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NPORS Asbestos Awareness (N031)
This is awareness training. It teaches people to recognise where asbestos is likely to be, to stop before they disturb it and to know who to tell. It does not train anybody to work with asbestos, and it never will. Half a day, twelve people, on your own premises.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our N031 Asbestos Awareness different
About this course
The NPORS N031 Asbestos Awareness category is training for people whose work could foreseeably disturb asbestos containing materials: maintenance staff, electricians, plumbers, heating engineers, joiners, roofers, demolition and refurbishment operatives, groundworkers, telecoms and alarm installers, and the supervisors who direct them. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 require employers to ensure that anybody who is, or is liable to be, exposed to asbestos is given adequate information, instruction and training, and awareness training is how that duty is met for people who are not going to work on asbestos deliberately.
The point that has to be made first is what the course is not. Asbestos awareness training is not training to work with asbestos in any form. It does not qualify anybody to carry out licensed work, notifiable non licensed work or non licensed work with asbestos, and on its own it does not meet the legal requirements for people who are going to do that work. Those need separate, specific training and, for licensed work, a licensed contractor. Anybody who tells you otherwise is selling you a problem.
What awareness training does is stop the accidental disturbance that causes most modern exposures. Half a day covers what asbestos is and what it does to the lungs, including the delay of decades between exposure and disease. Where asbestos containing materials were used and which trades meet them. How to recognise likely materials, and the honest limits of recognition by eye. The duty to manage asbestos in non domestic premises, the asbestos register and survey, and how to find out what is in a building before work starts. What to do if you find or disturb something suspicious: stop, leave, prevent access, report. And who to tell and what happens next.
- What asbestos is, the types used in the United Kingdom, and how exposure causes asbestos related disease decades later
- Why and where asbestos was used, the buildings and periods most likely to be affected, and the materials common trades meet: insulating board, cement products, textured coatings, floor tiles, rope seals, lagging, soffits and flues
- The limits of visual recognition, and why the answer to uncertainty is to stop rather than to guess
- The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 in outline, including the duty to manage asbestos in non domestic premises
- Asbestos registers, surveys and how to find out what is in a building before work starts
- Emergency action if asbestos is found or disturbed: stop, leave the area, prevent others entering, report, and what happens afterwards
How completing this course helps you
- The NPORS N031 Asbestos Awareness category, registered with NPORS and recognised nationally
- An NPORS card recording the category, carrying the CSCS logo while the holder's CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date
- People who check the register before they drill, and who stop rather than carry on when something looks wrong
- Evidence of the information, instruction and training the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 require for people liable to be exposed
Who should attend?
Maintenance and facilities teams, electricians, plumbers, heating and ventilation engineers, joiners, plasterers and decorators, roofers, demolition and refurbishment operatives, groundworkers and utilities crews, telecoms, alarm and cabling installers, surveyors and building inspectors, and the supervisors and managers who direct them. In practice it applies to anybody who drills, cuts, lifts, chases or opens up anything in a building built or refurbished before the year 2000.
Entry requirements. There is no formal entry requirement. You should be able to follow spoken and written English well enough for the theory test, though support can be arranged on request. This is knowledge based training and there is no practical element, which is why NPORS allow twelve candidates with one instructor. For the version of the card that carries the CSCS logo, the holder needs a CITB Health, Safety and Environment test pass at the level their role requires, which we book for you. Tell us at enquiry what your buildings and your trades are, and whether your client has specified UKATA training by name.
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Course content
What you will cover
Half a day in the classroom on what asbestos is, where it is, how to recognise the risk, what the law requires and exactly what to do when something suspicious turns up.
Recognition, risk and the law
- What asbestos is, the types used in the United Kingdom and the properties that made it popular
- Health effects, the latency between exposure and disease, and the combined effect of smoking
- Where asbestos containing materials were used, and the building types and periods most affected
- Common materials by trade: insulating board, cement sheet and products, textured coatings, floor tiles, rope seals, lagging, soffits and flues
- The limits of identifying asbestos by eye, and the role of sampling and analysis
- The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 in outline, including the duty to manage asbestos in non domestic premises
- Asbestos registers, management and refurbishment and demolition surveys, and checking before work starts
- What this training does not allow: no licensed work, no notifiable non licensed work and no non licensed work with asbestos
What to do when you find it
- Recognising the point at which work should stop
- Stopping work, putting down tools and leaving the area without spreading contamination
- Preventing other people from entering the area
- Reporting: who to tell, what to tell them and how quickly
- What happens next, including survey, sampling and specialist involvement
- Decontamination advice and what not to do, such as sweeping, brushing or using a normal vacuum
- Recording the incident and the actions taken
Method of assessment
How the N031 asbestos awareness test works
NPORS assess the category by theory test. There is no practical element, because the only correct practical response to asbestos on this course is to stop and report it.
1. Enquiry and group
Tell us how many people, where, what trades they are and what your building stock is like. Twelve sit with one instructor, and because the course is half a day we can often run two groups in one visit. We quote per group.
2. Pre course check
We confirm that nobody in the group is expected to carry out work with asbestos, which needs different training altogether, check whether your client has specified UKATA, agree whether the CSCS logo version of the card is needed, and take the details NPORS need.
3. Training
What asbestos is, where it is, the health effects, the law, the register and the procedures, worked through against the buildings and trades you actually deal with.
4. Theory test
The NPORS theory test covering recognition, health effects, the regulations and the duty to manage, the register, and the emergency actions on finding or disturbing asbestos.
5. Debrief on your arrangements
We go through how your people would actually find the register, who they would report to and what would happen next, because that is where awareness training usually fails.
6. Registration and card
We register the pass with NPORS and apply for your card, carrying the CSCS logo where the holder's CITB Health, Safety and Environment test is in date.
After the course
Awareness is not permission
It is worth repeating, because it gets misunderstood on sites every week. Asbestos awareness training is not training to work with asbestos. It does not cover removing, drilling, cutting, cleaning, enclosing or repairing asbestos containing materials, and it does not meet the legal requirements for anybody who is going to do that work. Licensed work must be done by a licensed contractor. Notifiable non licensed and non licensed work need their own specific training and controls. If a supervisor ever says that somebody with an awareness card can take that panel down, the answer is no.
The second thing to fix is access to the information. Awareness training only works if the person with the drill can find out, in a couple of minutes, what is in the wall. That means an asbestos register that is current, accessible on site rather than in a filing cabinet at head office, and a habit of checking it before work rather than after an incident. Where your organisation manages premises, the duty to manage asbestos in non domestic premises sits on you, and the register is how you discharge it.
- UKATA asbestos awareness training, where your client or your framework specifies UKATA by name
- UKATA non licensed operative training for anybody who will actually carry out non licensed work with asbestos
- N704 Manual Handling and N703 Fire Warden, the other half day awareness categories usually booked in the same visit
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test booked with us where the CSCS logo version of the card is needed
Build your course
Who is coming, and how many
We do not run these to a timetable. The course is built around your people: how experienced they are and how many of them there are, which is what sets the length and the cost. Pick the mix and we will come back with a date and a price.
The course builder needs JavaScript. Without it, tell us how many people and what experience they have and we will price it up.
N031 Asbestos Awareness FAQs
No. Asbestos awareness training is not training to work with asbestos in any form. It does not qualify anybody for licensed work, notifiable non licensed work or non licensed work, and on its own it does not meet the legal requirements for people doing that work. Its whole purpose is to make sure people recognise the risk, stop, and report rather than carry on.
No. This is the NPORS category. UKATA is a separate approval scheme with its own audited syllabus, and some clients, frameworks and principal contractors specify UKATA by name. We deliver both, so tell us who is asking and we will tell you which one meets the requirement rather than sell you the wrong card.
The NPORS test sheet gives a half day novice duration with twelve candidates to one instructor, and the same maximum of twelve on a refresher. That is the largest group size on the sheet, and it is why two half day groups in one visit is a practical way to cover a whole workforce.
That is set by your own arrangements and your risk assessment rather than by a fixed figure we can quote. Annual refresher is common practice across the industry, and many clients ask for it. We will fit in with whatever cycle you or your client have set.
Anybody whose work could foreseeably disturb asbestos containing materials. In practice that means maintenance staff, electricians, plumbers, heating engineers, joiners, roofers, demolition and refurbishment operatives, groundworkers, cabling and alarm installers, and their supervisors. If somebody drills, cuts, chases or opens up in a building from before 2000, they need it.
Stop immediately, put the tools down, leave the area without spreading contamination, stop anybody else going in, and report it. Do not sweep, brush or vacuum. The course goes through this in detail because the first five minutes make an enormous difference to what follows.
No, and deliberately so. The only correct practical response to asbestos on this course is to stop and report it, so the assessment is a theory test. Anything hands on would belong to a different course with different controls.
Yes, and it is worth doing because we can go through your own asbestos register and your own reporting arrangements at the end. Awareness training usually fails at the point where somebody cannot find out what is in the wall, and half an hour on your actual arrangements fixes that.
NPORS courses are priced per course, not per person. What you are paying for is the instructor, the registered tester and the machine time, so the figure turns on four things: the category, which route your operators need (novice, experienced, conversion or refresher), how many people are coming, and whether we run it on your site or at one of ours. It is also why a squad works out considerably cheaper per head than sending operators out one at a time. Use the course builder on this page: tell it who is coming and it works out how many days the course takes and how many times it has to run, which is what the price is built from. Then ask us and you will get a figure for that exact group rather than a list price with conditions attached.
We run NPORS courses across the UK rather than out of one fixed centre, and for most categories the better answer is that we come to you: your operators are assessed on the machine they will be using anyway, nobody loses a day travelling, and for a group it costs less. If you would rather come to us, we have centres at Trent House in Stoke, Pride Park in Derby, Europa House in Manchester and Kingsway House in Liverpool. Tell us where the work is and we will say honestly which way round makes more sense.
There is no fixed timetable to wait for. NPORS courses here are run to order, which means the dates are built around your programme rather than ours, and a single operator or a full squad can normally be booked in within a couple of weeks. If you have a card about to expire or a start date to hit, say so when you enquire and we will work to it.
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