Management Survey
A management survey is the standard survey. Its purpose is to locate, as far as reasonably practicable, the presence and extent of any suspect ACMs in the building which could be damaged or disturbed during normal occupancy, including foreseeable maintenance and installation, and to assess their condition.
Management surveys will often involve minor intrusive work and some disturbance. The extent of intrusion will vary between premises and depend on what is reasonably practicable for individual properties, i.e. it will depend on factors such as the type of building, the nature of construction, accessibility etc. A management survey should include an assessment of the condition of the various ACMs and their ability to release fibres into the air if they are disturbed in some way.
The survey will usually involve sampling and analysis to confirm the presence or absence of ACMs. However a management survey can also involve presuming the presence or absence of asbestos. A management survey can be completed using a combination of sampling ACMs and presuming ACMs or, indeed, just presuming. Any materials presumed to contain asbestos must also have their condition assessed (i.e. a material assessment) and the worst case scenario must be presumed.
By presuming the presence of asbestos, the need for sampling and analysis can be deferred until a later time (e.g. before any work is carried out). However this approach has implications for the management arrangements. The duty holder bears potential additional costs of management for some non-ACMs. Any work carried out on ‘presumed’ materials would need to involve appropriate contractors and work methods in compliance with CAR 2006 irrespective of whether the
material was actually an ACM or not.
Management surveys should cover routine and simple maintenance work. However it has to be recognised that where ‘more extensive’ maintenance or repair work is involved, there may not be sufficient information in the management survey and a localised refurbishment survey will be needed. A refurbishment survey will be required for all work which disturbs the fabric of the building in areas where the management survey has not been intrusive. The decision on the need for a refurbishment survey should be made by the duty holder (probably with help from others).
