Asbestos awareness training – When you hear those words what immediately springs to mind? Important or not? Do you need it or not? Well here’s 3 reasons to help you decide why you need asbestos awareness training .
Reason 1 – Asbestos awareness training could save your life!
Did you know that asbestos is the UKs biggest industrial killer? Asbestos related diseases are responsible for over 4,500 deaths a year. Every week on average 20 tradespersons die from exposure to asbestos including…
8 joiners, 6 electricians & 4 plumbers,
Asbestos is still very much a problem today. Around 6 million tonnes of imported asbestos fibre was added to around 30 or 40 million tonnes of building products. Asbestos materials still remain in a large number of buildings. It is believed that between 500,000 and 2 million commercial premises and around 2.5 million domestic dwellings still contain asbestos.
It is estimated that around 2 million people are working in building trades. It is also estimated that there are 20 million general building users / occupants. All of these people potentially could be exposed to asbestos every day.
Despite all of the above facts, workers still do not know what asbestos looks like, where it may be found and what the risks are from it!
Asbestos awareness training is designed to educate those at risk, of the dangers related to asbestos and reduce accidental disturbance.
The sole purpose of asbestos awareness training is to help prevent people being exposed to asbestos and therefore protect there health.
This is achieved by giving people the correct information on how to recognise asbestos materials, how to prevent disturbance and most importantly how to deal with an emergency asbestos situation.
Reason 2 – Asbestos awareness training is the law!
Did you know that it’s a legal requirement? Under the current asbestos regulations (The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012) there is a specific requirement for persons who may come into contact with asbestos to have asbestos awareness training.
Asbestos awareness training should be provided to all people who could come into contact with asbestos during their everyday work. The asbestos guidance lists the following trades at risk of coming into contact with asbestos during their normal work:
Maintenance Staff, Roofers, Electricians, Fire and Burglar Alarm Installers, Gas Engineers, Labourers, Computer Installers, Shop Fitters, Painters and Decorators, Demolition Workers, Heating and Ventilation Engineers, Plumbers, Data Cable Installers, Joiners, Telecoms Engineers, Construction Workers, and Building Surveyors.
Asbestos awareness training is not only required for personnel in these trades, but it is also required for all persons who might influence their work. This may include their managers, supervisors and line managers. It may also include the building manager and client instructing these types of works.
Reason 3 – Asbestos awareness training doesn’t cost a lot.
In today’s health and safety driven work environment there are often many legal obligations we all have to meet. Sometimes we have to make a judgement over Cost vs Risk on whether we actually meet all of these requirements. With asbestos awareness training, to me it’s a no brainer. The cost of a UKATAcourse is a round £45 + VAT (£54) for an individual. This can be even lower for a group of people. So for the cost of the average monthly TV subscription this training could actually help prevent you contracting a deadly asbestos related disease.
So there you go, I am sure you’ll agree, these are 3 strong reasons to why you should have asbestos awareness training.
For further information on the course, see our UKATA Asbestos Awareness Training page.
If you would like to speak to a real person give Suzie a call today on 01604 648928.
‘Contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0’Acorn Analytical Services
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