HSE describes the main aim of a management survey as enabling the dutyholder to produce an asbestos register and asbestos management plan, helping manage ACMs during normal occupation and use.
What that means in normal English
A management survey is about knowing what asbestos is present, where it is, what condition it is in and what needs doing about it while the building carries on being used.
Its purpose is to locate, so far as reasonably practicable, suspect ACMs that could be damaged or disturbed during normal occupation and foreseeable maintenance, and to assess their condition. If an area cannot be inspected, that limitation matters: it should not quietly disappear from the report. Uninspected areas may need to be presumed to contain asbestos until they can be checked.
In the real world
A management survey is not automatically sufficient because somebody later decides to knock a wall out, replace a ceiling or gut a toilet block. Once the proposed work will disturb building fabric, the information has to be suitable for that work and a targeted intrusive refurbishment survey may be required.
What happens after the survey?
The survey information feeds the asbestos register and management plan. Known and presumed ACMs left in place are then managed, their condition monitored at an appropriate interval, and the information made available to people who may disturb them.
Related: Reinspection & survey updates · Refurbishment surveys · Common questions
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