Call for action on asbestos

Unions and safety campaigners marked Action Mesothelioma Day on 7 July with calls for measures to prevent exposure to deadly asbestos fibres.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lung caused by asbestos.

The Merseyside Asbestos Victims Support Group said the disease is now affecting many more younger people than traditionally seen, and reported a 7% increase in the number of women contracting the condition.

The NASUWT teaching union called for the urgent removal of asbestos from school buildings. It pointed to Joint Unions Asbestos Committee figures estimating that 1,000 school staff in Great Britain died from mesothelioma between 1980 and 2017, together with up to 9,000 former pupils.

The National Audit Office recently estimated that as many as 24,000 school buildings were beyond their initial life design, with 13,800 “system-built” blocks constructed between 1940 and 1980 of particular risk. The union says many of these contain asbestos.

It called on all political parties to adopt the April 2022 recommendations of the work and pensions select committee.

These include the introduction of a 40-year deadline for the removal of asbestos from non-domestic buildings, focusing on removing the highest risk first, and its early removal from high-risk settings like schools.

Under current government plans, said the NASUWT, it would take more than 350 years to completely eradicate asbestos from all schools in England.

It also demanded the creation of a central digital register of all asbestos in non-domestic buildings, describing its location and type.