Asbestos Safety and Awareness Training

Asbestos Awareness
29 CFR 1910.1001(j) (7)

Asbestos training should correspond to an asbestos workers job. For companies in general industry, detailed OSHA training requirements for exposure to asbestos have been designed primarily for those who use asbestos in the manufacturing process.

All workers who may be exposed to asbestos whether airborne or above Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) require extensive training on how to protect their health through the use of: engineering controls, medical monitoring, respirators and other personal protective equipment.

Workers who perform house-keeping or custodial type jobs may also be at risk and may require OSHA mandated "asbestos awareness" training, even if there is no immediate threat of asbestos in the work environment. This requirement, of course, applies only to workers in buildings where asbestos is considered to be present.

For employers it stands that all employees that may potentially find themselves exposed to asbestos or asbestos-containing material (ACM) as part of their work, should receive asbestos awareness training.
"Asbestos awareness" training simply means understanding the dangers of asbestos. Exposure to asbestos above the PEL can be extremely dangerous to a worker's health, potentially causing serious illnesses, including cancer. However, while there are many products that might contain asbestos such as: roofing shingles, flooring tiles, various insulating materials, etc., these products should not automatically be considered as asbestos hazards. Asbestos training should emphasize the dangers of a worker being exposed to and potentially inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers, which are likely to be present in the work environment only if asbestos or ACM has been disrupted, is damaged or is no longer intact.

OSHA's minimum requirements for asbestos awareness training include:

Educating your workers about the health effects of exposure to asbestos and making them aware of the locations where there is asbestos or ACM in the building, facility or jobsite.

As an employer your workers must know how to tell if the asbestos or ACM present in the environment is damaged or has deteriorated.

As an employer you will want to ensure that your workers observe proper house-keeping procedures related to asbestos and that in the event of a release of asbestos fibers workers have been trained on proper conduct and response to the release.

Some of OSHA's training requirements for workers exposed at or above PEL can be applied to general awareness training. These include: the relationship between smoking and asbestos exposure in causing lung cancer, specific work processes and engineering controls designed to control asbestos exposure and the meanings of warning signs and labels in the context of asbestos.

Remember that OSHA's Asbestos Standard requires that employee training (including awareness training) be held at least every year and that copies of the standard itself, as well as materials about asbestos safety training must be made available to employees upon request.

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