School Asbestos Dutyholder Management Arrangements

These arrangements apply conditionally to a maintained or academy primary or secondary school where the responsible body, academy trust, local authority or another organisation has responsibility for maintaining or repairing the school's non-domestic premises. They must reflect the school's actual premises-control and contractual responsibilities.

1. Dutyholder and responsibility

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 includes a duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises. The responsibility falls to the dutyholder. In many cases, the dutyholder is the person or organisation with clear responsibility for maintaining or repairing the non-domestic premises.

For this school, the organisation or person identified as having responsibility for maintaining or repairing the premises is [asbestos dutyholder]. The basis for that identification is [dutyholder basis].

The dutyholder must ensure that the school's asbestos management arrangements reflect the division of responsibility between [responsible body or organisation], the school and any organisation engaged to maintain or repair the premises.

2. Scope of the arrangements

These arrangements cover the school's non-domestic premises at [school premises address] where the dutyholder has responsibility for maintaining or repairing the premises.

They provide the working arrangements for identifying the responsible persons, making asbestos information available, managing relevant risks, controlling maintenance and repair work, communicating information, retaining records and escalating unresolved asbestos risks. They do not assume that asbestos is absent. Where asbestos or presumed asbestos may be present, the relevant conditional controls in these arrangements apply.

3. Access to asbestos information

The asbestos information used for the premises is held at [asbestos information location]. The person responsible for maintaining access to that information is [asbestos information owner].

Before maintenance or repair responsibilities are undertaken, the relevant person must establish how the available asbestos information is to be accessed and used for the affected premises or area. If the information is unavailable, unclear or does not cover the affected premises or area, the work must be referred to [asbestos information escalation contact] before it proceeds.

4. Risk controls

The dutyholder manages asbestos risks through the school's documented asbestos management arrangements. The person responsible for coordinating those arrangements is [asbestos management coordinator].

Where asbestos or presumed asbestos may be present, the relevant work or activity must remain subject to the controls identified in the school's asbestos management arrangements. Any unresolved uncertainty about the presence, condition, location or management of asbestos must be recorded and referred to [unresolved asbestos risk contact].

5. Maintenance and repair work

The person commissioning or authorising maintenance or repair work is [work authorising role]. That person must ensure that the work is considered against the school's asbestos management arrangements before the work starts where asbestos or presumed asbestos may be affected.

A contractor or other organisation carrying out maintenance or repair work must be directed to the applicable asbestos information and arrangements by [contractor information contact]. The work must not proceed where the required asbestos information or applicable control decision is not available, unless and until the matter has been resolved through [work escalation route].

6. Communication

The dutyholder, school personnel, contractors and other relevant people must be given the asbestos information and instructions applicable to their responsibilities before they undertake relevant maintenance, repair or premises-management activities.

The person responsible for coordinating communication is [asbestos communications owner]. Communication arrangements must identify who receives information, what information is relevant to their role, and how questions or concerns are referred.

7. Records

The school or dutyholder must retain the current asbestos management arrangements, the identified dutyholder and responsibility allocation, the location of asbestos information, relevant maintenance or repair decisions, communications, and unresolved asbestos-risk escalations at [asbestos records location].

Records must identify the premises or area concerned, the responsible person or organisation, the decision or action required, and the status of any unresolved matter. The person responsible for maintaining these records is [asbestos records owner].

8. Escalation of unresolved risks

An unresolved asbestos risk, uncertainty about responsibility, or inability to access the information needed to manage the premises must be escalated to [asbestos escalation authority] using [asbestos escalation method].

Until the matter is resolved, the relevant activity must remain subject to the applicable conditional controls in the school's asbestos management arrangements. The school must not treat an unresolved matter as closed merely because maintenance or repair work has been proposed, postponed or reassigned.

9. Review and responsibility for this procedure

The person responsible for keeping these arrangements aligned with the school's actual premises-control and contractual responsibilities is [procedure owner]. The arrangements must be reviewed when responsibility for maintaining or repairing the premises changes, when the school's asbestos management arrangements change, or when an unresolved asbestos risk requires the arrangements to be amended.