School Asbestos Disturbance Information, Instruction and Training

As an employer, the school must provide the appropriate asbestos information, instruction and training to anyone who may disturb asbestos during their work and to anyone who supervises such people. The purpose is to enable work to be carried out safely and competently, without risk to the worker or to anyone else. This applies to the level of information, instruction and training needed for the person’s role; it is not automatically the same for every person in the school.

Your role matters because different school activities can create different opportunities to disturb asbestos. For example, premises and maintenance staff may carry out work on or near building fabric or services. Catering staff may work in areas where equipment, fittings or building services are altered or maintained. Teaching staff, agency staff and voluntary staff may not normally undertake building work, but they may still be included where their duties could expose them to disturbance work or where they supervise, arrange or work alongside people who may disturb asbestos. The relevant question is not simply whether someone has a maintenance job title. Ask whether their work could disturb asbestos, or whether they supervise someone whose work could do so.

Before carrying out or supervising work that could disturb asbestos, look for the arrangements that apply at your school or through your employer. In particular, identify where the school’s asbestos management information, local work-authorisation arrangements, escalation route and relevant premises information are held, and who is responsible for providing them. These local arrangements matter because this course cannot describe the asbestos-containing materials, condition, work controls or contacts for a particular school. If you cannot find the information you need, or the proposed work is not clearly covered by your role and instruction, stop and seek direction through the applicable school or employer arrangement rather than making assumptions.

Hypothetical example: A school asks a premises assistant to fix a damaged item attached to a wall. The assistant has completed general asbestos awareness information but is unsure whether the task could disturb asbestos. The correct decision is not to rely on the job title or on past experience. The assistant should check the school’s applicable asbestos and work-authorisation arrangements and seek direction before starting. If the assistant is supervising an agency worker who might carry out the task, the assistant also needs sufficient role-appropriate instruction to supervise safely. General awareness does not by itself authorise a particular task or demonstrate practical competence.

A common mistake is to include only premises or maintenance employees and assume that everyone else is outside the training requirement. The correction is to consider all employees and supervised workers whose duties may expose them to asbestos disturbance, and anyone who supervises such work. This can include agency, catering, premises, maintenance, teaching and voluntary staff. Inclusion depends on the person’s work and the asbestos risks in the relevant premises, so the school or employer must make the role-specific decision.

This course gives a general decision framework, not permission to carry out asbestos work. If your duties, supervision responsibilities or the premises risks change, the information, instruction and training needed may also change. Use the relevant school or employer arrangements to confirm what applies to your role, and seek further role-specific instruction where the existing information does not enable you to understand and carry out the work safely and competently.