What is the European Asbestos Forum? This year, the 3rd annual European Asbestos Forum Conference (EAF) will commence in London. The goal of the EAF is to connect qualified asbestos awareness professionals with industry experts. Whether you’re involved in asbestos removal, testing, insurance or consultancy, the wide range of perspectives encourages engaging dialogue. What have […]
Online Asbestos Awareness course
This course is an online training course, accredited by UKATA, the UK’s most widely recognised independent asbestos training association. It’s a Category A: Asbestos Awareness course which aims to help candidates recognise and understand the risks and dangers they may be exposed to on coming into contact with asbestos.
Is this the right course for me?
If you require asbestos awareness training that has been accredited by a HSE recognised training body, then this course should meet your needs perfectly. On completing the course, you automatically receive an official UKATA certificate that is valid for 12 months. UKATA accredited training is universally recognised as being the industry standard.
The HSE and UKATA both recognise online courses as a valid method of training.
Is this a suitable refresher course?
Yes, this course is also a suitable asbestos awareness refresher course.
How many licences do I need?
You need to buy one licence for each person that will take the course. If you have several candidates who need to take the course, you will need to buy a licence for each candidate. Licences are valid indefinitely – they don’t expire – so you can buy a licence now and use it at any point in the future to take the training.
Can I keep track of all my candidates?
Yes, we have a page where you can view all your licences to see who has completed the course, download copies of certificates, and check which licences are still unused.
For further general and technical questions, please take a look at our FAQs page.
More information about this course
This course doesn’t provide training on working with or removing asbestos. For more information about the different categories of training offered, please see below.
Our online course originally went live early in 2014 and is audited annually by UKATA to ensure that it meets their training standards and legal requirements.
The HSE specify that awareness training should be taken every year by anyone who is likely to come into contact with asbestos during their work. This also includes people who manage individuals likely to come into contact with asbestos.
You can find out more about the HSE requirements and recommendations from the HSE website.
Course content
Our course is divided into four sections plus a multi choice test at the end. The sections are:
- What is asbestos?
- Asbestos and its effects on health
- Asbestos containing materials
- Asbestos bans, laws, surveys and registers
All the content you need to pass the final test is contained in the course itself. You don’t need to do any additional reading or research and you don’t need any prior knowledge. Every page in the course covers a single point or piece of information – when you’ve read and understood it, just click the ‘Next’ button to move on to the next page.
The content is supported by a professionally-voiced narration and by images taken from real-life situations. There are also several interactions during the course to help you with your learning.
The course will remember when you complete a section so it’s possible to take the course in stages – if you need to complete the course over several days, or you just want to have a cup of tea, the course will keep track of your progress. Each section has a very short test at the end – around 3 questions. Once you pass the test, the section will be marked as completed.
When you pass the test at the end, you will automatically and immediately be emailed your certificate. If you don’t pass the test at the first attempt, you can retake it straightaway. There is no limit on the number of attempts you have.
The course should take approximately 2 hours to complete.
Types of training
There are several types of asbestos training and we’ve outlined the main ones below:
Online / Classroom
The first main distinction is between online and classroom (or face to face) training. Online courses, like the one we offer on this website, are taken on computer (or tablet or phone) at the candidate’s own pace. The training can be carried out at home or at a place of work, perhaps on an office computer. As a rule, online training would be taken individually – candidates wouldn’t normally sit together and work through an online course together. All the course content would be presented to the candidate via the website
Classroom training is usually conducted in a group with a qualified instructor leading the session. The advantages of learning in a classroom environment are that you have an instructor and other participants to ask questions of and discuss the course content with. The disadvantages of classroom training compared with online courses are generally considered to be cost and time – classroom courses can take longer, cost more, and are only run at set times.
We also offer classroom training through Bainbridge Asbestos, which is run by Steve Bainbridge. Steve has been providing face to face classroom training since 2002.
Types of accreditation
There are several bodies that offer accreditation for asbestos courses. You should note that at the time of writing, the HSE only list UKATA, IATP and BOHS as recognised training associations. Although UKATA is considered the industry standard, if you are in any doubt whether your certificate will be accepted by your employer, you should confirm with them directly.
There are other training bodies offering accreditation, such as ROSPA. Certificates obtained from training courses accredited by other organisations may not be as widely accepted but, again, you should confirm with your employer.
Some companies also offer unaccredited training. This is often cheaper but will be less widely accepted by employers.
Different categories
As well as awareness training, the HSE identify two further categories of training, namely non-licensable work with asbestos and licensable work with asbestos.
For more information about the different categories of training offered, please see this page.
Legal requirements
There is a legal requirement in the UK, under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, for employers to provide training to employees liable to come into contact with asbestos during their everyday work.
It’s really important to note that if your work is liable to disturb asbestos, not merely encounter it, you will need additional levels of training. Please refer to the HSE for further details.
Why choose us?
We are asbestos training specialists. Through Bainbridge Asbestos, we offer a specialist training and surveying service that benefits from our 30 years’ experience of training – with more than 10 years’ experience in health and safety, particularly in the field of asbestos training and asbestos surveying.
We are not a general safety consultancy and we’re not involved in asbestos removals. This means our training has the quality that only in-depth knowledge of the subject brings.
Purchase a licence
If you would like to buy one or more licences, please select the number below and click the ‘Buy Now’ button. £20.00
If you have further questions about the course, please take a look at our FAQs page or contact us. In addition, there is more information about the training here.