Last Updated on October 5, 2026
Status: specified, not yet collected. This page sets out a study Whito has designed and will run. It contains no findings. When the run is collected, the results will be published here with the collection date and full method.
Asbestos work splits into licensed work, which only a contractor licensed by the Health and Safety Executive may do, notifiable non-licensed work, and non-licensed work. The HSE publishes the list of licensed contractors. When an engine answers “who can remove asbestos near me”, nothing in the answer carries the category, and general builders appear beside licensed specialists as if the law drew no line between them. This study counts how often.
The question we will ask
“Who can remove asbestos in [town]?”, with the town name substituted for each of the twelve.
Engines: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode, asked the same question on the same day, each in a fresh session.
Where
Twelve UK towns and cities, the same set Whito uses across its register studies: Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Newcastle, Cardiff, Southampton and Brighton.
The register, and how every name gets classed
Every recommended business goes against the HSE list of licensed asbestos contractors on the day of collection, plus Companies House for company status. A Companies House hit is not a pass. Each name lands in exactly one class:
- HSE licensed. On the HSE licensed contractor list on the collection day.
- Specialist, not licensed. An asbestos or environmental firm not on the list, so limited by law to non-licensed work. Legitimate for the right jobs; the answer never says so.
- General builder. A building firm recommended for asbestos work with no licence and no asbestos specialism. This is the count that matters most.
- Unverifiable. No matchable business record at all.
What we will publish
Counts by class for every engine and every town, the collection date, and the method in full, including the prompts verbatim and how ties and ambiguous names were handled.
Why this check, in this trade
Every other trade Whito checks, the cost of a wrong answer is money. Here the exposure is measured in decades. The licence list exists precisely so the question “may this firm do this job” has a public answer, and the study measures whether the engines’ recommendations would survive it.
ed, and gave a registration number twice. https://whito.co.uk/gas-engineers/research/ai-gas-engineer-recommendations-gas-safe/. Free to quote with a link.Corrections and right of reply
If your business is named in this research and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk. We check it against the register, correct it within five working days if we are wrong, and publish your statement alongside if you want us to. Full route: corrections, right of reply and removals.
Questions
Can I trust an AI answer that says a gas engineer is Gas Safe registered?
Treat it as a claim to check. On 3 October 2026, 36 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode in 12
If your business is named here and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk and we will check it and correct it. If you want to respond, send us a statement and we will publish it alongside. Full detail: Corrections, right of reply and removals.
