The extent and influence of Asbestos Safety Awareness training among managers who had previously commissioned an asbestos survey in their workplace buildings

Our plain-English summary of The extent and influence of Asbestos Safety Awareness training among managers who had previously commissioned an asbestos survey in their workplace buildings, by J. Hickey, J. Saunders, P. Davern (Industrial Health, 2015).

The study

• Authors: J. Hickey, J. Saunders, P. Davern
• Journal: Industrial Health
• Published: 2015;53(5):398-409
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

A telephone survey was conducted among a sample of managers (n=30) in Ireland who had previously commissioned an asbestos survey in their workplace buildings. The aims of the telephone survey were to examine the extent to which managers had completed Asbestos Safety Awareness (ASA) training, and to assess how such training might influence (i) their instinctive thoughts on asbestos, and (ii) their approach to aspects of asbestos management within their buildings. Managers' motivations for commissioning the asbestos survey were also identified. The study found that ASA-trained managers (n=11) were not significantly more likely to work in larger organisations or in organisations which operated an accredited management system. Though ASA-trained managers' instinctive thoughts on asbestos were of a slightly poorer technical quality compared with those of non-ASA-trained managers, they were still significantly more cognisant of their responsibilities towards those of their employees at specific risk of asbestos exposure. Most managers (n=28) commissioned the asbestos survey to satisfy a pre-requisite of external contractors for commencing refurbishment/demolition work in their buildings. Given its potential to positively influence the occupational management of asbestos, the authors recommend the general promotion of suitably tailored ASA-training programmes among building managers and external contractors alike.

In plain English

This telephone survey questioned 30 managers in Ireland, each from a different organisation, who had previously commissioned an asbestos survey of their workplace buildings. It asked about Asbestos Safety Awareness (ASA) training. Eleven of the 30 (36.7%) had completed ASA training. Trained managers were not significantly more likely to work in larger organisations or in ones with an accredited management system. Asked for the first word asbestos brought to mind, 5 of 11 trained and 10 of 19 untrained managers gave a technical answer, and the difference was not significant. All 11 trained managers, compared with 5 of 19 untrained ones, cited responsibility for employees' health as a reason for the survey. All 11, compared with 6 of 19, said their at-risk employees had received ASA training. Both differences were significant. For 28 of 30 managers, one reason was that contractors would not start refurbishment or demolition without a survey. The authors concluded that ASA training has the potential to enhance managers' strategic knowledge on managing asbestos. They noted the small sample and that the survey did not examine whether training actually reduced employees' exposure risk.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Telephone survey using a nine-question questionnaire (cross-sectional survey)
• Who was studied: 30 managers from 30 different organisations in Ireland who had previously used an asbestos consultancy (Phoenix Environmental Safety Ltd., south east of Ireland) to survey their buildings. They came from 70 organisations randomly selected out of the consultancy's 344 clients. The survey was delivered in February 2013.
• Exposure: Whether managers had completed Asbestos Safety Awareness (ASA) training, the authors' term for training on asbestos properties, hazards, health risks and safe work practices required under Irish regulations. No fiber types or exposure doses were studied.
• Main results:
  • 11 of the 30 managers (36.7%) had completed ASA training; the other 19 (63.3%) had not.
  • There was no significant association between organisation size and a manager being ASA-trained (p=0.796).
  • Among ASA-trained managers, 63.6% (7 of 11) worked in organisations with an accredited management system, but the association was not significant (p=0.257).
  • On their first word or phrase about asbestos, 52.6% (10 of 19) of non-ASA-trained managers and 45.5% (5 of 11) of ASA-trained managers gave a technical response. Trained managers were not significantly more likely to do so (p=1.00).
  • All 30 managers acknowledged that asbestos is hazardous, and none felt its dangers were over-exaggerated.
  • ASA-trained managers (100%, 11 of 11) were significantly more likely than non-ASA-trained managers (26.3%, 5 of 19) to cite responsibility for employees' health as a reason for commissioning the survey (p less than 0.001; Cramer's V 0.712).
  • Across all managers, the most common motivation (93.3%, n=28) was external contractors refusing to begin refurbishment/demolition work without an asbestos survey.
  • 100% (11 of 11) of ASA-trained managers said their relevant employees had received ASA training, compared with 31.6% (6 of 19) of non-ASA-trained managers. The association was significant (Fisher's exact test reported as p=0.000; Cramer's V 0.665).
  • Relevant employees were significantly more likely to be ASA-trained in organisations operating an accredited management system (p=0.004).
  • The share of organisations whose relevant employees were ASA-trained rose with organisation size (linear-by-linear association p=0.025). The overall association with size was described as close to significant (p=0.089).
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that ASA training has the potential to enhance managers' strategic knowledge on managing asbestos in their buildings, and that this supports widespread ASA training among building managers in Ireland. They suggested an abridged, possibly online, version for managers, and targeted promotion of ASA training among external contractors.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • No information was collected on the managers' educational background, occupational experience, gender or age, which may have affected the data.
  • The small study group prevented consideration of confounding variables such as organisational size and managers' backgrounds.
  • The survey gave no data on whether managers' training was linked to any actual reduction in employees' risk of asbestos exposure.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure.

Related studies

• Awareness, knowledge and training gaps regarding asbestos among General Practitioners: a pilot study — G. Ripabelli, A. Salzo, et al. (2021)
• Protest and survive, the U.K. Construction Safety Campaign: a case study of workers' and victims' family action and legal and regulatory inaction on construction health and safety — M. Holder, T. O'Brien (2007)
• A survey of opinions and beliefs concerning surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma amongst 802 members of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS), the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) — T. Treasure, E. Internullo, et al. (2011)
• Integrating workplace exposure databases for occupational medicine services and epidemiologic studies at a former nuclear weapons facility — A.J. Ruttenber, J.S. McCrea, et al. (2001)
• Asbestos knowledge and awareness level in central part of Anatolia — S. Metintas, G. Ak, et al. (2017)
• Asbestos Exposures, Mesothelioma Incidence and Mortality, and Awareness by General Practitioners in the Molise Region, Central Italy — G. Ripabelli, M. Tamburro, et al. (2018)

Browse more research in Industrial Health, or return to medical research.