Page 2079 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 August 2014
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well beyond the construction industry. Other workers, such as pest controllers, building inspectors, telecommunications technicians and similar tradespeople are often working in close proximity to asbestos in all its forms.
While it is relatively easy to identify what asbestos sheeting looks like and how to deal with it, loose-fill asbestos is not as straightforward, and it is important to ensure that all tradespeople or people who have a risk of coming into contact with loose-fill asbestos are trained to identify and notify the appropriate authority. This is about awareness. It is about making sure workers know what asbestos is, where they will likely come across it, and more importantly, when they do, how to seek further advice.
The course only takes one day to complete, and it is important to note that it is not about learning to remove asbestos. There are more in-depth courses available for training in the removal of asbestos. The course does not permit workers to disturb asbestos in any manner, and there is a strict regulatory and licensing regime in place for assessing and removing asbestos. The course is only mandated for workers but it is recommended that home owners and DIY renovators also take the course to educate themselves on identifying asbestos. Having as many people as possible trained in identification reduces the risk to tradespeople and also helps with the process of identifying all of the affected residences.
The course, which has been developed by the Construction Industry Training Council, has a session which specifically focuses on loose-fill asbestos. And there are a number of registered training organisations providing asbestos awareness training, including the MBA, HIA, Creative Safety Initiatives, who are the training arm of CFMEU, the Capital Training Institute and Robson Environmental. According to WorkSafe ACT, over 9,000 people have undertaken mandatory asbestos training.
WorkSafe ACT have provided a guidance note on the training. The note touches on a few important matters. Firstly, what is the law in regard to it? It talks about section 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and section 445 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011. It also talks about those that have been trained previously. Any undertaking of training prior to 1 January 2008 is not accepted, and the worker must be retrained by an RTO who is accredited to deliver a 10314NAT course in asbestos awareness. Also, training undertaken between January 2008 and 30 December 2013 through an accredited RTO listed in the guidance note is accepted. Those that have done a particular course do not need to be retrained.
That is a very important point for those that are working on older homes across the territory, whether they are in the construction industry or an associated industry, and I encourage all that may be considering working in those areas to undertake this particular training in awareness of asbestos.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (12.10): I am pleased to rise briefly to contribute to this debate this afternoon and to acknowledge the very significant work that is now being done by the asbestos response task force in response to the very challenging and difficult circumstances being faced now by many hundreds if not thousands of Canberra households.
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