What is notifiable non-licensed asbestos work?

HSE sorts asbestos work into three groups: licensed work, notifiable non-licensed work and plain non-licensed work. The middle group is for jobs that need no licence but carry more risk than the lowest group. Because of that, those doing them must tell the authorities first and keep records afterwards. Most owners never see the paperwork, but it is a sign that a firm is treating the roof seriously.

For a garage, the usual way into this group is asbestos cement sheeting. HSE's page on this category refers to sheets in a seriously damaged state, or already broken up, which can happen on a neglected garage after a few hard winters. Our answer on whether a licence is needed explains how this differs from the simpler category, and where the licensed group begins for materials such as insulating board.

Age and weather do not move a roof into this group on their own. HSE says that weathered sheets which are not otherwise substantially damaged stay in the non-licensed group. The line is crossed when sheets are cracked right through, collapsed, or reduced to pieces.

HSE's guidance on cement products adds a practical test: once the material begins to crumble and throw up significant dust as it is handled, the job is notifiable. A storm, a fallen branch or someone walking across the roof can each do this. Pieces that have dropped to the ground are the same material, so they stay where they are until a trained person lifts them. Every roof of this type is fragile, so keep clear of it. Our page on walking on an asbestos roof explains why even a short step is risky.

Notice has to go in before any work begins, and HSE sets no minimum lead time. The contractor doing the job deals with it, so a homeowner should not be left chasing forms, but you can ask to see that it has been done and when.

Registers of work, the health records of the people carrying it out, must be kept for 40 years. That long retention is a good reason to hire someone who runs the job properly. Because there is no fixed waiting time, notice can go in close to a start date, but do not expect work to begin on the spot, since planning the access and the waste comes first. Ask too what happens if the weather turns, because wet or windy days make a fragile roof more dangerous and plans may change. If you are comparing firms, ask how each handles notice and records if a roof turns out to be in worse shape than it looked, and whether the quote allows for that possibility or leaves it as an unknown. A clear answer here tells you far more than a headline figure does. The asbestos garage roof cost page shows how the category can influence the total, because tighter controls take longer to set up and to carry out.

Even in the lowest group the aim is to keep sheets whole. HSE guidance is that big pieces are brought down to the ground by hand, never dropped and never sent down a rubble chute. A roof that has already broken needs tighter controls still, because fibres escape more readily from damaged material, and the people on site need suitable protective equipment.

On waste, HSE wants two layers of wrapping with a label, a locked skip for cement sheet, and no blending of asbestos waste into other rubbish to bring the mix below a threshold. Because everything on this kind of roof depends on avoiding breakage, access has to be planned beforehand. Our asbestos sheet disposal page covers the waste end of the job in detail.

HSE's advice is to presume asbestos in anything constructed or refurbished before 2000. Treat a damaged garage roof of that age as asbestos until it is shown otherwise. Tell the contractor about any earlier damage, such as a past storm or a fallen tree, as that affects the category. Keep children and pets away from fallen pieces, do not sweep or hose debris, and do not try to bag it yourself.

Then arrange a survey. You get pictures of the roof, our view of which category applies and why, and a single written total after that. Where a roof has already broken up, we explain what that does to the way the work is run. Our guide to whether your garage roof is asbestos is a sensible first read, and the garage roof replacement page shows the wider service.