Footballer Stuart Pearce backs asbestos campaign
England football star Stuart Pearce is backing an asbestos campaign after revealing he could have breathed in the deadly dust while working part time as an electrician during his early football career.
The Nottingham Forest manager and former Newcastle and England left back fears his ignorance about the fatal fibre when he worked for four years as an electrician means there’s a real possibility he could develop a deadly asbestos related disease in the future.
The HSE campaign urges all tradespeople to be aware of asbestos and take sensible measures against the hidden killer.
While safe work with asbestos has come a long way since Pearce was working as an electrician in the early 1980s, it remains a very real danger today. HSE estimates 1.3 million tradespeople are still potentially at risk of being exposed to the microscopic fibres that can prove fatal if breathed in.
Pearce said: “I was working as an electrician for four and a half years and it’s chilling to think I could have been exposed to it without knowing, we were simply ignorant about the risks back then.
“Today there’s no excuse – most people know how dangerous asbestos is but many think it’s a thing of the past, it’s not, it’s still there. It can be found in walls, ceilings, even floor tiles and guttering – basically in any type of building built before the year 2000.
“Making sure you’re aware of where it can be found and how to deal with it safely, even on basic jobs like drilling holes or sanding, really could mean the difference between life and death.”
He added: “It can be so easy to breathe in this deadly dust and it may be years until you realise you’ve been affected. Every tradesperson that falls victim to asbestos related diseases like mesothelioma and asbestosis is one too many, especially if it’s a result of ignorance. Let’s make asbestos deaths a thing of the past.”
Information about the campaign can be found here.
Footballer Stuart Pearce backs asbestos campaign
England football star Stuart Pearce is backing an asbestos campaign after revealing he could have breathed in the deadly dust
Safety & Health Practitioner
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