Guide

Asbestos Management for Facility Managers: Duty Holder Obligations and Portfolio Compliance

11 September 202610 min readby amianto.info Editorial Team

Facility managers responsible for buildings constructed before the asbestos bans of the 1980s and 1990s carry one of the most complex ongoing compliance responsibilities in property management. Unlike a single remediation project that ends when the asbestos is removed, asbestos duty holder obligations are continuous: the register must be maintained, contractors must be briefed, conditions must be monitored, and the management plan must be updated whenever the building changes. For facility teams managing large portfolios — hospitals, schools, offices, retail estates — the cumulative risk is significant. This guide sets out the duty holder framework and the practical systems that make portfolio-wide compliance achievable.

Also available in: Español, Français

Key takeaways

The duty holder is not always the building owner: it follows the maintenance responsibility, which may be held by a tenant, managing agent, or facilities management company.
The asbestos register is a living document that must be updated after every maintenance event involving the building fabric and at periodic re-inspection intervals; a register that has never been updated since the original survey is not compliant.
Healthcare buildings require additional controls beyond standard duty holder obligations: no-disturbance protocols, strict access controls, and clinical risk assessments before any planned asbestos work in active clinical areas.
The most common source of uncontrolled exposure in managed buildings is a contractor working in an area with ACMs without having been briefed; a technology-enabled contractor management system is the most reliable solution at portfolio scale.

Who is the duty holder and what does it mean in practice?

The duty holder under asbestos legislation is not always the building owner. It is the person or organisation that is responsible by contract or by the nature of their tenure for the maintenance or repair of the building. In practice, this means: a commercial tenant with a full repairing lease may be the duty holder for the demise they occupy; a managing agent contracted to maintain common parts is the duty holder for those areas; a facilities management company contracted to manage the entire building is the duty holder for the whole premises.

Understanding who holds the duty in each building is the first step. For portfolio managers, different buildings in the same estate may have different duty holders depending on lease structures and service agreements. The duty cannot be contracted away — the person who holds it can engage specialists to carry it out, but cannot make someone else legally responsible for it.

In the UK, this is set out in CAR 2012 Regulation 4. In Australia, the Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) equivalent obligation is established under state and territory WHS regulations. In France, the propriétaire or occupant responsible for maintenance carries the obligation de repérage and obligation de gestion under the Code de la santé publique and Code du travail. In Spain, the empresario titular del centro de trabajo is responsible under the RD 396/2006.

The asbestos register as a living document

An asbestos register is not a certificate of completion. It is a point-in-time snapshot of where asbestos-containing materials were found, in what condition, and with what priority recommendation. The condition of those materials changes over time: it can improve (if materials are encap