The latest white paper from Lucion Services calls for more asbestos safety measures after finding that the UK has the worst asbestos health related problems in the world
The report titled ‘Why the UK needs tighter asbestos controls’ penned by Charles Pickles uses a wide range of published research, statistics and analysis to draw comparisons between the asbestos health and safety situation in the UK with other countries.
Further findings suggest that the cumulative effects of chronic low level exposure to asbestos remains embedded in the UK’s public buildings and will continue to have an impact long into the future.
As a result, children are particularly vulnerable to the deterioration of asbestos materials in schools and need tighter asbestos safety measures to be enforced to protect their health.
In the circumstances, the paper concludes that the UK ought to adopt the type of rigorous workplace controls and safety measures that are in force in other European nations for the protection of workers and others from the risks related to exposure to asbestos.
Charles Pickles, Chief Technical Officer at Lucion said: “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.
“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.”
Copies of the new white paper can be downloaded at – http://www.lucionservices.com/asbestosinschools/
