11 August 2009
Phillip Ellar

When the actor Steve McQueen was diagnosed with mesothelioma, his doctor asked him to think about where he may have been exposed to asbestos. The protective suits he wore to ride his beloved motorbikes were lined with asbestos, the bike exhausts he cleaned were lined with asbestos, and during his time in the Marines he hacked asbestos off pipes in warships, so it could have been any one of those places. Unfortunately, it didn't really matter where he'd been exposed; the fact was he had and he'd been handed a death sentence.

Mesothelioma causes thousands of deaths in the UK each year and almost 200,000 globally. Exposure to asbestos can be relatively low for it to occur. It attacks the lining of the lungs and, from diagnosis, life expectancy is usually less than years.

Originally, legislation controlling asbestos was targeted at those who manufactured, installed or removed asbestos-containing materials (ACMs). But the import and use of asbestos is now prohibited in the UK. From 21 March 2004, Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 placed duties on anyone responsible for the repair and maintenance of non-domestic premises where asbestos-containing materials are, or may be, present.

Combined code

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 (CAR) bring together the three previous sets of Regulations covering the prohibition of asbestos, the control of asbestos at work and asbestos licensing, obliging employers of building maintenance and repair workers to carry out a risk assessment before undertaking any work which exposes, or is liable to expose, employees to asbestos. They must then take the appropriate steps required by CAR to prevent or reduce these risks. But in many cases, employers and their workers have little or no information about the premises in which they are carrying out work, and are not aware if ACMs are present. So it's difficult for them to consider the risks, or assess when they need to take precautions. Hence the duty on people in control of non-domestic premises to manage the risk from asbestos has been added to CAR to address this.

Despite the legal requirement for employers to ensure that employees and contractors have received asbestos awareness training, the HSE is still having to prosecute companies under the Health and Safety at Work Act for ignoring this duty. Unfortunately, the dangers associated with breaches of the law only come to public attention when serious exposure has already taken place, such as in a recent case where an electrician in West Bromwich installed three heat detectors and cabling in ceiling tiles containing brown asbestos.

Call of duty

Asbestos awareness courses are available for anyone who is likely to be exposed to asbestos or is deemed a dutyholder and has to manage asbestos under Regulation 4 of CAR. Any dutyholder of a business based in a building constructed before 2000 should ensure that they have completed such a course as soon as possible.

An asbestos awareness course should include elements such as recognising where asbestos will be and what it looks like, the legal considerations, protecting against ACMs and their safe disposal. While it's not compulsory for trainers to belong to the United Kingdom Asbestos Training Association (UKATA), by prescribing a code of conduct and auditing examination standards, the association provides a benchmark of standards that asbestos training providers have to achieve and maintain.

Here's a list of subjects a full-day asbestos awareness course should cover:

• the nature of asbestos; sources, type and uses
• typical uses of asbestos in construction materials
• asbestos-related health effects/diseases
• the legislative framework, including CAR 2006 and the management of asbestos in buildings
• the asbestos management regime, including types of survey, materials and priority risk assessments, and management and control actions
• abatement and guidance, including licensable and non-licensable work, asbestos enclosures and removal and disposal procedures, and safe
  working practices
• an overview of the client's management strategies.

As well as raising awareness of the potential dangers of ACMs and helping organisations comply with CAR, these courses can help delegates identify further training needs if they wish to train staff in-house in asbestos removal.

Phillip Ellar is senior consultant at Connaught Compliance Training Services, www.connaught.plc.uk

Categories:
Asbestos, Health, Safety, Article, Asbestos