How to check an asbestos contractor against the HSE licence list

Before any asbestos quote means anything, two questions need answers: what category is the job, and may this firm legally do it? Both have public answers. This guide shows where they are.

Step one: the job’s category, not the firm’s claim

Asbestos work splits into licensed work, notifiable non-licensed work, and non-licensed work, and the material and its condition decide which, not the contractor’s preference. Higher-risk products such as sprayed coatings and most insulation are licensed territory. Plenty of domestic jobs, bonded cement sheets in good condition for example, are legitimately non-licensed. If you do not know your category, a survey comes first, and a contractor who quotes confidently without knowing the material deserves suspicion on that alone.

Step two: the HSE list for licensed work

The Health and Safety Executive licenses asbestos contractors and the list of licence holders is public. If your job is licensed work, the firm doing it must be on that list, under its real name. Check the name exactly, and if the trading name on the van differs from the licence holder, ask for the licence holder’s name in writing. A Companies House record is not a substitute; an active company can be entirely unlicensed.

Step three: the paperwork trail

Real asbestos work leaves a paper trail: the survey identifying the material, notification where the category requires it, consignment notes showing where the waste went, and air testing or a certificate of reassurance at the end. Ask to see samples of each before you hire, and expect the real documents after the job. A firm that cannot show paperwork is selling you the absence of the product.

What a builder may do

A general builder is not banned from everything; genuinely non-licensed work, done with the right precautions, can be lawful. What a builder may never do is licensed work without a licence, and the grey middle is exactly where cheap quotes live. If anyone proposes to “just take it out while we are there”, the category question is your answer.

If you run a licensed firm

Put the licence holder name, the licence fact, and a link to the HSE list on every page, show redacted samples of your paperwork, and explain the three categories in plain English. The customer who understands the category system stops shopping on price alone, which is the whole commercial point of holding the licence.

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