Clients warned of risk of biased asbestos surveys

Clients Risk getting misguided and biased information from asbestos consultancies and removal contractors that provide non-accredited asbestos surveys as part of range of other asbestos-related services.

That is the concern of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), which has called on such contractors to ensure they remain impartial when asked by clients to provide asbestos surveys.

"We are concerned there could be a conflict of interest with such companies," said UKAS accreditation and development manager Rob Bettinson. "We would ask that companies state in their final report to clients that they recommend a number of companies to supply asbestos removal if requested rather than simply saying 'we can do that as part of the service'. However, I wouldn't expect a contractor, when asked by a client whether it provided such services, to say 'try the other firm down the road'."

Bettinson said the current position opens up the possibility for surveys, carried out by multi-skilled firms, to over-exaggerate their findings to beef up extra work for the company concerned when it comes to asbestos removal.

Steve Sadley, general manager at the Asbestos Removal Contractors' Association (ARCA), said: "The problems that exist with the quality of the information and the impartiality of the recommendations contained within some asbestos survey reports run much deeper than simply the conflict of interest that may exist with asbestos removal contractors carrying out asbestos surveys.

"Currently, anyone can advertise themselves as an asbestos surveyor as far as the law is concerned - they do not need any qualifications or to demonstrate that they are competent. The onus lies with the client commissioning the surveyor to ensure that they are competent."

Bettinson also raised concerns after UKAS found a rising proportion of failures by contractors when it comes to the four-stage clear-up process during their inspections on site.

"We need to determine why this is, and it is something we will raise with ATAC [a division of ARCA]," he said. "It could simply be that there is insufficient record keeping on each stage of the process."

Sadley responded: "ARCA does not believe this particular problem is down to record keeping. It is, in our opinion, a training issue with contractors not being fully aware of their responsibilities."