landlords to deal with serious health issues such as damp and mould. The web-based guidance for Social Landlords makes one reference to asbestos and this is to the Control of Asbestos Regulation 2012 which specifically excludes domestic premises.

All of this emphasises that we do need a change in approach. But the focus of this consultation will not bring about the scale of change needed. It even raises the question whether such a consultation should be led by an agency that has managed to ignore the recommendations of an inquiry, chaired by the current minister, while being satisfied with its own modelling showing thousands of deaths occurring in future generations.

Industry bodies are strongly urging the HSE to withdraw the current consultation

document and issue a revised consultation that seeks unbiased views on the recommendations made by the Work and Pension’s Committee and incorporates evidence from other government reviews relevant to health and safety regulations.

The consultation runs until 9 January 2026. The full consultation document, including detailed proposals, background information and how to respond, is available here.