One Housing has found over 800 errors in records around asbestos risks across its portfolio, following an investigation by the Housing Ombudsman.
The housing association carried out a review following a complaint raised by a tenant.
In the initial complaint, a leak led to a ceiling collapse at the tenant’s home.
Repairs took 14 months and the landlord did not have accurate records about the presence of asbestos in the property.
The landlord also did not assess the condition of the asbestos and could not evidence that it considered temporarily moving the family who lived there.
The Ombudsman ordered One Housing to review its asbestos policy, whereupon over 800 errors were found.
One Housing’s risk scoring system showed several properties as no-risk where it had no data, when in fact there could be asbestos present.
It also showed that some properties had been marked as high-risk on the register, where old data had not been removed.
The review found the inconsistencies in its data had been caused by multiple factors, including external services being brought in-house and its knowledge and information management.
This included new information being added without existing records being updated when moving to a new system.
One Housing has since made improvements to how it monitors and keeps records of asbestos, including a review of its asbestos safety management plan.
Commenting, Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said this highlighted the “power of learning” from a singular complaint.
“This case is a reminder for landlords that when hazards and safety are present within a complaint, landlords should act quickly and inspect these thoroughly,” said Richard.
“It also underscores the importance of knowledge and information management, which is so often the foundation to an effective service or complaint response.
“Our Centre for Learning has resources on how to tackle some of the key issues raised in this wider order, as well as training and workshops to equip social housing landlords with the tools they need to improve.”
In response, a learning statement from One Housing was issued alongside its review’s findings: “We are very sorry for the distress caused to our customer following a leak and a collapsed ceiling and for the repair handling, asbestos record keeping, and complaint handling.
“In this case, we undertook a detailed investigation and a lessons learnt review. We revisited it six months later to make sure the key learning points were being implemented.”
Asbestos is estimated to be in around 1.5 million UK homes. Though the risk is minimal if intact, when disturbed asbestos fibres can have severe adverse health effects.
