Management vs R&D asbestos surveys
Management surveys and refurbishment & demolition (R&D) surveys are the two HSG264 survey types. They look superficially similar but exist for completely different reasons. Picking the wrong one is one of the most common — and most expensive — mistakes in asbestos surveying.
Management survey: keep the building safe in normal use
A management survey is non-intrusive. It locates ACMs (or materials presumed to contain asbestos) that could be disturbed during normal occupation, use or routine maintenance.
The output feeds the asbestos register and management plan that the duty-holder uses under Regulation 4 of CAR 2012.
- Non-intrusive inspection
- Carried out during normal use of the building
- Records material type, location, extent and condition
- Supports the duty-holder's asbestos register
R&D survey: find everything before work starts
An R&D survey is fully intrusive. It's required before any refurbishment or demolition work and aims to locate, as far as reasonably practicable, all ACMs in the area to be worked on.
Sampling and destructive inspection are expected — wall cavities, floor voids, behind cladding, above ceilings.
- Fully intrusive — sampling and destructive inspection
- Required before refurbishment or demolition
- Scoped to the specific area of works
- Records sample references and analytical results
Quick comparison
If the question is 'is the building safe to occupy?' you're doing a management survey. If the question is 'is it safe to break this wall open?' you're doing an R&D survey.
How AsbestosSurveyPro handles both
AsbestosSurveyPro provides a structured workflow for both survey types — room-by-room ACM register and photo evidence for management surveys, intrusive ACM capture and sample references for R&D surveys. The reporting engine produces a professional PDF for either.
Takeaway
Get the survey type right before you mobilise. Management for occupation, R&D for refurb or demolition. The structured fields you capture on-site differ — and so does the report your client expects.