It requires us to identify the duty holders and in certain circumstances carry out asbestos surveys to identify the risks and manage asbestos containing materials.

Learn more about what asbestos is and understanding your duties as an employer or contractor here.

You can read more about different types of asbestos surveys and when you need to carry one out here.

Types of asbestos training

There are different types of training that you may need to provide to your employees and others.  You should aim to have an open and responsive culture where employees are not afraid of asbestos and know how it is managed in their place of work.

Where employees are identified as being at risk of potential exposure to asbestos containing materials, there is a legal requirement with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 to provide awareness training.

The health risks associated with asbestos, taking care to provide the right balance.  You want everyone to respect asbestos, but not to fear it.  Asbestos is an extremely emotive subject, and often the simple knowledge of its presence is enough to make employees afraid of being in the same room.  This has often resulted in poor decisions being made about remedial action when it is found.

Is asbestos training a legal requirement?

The current Regulations place a legal duty on employers to provide information, instruction and training to any of their employees who are likely to be exposed to asbestos as part of their work.

The three main types of information, instruction and training are:

• asbestos awareness training
• training for non-licensable asbestos work
• training for licensable asbestos work

Any worker who is likely to disturb asbestos during their day-to-day work needs to receive appropriate training to enable them to protect themselves and others.

UKATA approved training

We would recommend that your training is delivered by a UK Asbestos Training Awareness (UKATA) approved training provider as these are delivered by approved training providers that are subject to monitoring to ensure the quality of the training delivered.