ARCA reports halved audit failures and 812 site audits in 2025-26 roundup

The Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA) carried out 812 site audits between July 2025 and June 2026, 666 of them unannounced, and said its members improved average audit scores by 30% while halving failure rates.

The figures appear in a roundup of the trade body's year published on 2 November 2026, which also covers its partnership with Mesothelioma UK, membership of the National Asbestos Taskforce, entry to the CITB Training Provider Network and 40 free training places for new operatives.

The audit results

ARCA set out the detail behind the headline improvement in an earlier release, in October 2025, based on an analysis of more than 1,000 audit records across two 12-month periods. Under its scoring system zero is a perfect result and any score above 10 is a failed audit requiring remedial action.

According to that analysis, average audit scores fell from 4.5 to 3.1, audit failures dropped from 58 to 30 year on year, and the share of audits scoring zero rose from 27% to 40%. ARCA said it conducted 597 programmed audits in the year analysed, 50 more than the year before.

Measure	Previous year	Latest year
Audit failures (score above 10)	58	30
Audits scoring zero	27%	40%

Steve Sadley, ARCA chief executive, said: "For the first time, our average grade has risen above B, climbing almost half a grade over the last two years."

Adrian Hodkinson of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), whom ARCA described in that release as head of the HSE's Asbestos Licensing Unit, said: "External audits are really, really useful for us." ARCA's AGM page and roundup give his title as head of the HSE Asbestos Unit. He was keynote speaker at the association's 40th annual general meeting, where ARCA said he delivered industry insights and HSE perspectives.

Exposure monitoring

ARCA said its partnership with Assure360 had expanded to include a Combined 4-Hour Time Weighted Average Report. The system lets contractors combine multiple micro personal monitoring tests into a single calculation and, where tests do not cover the full four hours, factors in nil exposure for the remaining time. Every ARCA member has free access to the functionality, the association said.

Training

ARCA has joined the CITB Training Provider Network, which it described as a collaborative initiative bringing together approved, quality-assured training providers. The network replaces the previous CITB Approved Training Organisation scheme, and all CITB-supported training is now delivered exclusively through its members.

The association also offered 40 free training places for new operatives entering the asbestos industry during the year.

Charity and campaigning

Mesothelioma UK recognised ARCA as a Silver Status Corporate Partner on 1 September 2025. ARCA has pledged to donate all course fees from its certified e-learning asbestos awareness courses to the charity, and the roundup puts the sum contributed so far at £3,200.

ARCA has also joined the National Asbestos Taskforce, which it said advocates a government-mandated, phased programme to remove all asbestos from UK buildings, with early action on high-risk or damaged materials. The Airtight on Asbestos website lists Chris Emmett as the taskforce's independent chair and says the taskforce brings together partners committed to removing asbestos from the UK built environment completely.

Member survey

ARCA's 2025 member satisfaction survey drew 240 completed responses, down from 268 in 2024. More than four in five members expressed satisfaction across the three measured dimensions of overall services, industry understanding and responsiveness. ARCA reported a net promoter score proxy of 51.7, against 35.4 the year before, though the rating scale changed from 1-5 to 1-10 between the two surveys.