The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, Explained

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (often shortened to CAR 2012) brought together earlier rules into one consolidated set of duties. They sit underneath the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which establishes the broad obligation of every employer to protect workers and others from harm. CAR 2012 turns that broad principle into specific, practical requirements for one of the most dangerous substances still present in British buildings.

If your work could disturb materials in any building constructed or refurbished before the year 2000, these regulations apply to you. That covers a vast range of trades: electricians, plumbers, joiners, roofers, heating engineers, decorators, demolition crews and general maintenance staff. The starting point for all of them is to understand the structure of the regulations rather than treat asbestos as someone else's problem.

The duty to manage asbestos

Regulation 4 contains what is usually called the "duty to manage". It applies to anyone who has responsibility for the maintenance or repair of non-domestic premises, and in many cases to the common areas of residential blocks. The dutyholder is most often the owner, the landlord, the managing agent or whoever holds the maintenance contract.

The duty to manage is not a single task; it is an ongoing cycle. The dutyholder must find out whether asbestos is present and, if so, in what condition and where. They must then keep a written record, assess the risk, and put a management plan in place to control it. That plan has to be reviewed and shared with anyone who might disturb the material, including contractors arriving on site.

The aim of the duty to manage is not to remove all asbestos. Well-maintained material that is left undisturbed is usually safer in place than it would be if disturbed by unnecessary removal.

This is one of the most misunderstood points in the whole framework. The regulations do not demand that every scrap of asbestos be ripped out. They demand that it be known about, monitored, and managed so it cannot release fibres into the air. Where it is in good condition, the correct response is often to label it, record it and leave it alone.

Three categories of asbestos work

When asbestos does have to be worked on or removed, CAR 2012 splits the activity into three tiers based on the risk of fibre release. Knowing which tier a job falls into determines who can carry it out and what controls are required.

Licensed work

The highest-risk activities require a licence issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This typically covers work on sprayed coatings, asbestos insulation and most pipe lagging, where fibre release is high. Only contractors holding a current HSE licence may undertake it, and the work must usually be notified to the enforcing authority in advance.

Notifiable non-licensed work

Between the two extremes sits a middle category known as notifiable non-licensed work (NNLW). A licence is not needed, but the work must still be notified to the relevant enforcing authority, brief health records must be kept, and workers must have access to appropriate health surveillance. This tier exists because some jobs carry enough risk to need extra oversight even though they fall short of full licensing.

Non-licensed work

The lowest-risk tier is non-licensed work, such as short-duration tasks on materials like asbestos cement or textured decorative coatings. No licence and no notification are required, but the work is far from unregulated. Risk assessments, controls to limit fibre release, suitable equipment and proper waste disposal all still apply.

Training tiers under Regulation 10

Regulation 10 makes information, instruction and training a legal requirement. The accepted approach recognises three broad levels of training that mirror the work categories above.

• Asbestos awareness. This is for anyone whose work could foreseeably disturb asbestos, even if they will never remove it. The goal is to recognise where asbestos may be, understand its dangers, and know how to avoid disturbing it. Our £18 Asbestos Awareness course is built for exactly this group.
• Non-licensed work training. For workers who will actually carry out lower-risk tasks, awareness is not enough. They need task-specific training, often combined with practical instruction on the controls being used.
• Licensed work training. The most demanding tier, for those undertaking higher-risk removal under a licence, with refresher training kept up to date.

Awareness training is the foundation everything else is built on. It does not qualify anyone to remove asbestos, and that distinction matters: awareness is about knowing when to stop and seek a specialist, not about doing the removal yourself.

Surveys and records

Two types of asbestos survey support the duty to manage. A management survey locates material that could be disturbed during normal occupation and routine maintenance. A refurbishment and demolition survey is more intrusive and is needed before any building work that will disturb the structure. Whichever is used, the findings feed the asbestos register and the management plan.

Records must be kept current. A register made years ago and never updated is of little value if the building has since been altered. Reviewing the assessment when conditions change is part of the legal duty, not an optional extra.

For a wider overview of how these duties play out day to day, our asbestos awareness guide walks through the practical steps, while HSE fines and penalties explained shows what can happen when the regulations are ignored. Getting the basics right starts with proper training for everyone whose work might bring them into contact with this material.