Clearly there will be a requirement to carry out some sort of survey in order to determine the location of all ACMs. Where surveying or sampling is either not possible or impractical the basis for assuming the presence of asbestos must be recorded and the procedures for work in that area structured accordingly. There are no requirements to conduct full sampling surveys or to survey every building on a site or every room in a building. It is sufficient to make assumptions of the presence or otherwise of ACMs providing that the facts upon which the assumptions are based are recorded and can be justified.
The most important part of the legislation is the management of those hazards which are identified. This is largely an information management issue.
The regulations do not define the manner in which information is recorded. This is left entirely to the discretion of the building owner or manager. Whichever type of system is used whether it is paper based or a software solution it must be reliable, accessible and auditable.
It is possible to run an asbestos management system using a paper-based or other hard copy format. However, on even the smallest building or site a paper-based system will quickly become a document management nightmare. It is our view that where a number of individuals or departments are inputting or accessing information the only sensible approach is a software solution.