HSE inspectors checking asbestos management in buildings through 2026

The Health and Safety Executive began a round of asbestos management inspections on 1 April 2026, marked to Global Asbestos Awareness Week, with compliance checks continuing through the year.

Who is being visited

Building owners, landlords and tradespeople, across offices, factories and shops as well as schools, hospitals and places of worship. The common factor is a building old enough to contain asbestos and a duty holder responsible for managing it, not a particular sector.

The three failures inspectors are finding

HSE has named what it is looking for, which is more useful than a general warning:

Asbestos management plans not in place to ensure the condition of asbestos-containing materials is routinely monitored. Information, instruction and training for managing asbestos that is inadequate. And procedures and arrangements for work liable to disturb known or presumed asbestos-containing materials that need improving.

What the duty actually requires

Arrange a survey. Create a register and assess the risk. Write a management plan. Then put the plan into action and keep it under review — which is the step that separates a compliant building from one with a survey in a drawer.

The last of those is where our own experience matches HSE's finding. The plan is usually the part that exists; the monitoring, the training and the arrangements for contractors who might disturb material are the parts that quietly lapse between building changes.

Non-compliance can lead to prosecution, fines and a criminal record. The Cannock demolition case sentenced the month before this campaign opened shows what that looks like in practice, including for named individuals.