Asbestos Awareness Training for the Hospitality Industry in Ireland.

Common hospitality tasks that can disturb asbestos

Most jobs in a hotel, pub or restaurant never go near asbestos. The risk comes from a small number of everyday upkeep and refurbishment tasks in older buildings - and from not checking what is there before starting.

Fixing things to walls and ceilings

Hanging a TV, mounting shelves, fitting signage or running a cable means drilling into walls and ceilings. If those surfaces contain asbestos insulating board or a textured coating, drilling can release fibres. Always check the asbestos register first.

Decorating and refurbishment

Sanding old ceilings, stripping out partitions, removing tiles or opening up a room during a refit are among the highest-risk tasks. Textured coatings, ceiling tiles, insulating board and floor tiles were all common asbestos products in buildings from before 2000.

Cellar, plant room and heating work

Pub cellars and hotel plant rooms often still have old pipe and boiler lagging, gaskets and panels that may contain asbestos. Disturbing damaged lagging during maintenance is one of the most dangerous things a worker can do without knowing.

Lifting old floor tiles

Cracked or lifting vinyl and thermoplastic floor tiles, and the black bitumen adhesive beneath them, can contain asbestos. Pulling them up during a refit or repair can release fibres if it is not done correctly.

Legal duties for hospitality employers

Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Exposure to Asbestos Regulations (SI 386/2006 and SI 589/2010), hospitality employers must:

1. Identify asbestos - Arrange a survey and keep an asbestos register and management plan for the building.
2. Manage the risk - Keep any asbestos materials in good condition and monitor them over time.
3. Train staff - Provide Asbestos Awareness Training to anyone liable to disturb asbestos, before work starts.
4. Share information - Give the register to staff and contractors before any work that could disturb the building.
5. Use the right people - Ensure higher-risk work and removal are carried out only by trained or licensed asbestos contractors.

Our online Asbestos Awareness Course helps hospitality businesses meet training duties efficiently. Staff complete it in about 45 minutes with instant certification.

The health risk - why it matters

Asbestos is the single biggest cause of work-related deaths in Ireland. When asbestos materials are disturbed they release tiny fibres that cannot be seen or smelled. Breathing them in can cause serious diseases - including mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer - that often take 20 to 50 years to appear.

There is no safe level of asbestos exposure. A single sanded ceiling or lifted floor tile can release millions of fibres - which is why checking the register before work is the most important habit a hospitality team can build.

What the course covers for hospitality teams

Our Asbestos Awareness Course is tailored to the buildings hospitality staff actually work in:

• Recognising ACMs - Spotting textured coatings, ceiling and floor tiles, insulating board and lagging.
• Where it hides - Cellars, plant rooms, ceilings, partitions, service ducts and old floors.
• The health risks - How fibres harm the lungs and why there is no safe level of exposure.
• The register and survey - How to check what asbestos is present before any work begins.
• STOP-CHECK-REPORT - Exactly what to do if you find or suspect asbestos during a job.
• Knowing the limits - Awareness training does not qualify anyone to work on or remove asbestos.

Training that fits around service

Hospitality runs on unsocial hours, so our course is fully online and available 24/7. Staff and contractors can complete it in about 45 minutes on any device - during a quiet period, before a shift or on a day off - and download a CPD certified, RoSPA approved certificate the moment they pass. That makes it easy to induct new starters, seasonal staff and refurbishment contractors quickly and consistently.