Chief Executive’s comment

Steve Sadley, Chief Executive

OUR MISSION

To give the best possible service and support to assist ARCA members and customers in providing safe, effective and ethical management of asbestos, thereby safeguarding the public.

OUR VISION

We envision being an essential strategic partner, through membership of ARCA and ATaC, to all companies providing asbestos management and licensed asbestos removal services, or services to those companies, by providing solutions which contribute to the overall success of their businesses and provide reassurance to their clients.

OUR VALUES

Our values define the culture at ARCA. The values of integrity, service, excellence, teamwork and responsibility guide the way we work, our behaviour and our commitment to support members, customers and colleagues.

Your Association continues to support you and the industry

We were delighted to have Archie Mitchell, Head of the HSE Asbestos Unit, deliver the keynote speech to members at the recent ARCA Annual General Meeting (AGM). Archie’s presentation covered a number of topics, namely the licence renewal process, the HSE report into asbestos exposure during asbestos removal work, asbestos removal work necessary to achieve carbon net zero by 2050, the Post Implementation Review of the Control of Asbestos Regulation 2012 (CAR 2012), and the recent Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Select Committee Inquiry into the HSE’s management of asbestos. A report on Archie’s presentation can be found on pages 10 and 11 of this issue of ARCA News.

It was encouraging to hear that of the 15 recommendations that were made to HSE, as a result of the Select Committee Inquiry, the HSE board are taking 13 of the recommendations forward. The only two which are not being taken forward are the recommendations to establish a national database of buildings containing asbestos and the commitment to remove all asbestos within the next 40 years. The recommendations being taken forward relate to change, and before HSE can commit to any change, there needs to be an evidence base to support that change. At this point in time, HSE have accepted going forward with the 13 recommendations. The next stage is the planning of how HSE will deliver that.

Industry stakeholders asked to give evidence at the inquiry, felt that the data provided by the HSE in regard to the effectiveness of the Duty to Manage (Regulation 4, CAR 2012) did not reflect the situation they saw in the field. As a result, 20 UKAS accredited Inspection Bodies (surveying organisations) have pooled their combined data from asbestos surveys carried out during a 6-month period (1st October 2021-31st March 2022). The data was obtained from 128,761 buildings which had been inspected. 100,660 of those buildings were found to contain asbestos and 710,433 items of asbestos were identified. Of those 710,433 items 507,612 were recorded as having some level of damage. The full report was published in Parliament on the 21st of November 2022. A full article on this report is included in this issue of ARCA News on page 12.

In my previous Chief Executive’s comment I mentioned Phase 2 of a major update to the ALFA LARC Employees System. This development has been completed giving members the ability to use the system to produce TNA’s for their site supervisors and contracts managers (details can be found on page 7). In addition, the long-awaited Site Audit portal is also finally near completion, and ready for piloting. Once these two systems are live we will run some webinars to show how they work and explain how you can sign up to use them. There is no additional charge to members for these products, they form part of the benefits of membership package.

Those who attended the AGM, or have attended the recent regional meetings, will have seen a preview of our new websites for ARCA and ATaC which are due to go live in Q1 2023. These will include a lot more self-service items that members can access in the new members portal which will accompany the new website, including booking and paying for training and applying for CSCS cards online.

Finally, two further developments which I hinted at in my last Chief Executive’s comment and since which have been demonstrated and discussed at the AGM and regional meetings, that is the eLearning package, for experienced operatives, and a personal monitoring/ exposure record system. The eLearning package is well advanced and scheduled for launch in January. The personal monitoring/ exposure record system is a longer-term project and we do not have a launch date as yet. I look forward to updating members on progress of all these initiatives at the first round of regional meetings next year and in the next edition of ARCA News.

As another year draws to a close, everyone at ARCA would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a peaceful New Year, and a prosperous 2023.

Steve Sadley Chief Executive