What is an asbestos register?
An asbestos register records the location, type and condition of asbestos-containing materials in a building, including material presumed to contain asbestos where it has not been tested.
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<img src="https://facilityoptix.co.uk/glossary/asbestos-register/diagram.svg" alt="asbestos register — diagram from FacilityOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://facilityoptix.co.uk/glossary/asbestos-register">What is an asbestos register?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://facilityoptix.co.uk">FacilityOptix</a>
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</figure>Presumed material is as important as identified material. Anything not surveyed and not ruled out is presumed to contain asbestos, and treating an absence of information as an absence of asbestos is the error the presumption exists to prevent.
The register is only useful if it is consulted, which means it has to be issued as part of the permit process rather than held for inspection.
Condition matters as much as location, because the management decision — leave, encapsulate or remove — follows from it.
In practice
A survey with three areas recorded as no access.
They are read as clear. They are unknown, and the correct treatment is to presume until proven otherwise.
Risers and service voids are both the places surveys cannot reach and the places services work goes, which is the worst possible combination.
The limitations page is the most important part of the report.
What goes wrong in practice
- Areas not surveyed recorded as having no asbestos rather than as presumed.
- Register not consulted before drilling, cutting or lifting.
- Condition recorded once and never reassessed.