Asbestos Awareness Training

• The properties of asbestos and its effects on health, including its interaction with smoking,
• The types of products or materials likely to contain asbestos, (decent library of pictures)
• A short video appropriate to the work undertaken by your workers
• The operations which could result in asbestos exposure and the importance of preventive controls to minimise exposure,
• Managers Responsibilities (how to protect workers and avoid a prosecution)
• Role of Asbestos Surveys and how to understand what is in them (with practical demonstration)
• Safe work practices, control measures, and protective equipment, (what you can do, what you can’t do)
• The purpose, choice, limitations, proper use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment,
• Emergency procedures, (how to deal with an asbestos incident)

What is Asbestos

While asbestos has some outstanding benefits and is part of a number of useful products, it also has numerous hazardous aspects to it. Individuals exposed to asbestos fibers can suffer lung damage, heart damage, cancer, and other disabilities. Exposure to asbestos has also proven deadly. The negative aspects of asbestos have caused quite a stir since the 1960's, when many of the problems associated with asbestos were discovered. Lawsuits seeking damages for asbestos-related disabilities and deaths have often been in the news.

In general, almost everyone has been exposed to some sort of asbestos. Asbestos fibers enter the air and water during the routine breakdown of asbestos products. These fibers neither evaporate nor dissolve. For example, when the brakes are applied to a car, asbestos fibers are released into the air. While such limited exposure is not necessarily cause for alarm, repeated exposure, or exposure to large amounts of asbestos, can lead to the problems described earlier.

In light of the many concerns about asbestos, many homeowners, schools, and businesses have sought to have asbestos products removed from their premises. Typically, the asbestos removal process, known as asbestos abatement, requires compliance with strict procedures to insure hazardous fibers are not released into the air, and thus endangering others. While working on hazardous projects like this, the abatement workers wear protective clothing and masks to insure their own protection.

Duration of Course:  1 day

No of Participants: 10