This week is Global Asbestos Awareness Week. Although the current coronavirus outbreak might mean you are off the tools and not thinking about your potential exposure to deadly asbestos fibres, it is still a very important issue for the professional trades.
The HSE states that every week twenty tradesmen die from asbestos-related disease and according to IOSH, one in three construction workers have never seen an asbestos register. Asbestos remains the biggest occupational cancer killer, claiming at least 107,000 lives a year worldwide. In Britain alone around 5,000 people die each year from work-related exposures.
Asbestos was banned from UK construction in 1999. However, 500,000 UK workplaces, schools, hospitals and over a million UK homes still contain asbestos. Despite improved legislation, there continues to be thousands of accidental disturbances and exposures to asbestos every year.
With some trades still on site during COVID-19, UKNAR is hoping to continue to raise awareness amongst the professional building trades, and also extend the message to keen DIYers. With spare time on their hands over the coming weeks, professional trades and DIY enthusiasts may turn their hands to localised renovation projects at home and unwittingly disturb asbestos in the process.
UKNAR is committed to keeping the message prominent in the building community, not only to remind seasoned professionals, but importantly to protect apprentices who may not be aware of its real and present danger. OSHA is also quick to point out there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos fibres. Asbestos is a ‘silent killer’. Once you have breathed it in, it can lay dormant for many years. People often fall ill in later life after chance exposures to asbestos in their early careers.
Andrew Paten, co-founder, UKNAR and chairman of Metro Safety Group, says, “There is no pleasant way to say it – asbestos causes lung cancer and asbestos kills. This year, during Global Asbestos Awareness Week, whilst COVID-19 is dominant in everyone’s mind, we are aware that talking about asbestos at the same time is difficult and it may be unwelcome. Prevention is our main focus and as a public duty we feel it is absolutely critical to keep asbestos awareness alive in order to protect and save lives.”
Asbestos can be found in and around a huge range of building materials from reinforced plastic to paint, spray coatings, lagging, insulation boards, fibre cement, floors tiles, bitumen felts, as well as in mastics, sealants, putties and adhesives. This means it is very easy for all trades to uncover and dislodge asbestos, whilst drilling, hammering and carrying out basic tasks during remedial work in domestic properties and managed premises.
To help identify known asbestos threats in managed premises, UKNAR’s Asbestos SMART system has been launched to allow 24/7 access to the UK National Asbestos Register. The professional trades can access the register via a mobile phone or tablet, in seconds, by simply scanning a unique site-specific QR code. The technology is aimed at the on-site trades who may be at risk of coming into contact with asbestos in managed properties.
In managed premises the Asbestos SMART register should be clearly presented as part of the onsite visitor check-in procedure. This gives instant visibility of where asbestos is known onsite before work is started, helping to eliminate the risk of accidental disturbance.
Andrew Paten continues, “Our primary aim is to make asbestos information accessible to everyone. We are calling all trades to protect themselves at work by asking to see the asbestos register when they arrive on site at managed premises. This in turn will force dutyholders to join the UK National Asbestos Register and help to keep all trades and occupiers of their buildings safe.”
Asbestos fast facts
- Every week twenty tradesmen die from asbestos-related disease (HSE).
- One in three construction workers have never seen an asbestos register (IOSH).
- 5,000 people die from asbestos related exposure in Britain very year (IOSH).
A proportion of UKNAR’s Asbestos SMART annual licence fee will go to help asbestos victims support organisations and research charities in their daily activities. To learn more about asbestos and how to stay safe, you can watch the UKNAR video here uknar.org/asbestos-smart/asbestos-smart-video
