Workers in South Yorkshire's building trades are being given the chance to learn how to recognise and deal with one of their industry's biggest killers – asbestos.

A series of training courses is being offered by the South Yorkshire & Humber Working Well Together Group - a partnership between key players in the construction sector and allied trades, plus the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Courses are aimed mainly at small and medium businesses and welcome everyone from joiners and painters to plumbers and general builders.

Eight half-day sessions are being run by the Group in Barnsley, Sheffield, Wath Upon Dearne and Worksop early next month (June). They will give young and older workers alike vital knowledge and awareness of what asbestos is, what it looks like in various forms and how to deal with it if it is discovered while working on a job.


Known throughout the sector as the 'hidden killer', asbestos causes around 4,000 deaths each year. The HSE regularly prosecutes firms and individuals in the building trades for failing to protect workers from exposure to asbestos.

HSE Principal Inspector David Redman, who is responsible for the construction sector in South Yorkshire & the Humber, said: "Asbestos can be present in any building built before 2000, so there are literally tens of thousands of them in the region. Asbestos surveys should be carried out before work starts on a construction or demolition project and workers told where asbestos could be found and what should be done if it is discovered accidentally.

"Often this is not done, so the law requires anyone who may come into contact with asbestos at work to have asbestos awareness training. This includes joiners, electricians, decorators, heating engineers and general builders."

(CD)