Asbestos

Responsible: Executive Director / CEO (Ben Todd)

Nobody at Arcola requires routine Asbestos training for operational reasons, though it is likely we we will keep one person regularly trained for compliance reasons (CHAS).

 - Our Ashwin St building was comprehensively surveyed prior to our major building works in 2012 - there was limited asbestos found and it was removed by professionals

 - Our Arcola Energy Liverpool premises were newly built a few years ago, so are free from Asbestos

 - We will need to be careful in selecting new Arcola Energy premises in Scotland to avoid asbestos issues

 - Before doing any work on Liverpool Bus Operator premises we will need to evaluate asbestos risk

David T had construction worker asbestos training in 2018 or 2019.

The description below is taken from a marketing communication from a commercial training provided Human Focus International. If you are DIY-minded it might be more relevant to your home life.

My People Don’t Handle Asbestos

So Why Do They Need Asbestos Training?

A good question – why is it that most construction and trade workers are required by law to take asbestos awareness training? To add to the widespread frustration is the need for frequent refresher courses which often leads to the question:

“I took the course last year and the risks haven’t changed, why do I need to do it again?”

Asbestos is a hidden killer. 20 tradespeople per week lose their lives because they unknowingly breathed in microscopic asbestos fibres whilst they were working. Asbestos fibres can cause scar tissue in the lungs, abnormal cell growth or pass into the body. This leads to a range of nasty respiratory cancers and illnesses – most of which are fatal.

In total around 5,000 people per year die of asbestos related diseases. A rate that is reportedly at crisis levels. The rate of mesothelioma – a horrible cancer affecting the lining of the chest or abdominal cavities that is almost always fatal – has nearly doubled over the past twenty years. Some 85% of those diagnosed were men.

Workers can easily be exposed without knowing it – either from their own activities or work tasks undertaken by other people. If you enter a building built before 2000 then it’s likely to be full of asbestos. It was used in practically every building material – floors, walls, ceilings, insulation, electrical products – the list is seemingly endless.

And, it’s very easy to unwittingly disturb these lethal fibres. A wide range of routine maintenance tasks that are apparently low risk can easily release asbestos fibres. For example, simply drilling or sanding a surface can make the fibres airborne. To compound the problem, it may not be your own work task that disturbs the asbestos. You just need to be in the general area where someone is disturbing it, and you are at risk.

Okay, so the need for asbestos awareness training for all construction and trades workers is clear. But why does it have to be repeated on such a regular basis? Typically refreshed annually.

First off, it’s a legal requirement – Regulation 10 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 says that not only does asbestos awareness training have to be provided, but it has to be given on a frequent basis – which is typically interpreted as meaning once per year. The thinking behind this frequency of training lies in the fact that it’s a hidden killer, and, that the majority of workers do not knowingly work with asbestos. Training science shows that we tend to forget information quite quickly following a training course – especially if this is information that we do not use on a regular basis, which is the case with asbestos.

For these reasons it’s crucial that it’s renewed regularly. If it’s not, then people are likely to forget, and this ignorance, as the health statistics show, can prove fatal. So, asbestos awareness training for all construction and tradespeople is not only essential, it’s also important that it’s renewed on a frequent basis so that workers are given the knowledge they need to protect themselves from this hidden killer.