A protest, organized by the Construction Safety Campaign and UCATT, was held outside the Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) London headquarters on January 17, 2006 to coincide with a meeting of HSC Commissioners to discuss controversial proposals made in Consultative Document Proposals for Revised Asbestos Regulations and an Approved Code of Practice (CD 205).

The new concept of "sporadic and low intensity exposure to asbestos" which is introduced by CD 205 is used to justify the delicensing of some types of hazardous work. The use of unlicensed contractors working with untrained operatives lacking sophisticated equipment who are unsupervised by health and safety inspectors is a recipe for disaster. Under the new risk-based approach, work with textured decorative coatings such as Artex, the asbestos content of which can be as high as 5% by weight, will be removed from the regulatory regime. As a result, workers, the public and the environment will be at increasing risk of asbestos contamination.

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Source: TUC and IBAS.