Asbestos Awareness

The HSE has launched a new campaign ‘Asbestos, Your Duty’ because as their chief executive highlights “Asbestos exposure in Great Britain is still the single greatest cause of work-related deaths due to exposures decades ago.” Asbestos hasn’t just disappeared, even though it has been a banned substance for many years, it’s still present in many buildings across the country. In this blog we’ll highlight what this HSE campaign means for you, the resources available to use and how training, not only legal requirement, but can help in dealing with this if your employees are likely to encounter asbestos when working.

What the HSE says about Asbestos

Even though this material was banned in 1999 there are a lot of buildings constructed prior to this that contain Asbestos; buildings constructed between 1950 and 1980 are particularly likely to contain the material. Employers are often aware that the material is OK if undisturbed however, if your business is concerning demolishing, building, or making changes within existing buildings, or perhaps as a business you own buildings built before 1999, taking time to review the legislation on Asbestos and paying attention to the HSE campaign is vital.

Extracted from the HSE:

The HSE has guidance is for the person who has a legal duty to manage asbestos in a building – the ‘dutyholder’. This could be the:

• building owner
• landlord for the premises
• person or organisation with clear responsibility for the building’s maintenance or repair

The dutyholder must protect people from the risks of exposure to asbestos. This includes people who:

• work in their buildings
• use them in other ways

The HSE have provided a free asbestos management plan template and there are lots of videos to enable you to understand what the legislation means, if you fall under the classification of the dutyholder.

The campaign from the HSE:

“Asbestos: Your Duty launching today, Monday 15 January, aims to improve understanding of what the legal duty to manage asbestos involves.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) wants anyone with responsibilities for buildings to do everything they must do to comply with the law and prevent exposure to this dangerous substance, which was widely used in post-war construction before it was completely banned in 1999.”

How training can help?

Attending the UKATA Asbestos Awareness course here at OMS is a great start to helping to keep you and your staff safe. This course is from the UK Asbestos Training Association (UKATA) and is designed to give you everything needed to protect yourself and how to deal with asbestos when discovered on site.

UKATA say:

“Asbestos awareness training is required to be given to employees whose work could foreseeably expose them to asbestos. In particular, it should be given to all demolition workers and those workers in the refurbishment, maintenance and allied trades where it is foreseeable that their work will disturb the fabric of the building because ACMs may become exposed during their work. Exemption from this requirement would apply only where the employer can demonstrate that work will only be carried out in or on buildings free of ACMs.”

There are courses running at OMS on the following dates, 21^st February (8.30am to 12.30pm) and 8^th April (8.30am to 12.30pm) here at our East Midlands training centre (postcode LE67 1TX).

Book your space here UKATA Asbestos Awareness – OMS