A new report by Asbestos Information CIC highlights the dangers of asbestos in buildings across the UK and the wholly inadequate health and safety regime which is responsible for preventing exposure to this deadly substance. It finds that the current policy of ‘managing asbestos in situ’ is failing with a quarter of the most dangerous forms of asbestos in buildings currently in a poor condition. The report recommends a new and much needed approach to detecting, managing, and ultimately removing asbestos from all buildings. It calls for the government to enact this approach with immediate effect.
The UK has an asbestos legacy dating back over 100 years. Despite the total ban on its use in 1999, many building including schools and hospitals remain riddled with asbestos materials. Asbestos is a friable substance and when disturbed microscopic particles can become airborne and inhaled, leading to fatal asbestos related diseases.
Asbestos is currently responsible for around 5,000 deaths per year, and there is now growing evidence that asbestos related deaths among female teachers are significantly higher (40%) than women in other occupations. Pupils are also being increasingly exposed as buildings, and the asbestos contained in them, age and deteriorate.
Yet despite these disturbing facts, we still do not know how many buildings contain asbestos, where it is, and how much of it there is. Nor can we say with any certainty what condition it is in.
Asbestos Information CIC will publish a pivotal report on April 3rd in Parliament. This report details the extensive work that has gone into analysing data drawn from individual asbestos surveys collected from 381,398 inspections over two years.
Of the 2.5 million asbestos items examined 25% were found to be in the highest-risk categories. As report author John Richards states:
“The data clearly shows that those asbestos materials which represent the highest risk to human life are the products with the highest levels of damage. The arm’s length policy that places a duty on owners and leaseholders to manage asbestos in their buildings is not working.”
The report proposes using asbestos survey data to develop a safety certificate for asbestos, equivalent to the energy efficiency certificate displayed on household appliances like fridges. Buildings containing asbestos would display a certificate graded A to G according to the condition of the asbestos and the risk that it presents to occupants.
The introduction of a safety certificate will help to identify and make transparent, to everyone who uses buildings containing asbestos, the location and condition of this potentially lethal substance. There should be a duty on all those responsible for the management and maintenance of buildings to display this information.
The report recommends that all data should be held centrally as part of a national asbestos register enabling the HSE to easily identify those buildings which represent the greatest risk to human health and for inspectors to assess and ultimately prioritise the removal of asbestos.
Charles Pickles, asbestos campaigner commented:
“This report provides valuable evidence for a data driven approach to asbestos management and the development of a national asbestos database, as recommended by the inquiry undertaken by the Work & Pensions Committee. Understanding the location and condition of asbestos in buildings is vital for the development of a strategy that can lead to the removal of all asbestos from all buildings, beginning with those that represent the greatest risk.”
The report shows how data can be plotted across the UK. The interactive map shows the level of asbestos risk in each Parliamentary constituency. For example, in the Prime Minister’s constituency (Holborn and St Pancras) some 40,000 buildings contain asbestos with over half of the highest risk asbestos (categories F & G) found to be damaged.
The development of an interactive map is a significant step forward. It demonstrates how the amalgamation of existing asbestos data could lead to the development of national and regional strategies which can aid the compliance of duty holders in managing asbestos, improve oversight by the HSE, and finally enable the phased removal of asbestos from all buildings in the UK.
Liz Darlison, CEO of Mesothelioma UK said,
“Mesothelioma UK supports patients and relatives most affected by the UK’s asbestos tragedy. We are keen to support initiatives that prevent others experiencing the same devastating diagnosis. We welcome the findings of this important report, and hope that the Government will take the necessary action, by adopting the proposals set out here, to help protect future generations.”
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:
“Everyone should be safe where they work. But asbestos is still present in hundreds of thousands of workplaces across Britain, including most schools and hospitals. Many workers aren’t aware it’s there, or the very serious dangers. Britain has the highest rate of asbestos deaths in the world. It’s time to end this national scandal. The proposed mapping tool would help us know who is at risk from asbestos and would be an important step towards its removal from all public buildings. And it would enable us to identify buildings with asbestos which require environmental upgrades – ensuring the removal is done at the same time. The only way to protect today’s workers and future generations is through the safe removal of asbestos from every workplace.”
