This week the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) announced a package of measures to tackle fraud, including the launch of a National Register of Qualified Asbestos Surveyors. That’s a huge moment for our profession.

When BOHS, with its newly minted Royal Charter, launched its Faculty of Asbestos Assessment and Management (FAAM) in 2019, I joined immediately. It was clear to me at the time that asbestos professionals needed a proper home – a body that would represent the scientific and technical community as a profession, not simply as a trade interest.

Over the past two decades I have seen a gradual weakening of professionalism in parts of the sector. Standards blurred, competence diluted, and in some corners outright abuse of the system. It needed to be redressed, and FAAM felt like the organisation that could do exactly that. That’s why I later chose to join the Committee: to play a small part in helping shape and strengthen it.

The launch of a National Register of Qualified Asbestos Surveyors is a major step forward, and represents years of planning and work by BOHS and the FAAM committee. 

The problem it addresses is real. Fraudulent operators, falsified certificates and unqualified individuals are not just defrauding householders and businesses – they’re putting lives at risk. Asbestos is unforgiving when disturbed, and poor surveying leads directly to unsafe removal, unnecessary exposure and avoidable disease.

Turning the page

This new register, developed by BOHS following consultation with the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and aligned with United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) initiatives, will allow qualifications to be verified quickly and transparently. It will be an excellent resource for dutyholders and laboratories – whether UKAS accredited or not. For the first time they will be able to see exactly who is qualified to act as an asbestos surveyor.

This will be a register professionals can be proud to appear on. Verified surveyors will be able to use a logo, with an embedded QR code to provide clients with assurance of their certification.

The new register’s link to a voluntary complaints scheme is crucial. Recognition must sit alongside accountability. Frankly, who wouldn’t want to be part of a transparent verification and complaints process? And would you want those who didn’t working anywhere near asbestos for which you’re responsible?

Alongside a forthcoming Buyer’s Guide and Standards Statement, this represents a coordinated effort to restore clarity, competence and confidence. For me, this kind of action is precisely the reason why FAAM exists – and a very welcome step towards strengthening professionalism in asbestos assessment once again.