The report by the occupational safety company Lucion warns the UK has some of the worst asbestos health-related problems in the world and urgently needs to adopt some of the stricter regulations already in force in other European countries.
In particular, it highlights the cumulative effects of chronic low-level exposure to asbestos that remains embedded in many UK public buildings.
According to the report, much of the asbestos installed in British buildings during the last century remains in-situ, with no effective regime for measuring any resulting current exposure.
It warns there is little understanding of the level of the actual chronic exposure from asbestos left in-situ and it adds that teachers, caretakers and nurses are dying from previous asbestos exposure and shall die in the future as a result of current and future exposure.
It also adds that children in schools risk becoming exposed to asbestos at a younger age than adults, again increasing the lifetime available for asbestos disease to develop.
The report also argues for amending and enhancing the current “duty to manage” responsibility required by the Control of Asbestos Regulations (2012).
And specifically, the paper calls for the setting of an occupational exposure limit for buildings known to contain high risk asbestos and for the measurement of airborne asbestos fibre concentrations at the time of periodic re-inspections using modern air sampling and analysis techniques.
“There is now serious and growing concern over current exposure levels from asbestos that remains in-situ because the materials themselves have either been damaged and or are degrading, increasing the likelihood of fibres being released into the air,” said Lucion’s Chief Technical Officer and report author, Charles Pickles.
“In the circumstances, rather than inspecting building materials for damage, the measurement of airborne fibres would enable the risk to the health of occupants to be directly measured and cost-effective asbestos abatement to be carried out.
“UK health and safety law is based on the commensurate adoption of best practice as and when it becomes available. Regrettably this has not been the case with asbestos analysis methods and the time has come for the introduction of more effective control limits to ensure that occupational exposure assessments are capable of proving that buildings are indeed safe for continued use,” added Mr Pickles.
The paper is available to download from Lucion’s website: http://www.lucionservices.com/asbestosinschools/
