HSE to consider lowering the frequency of asbestos medicals
As reported by Health and Safety at Work online the HSE is examining ways to change the law to lower the frequency of medical checks for workers carrying out licensed work under the Control of Asbestos Regulations (CAR) – a move criticised by the TUC as “totally irresponsible”.
The proposal to shift the frequency of statutory health checks in the licensed sector from two years to three years – bringing them into alignment with the statutory frequency for workers undertaking notifiable work – was included in the HSE’s post implementation review (PIR) of CAR.
CAR 2012 implements the EU Directive 2009/148/EC which requires licensed asbestos workers to undertake a medical examination. In the UK, CAR 2012 currently goes beyond the requirements of the Directive which require medicals before licensed asbestos workers start work and every 2 years until work with asbestos is stopped.
This change would only affect licensed workers as those undertaking Notifiable Non-Licensed Work (NNLW) are already only required to have medicals every three years. The review points out that medical examinations for asbestos workers are generally of little benefit in detecting disease due to the long latency period associated with asbestos diseases.
The PIR report, published in March this year, followed a consultation exercise and survey on the impact of the Regulations. While the bulk of the report gave CAR a clean bill of health, it also included a small number of recommendations for future action.