NIACS

NIACS Background

The Government and the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has clearly stated its intent to take all necessary action to prevent people being exposed to asbestos during work activities. The HSC has demonstrated its commitment to achieving this by issuing the Control of Asbestos Work Regulations 2002 (CAWR 2002) and in particular the new Regulation 4 of The Duty to Manage Asbestos in Non Domestic Premises. This regulation requires every duty holder to assess whether asbestos is, or is liable to be, present in non-domestic premises for which he or she is responsible for. If asbestos is present, or presumed to be present, a plan must be prepared for managing the risks associated with the asbestos. This plan must be revised should there be reason to suspect the plan is no longer valid.

Rules and regulations
Along with the new Regulation 4 of the CAWR 2002 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a new Approved Code of Practice -The Management of Asbestos in Non-domestic Premises -which gives advice on how to comply with the new Regulation 4. In addition, further guidance has been issued by the HSE, called A Comprehensive Guide to Managing Asbestos in Premises.

Material world
MDHS 100 Surveying Sampling and Assessment of Asbestos Containing Materials has been available from July 2001. This details the procedures to be used when surveying workplace premises for asbestos and how to record the results in a usable form. It also gives advice on how to recognise and sample materials suspected of containing asbestos.

Clearly the work is of a specialist nature and duty holders responsible for non-domestic premises will be employing the services of specialists to carry out the assessment for them. Duty holders commissioning this type of work will be looking for assurance of competency from the organisations or individuals conducting the work. As a result of these requirements, UKAS introduced an accreditation scheme for organisations carrying out asbestos surveys. Such organisations are now accredited to ISO 17020 General Criteria for the operation of various types of inspection bodies. The accreditation is based on a document called RG8, which gives guidance on the various clauses of ISO 17020 with respect to accreditation of organisations surveying for asbestos in premises. Both ARCA and ATaC were represented on the working group that produced the RGB document.

While accreditation to ISO 17020 is now well established for organisations carrying out asbestos surveys, such accreditation is impractical and out of reach for many sole traders, RICS surveyors, and large organisations that may wish to operate one or two specialist asbestos surveyors. In addition, without a recognized mechanism for ensuring competency of individual surveyors, these individuals are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain professional indemnity insurance for the work they are carrying out. Therefore, ARCA and ATaC have entered into a joint venture with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and established a company called NIACS(National Individual Asbestos Certification Scheme) in order to provide a scheme offering certification of individual surveyors through a UKAS-accredited certification body. 		NIACS Image

The scheme will be particularly suitable for sole traders or organisations with just one or two surveyors.

Process management
NIACS will manage the process of application through to certification of individual surveyors, and then continue with ongoing surveillance of the certified individuals and the process of recertification on a three-year cycle.

NIACS has entered into an agreement with the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health to provide an examination for the scheme. The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health has developed a Level 3 Certificate in Asbestos Inspection Procedures, which has been accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Possession of this qualification is the entry level requirement for the UKAS accredited certification scheme.

NIACS has also entered into an agreement with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). The ClTB is a UKAS accredited certification body able to offer Asbestos Inspector Certification to ISO 17024. Certification is offered at two levels. Level one will allow certified inspectors to carry out re-inspections and Type 1 surveys; Level two will allow certified inspectors to carry out Type 2 surveys as defined in MDHS 100; it is intended to develop an assessment to level 3 which will allow certified inspectors to carry out type 3 surveys as described in MDHS 100. CITB Scheme Information and Guidance for Candidates.

Certified asbestos inspectors are entered on to the NIACS register of certified asbestos inspectors. Inspectors are be required to work to a set of standard terms and conditions of engagement, which have been developed by NIACS. Certified asbestos inspectors also have access to a professional indemnity package, which has been arranged by NIACS and will be available through Howdens Insurance Brokers.