There is a duty of care on employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees and others who come on to the workplace. This includes asbestos risks.

AlertForce  offers asbestos awareness training courses that also focus on how the law applies to asbestos and its management in the workplace. That is, how to comply with legislation to maintain a safe and healthy workplace. Asbestos training courses specifically look at the occupational health and safety aspects in duty of care.

Each state and territory has variations in occupational health and safety laws, and in NSW the most important laws covering asbestos come under the NSW Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 and the NSW Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 2001. Asbestos training is a significant part of OHS law for those working with asbestos.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (Act) is based on the principle of duty of care and covers all workplaces in NSW. Implementing the duty of care principle means planning for the prevention of workplace accidents, injuries and illnesses, and this often involves the completion of asbestos awareness training courses.

Asbestos training also provides instruction on risk assessment and control. There is a general duty of care on employers of the workplace to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees and others who come on to the workplace. It is also their responsibility to ensure that all reasonably practicable measures have been taken to control risks against all possible injuries arising from the workplace. The employer's duty of care applies to all people in the workplace, including visitors and contractors.

Employers are required to organise their workplace and their work systems to ensure people at work are not put in harm’s way.

There is legislation enforcing duty of care requirements:

The Act, (section 8) states:

  • an employer must ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all the employees of the employer. 
  • an employer must ensure that people (other than employees of the employer) are not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from the conduct of the employer’s undertaking while they are at the employer’s place of work
Section 9 of the Act states:

A self-employed person must ensure that people (other than the employees of the person) are not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from the conduct of the person’s undertaking while they are at the person’s place of work.

This and other provisions of the Act require employers to ensure that:

  • systems of work are safe
  • equipment is safe and properly maintained
  • employees receive health and safety information and training
  • employees are properly supervised
Asbestos training courses from AlertForce provide the knowledge to ensure that businesses have the best chance of complying with the OHS laws when it comes to asbestos safety.