by Perry525 »
Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:37 pm
As this is an important issue, I would like to repeat a recent article published by the HSE
Asbestos: The Hidden Killer
Stephanie Power talks to Steve Coldrick
about HSE's Asbestos - the Hidden Killer campaign.
This campaign is targeted at principally people who work in the trades associated with buildings, building refurbishment. That's what it's about and the whole purpose of it is to help address a problem we discovered that when we were speaking to them about their knowledge about asbestos we were very shocked by what they told us because in essence they were saying it's all gone therefore it's safe. Actually they were much more concerned about medium density fibreboard MDF. Asbestos was not a problem to them and yet even though we've got 4000 plus deaths a year from asbestos and that number's going up as a result of exposures some decades ago the fact that in about half a million non domestic that is public, commercial, industrial and retail premises contain asbestos materials in them and these are the people who are doing work then they remain at risk unknowingly and therefore aren't going to take the precautions so it's their health that is at risk today.
So asbestos hasn't been used as a building material since 2000 and what you're saying is that there's perhaps a notion that because it was banned in 2000 it now doesn't exist.
Well that's the impression that we're getting. The trades people think it's granddad's disease, it's not relevant to them. What they fail to appreciate is that because it's a legacy material and it's in many, many buildings apart from those built or refurbished after the year 2000 when they're drilling into walls for example they may be drilling in to asbestos containing materials which are high in asbestos and then doing that work means they inhale that and of course if they're doing it on an almost daily basis they're going to inhale a significant amount and it's those people who are at risk.
But then people panic when they hear that it hasn't gone away because people think any contact with asbestos and that's it.
One can understand the concern and I think that the key point is that the notion that if somebody inhales one fibre of asbestos then they are doomed is not credible. What the doctors tell us is that those who suffer the dreadful cancers from asbestos are people who've inhaled substantial amounts and that's either because over a prolonged period or over a reduced period but at very high concentrations. But they also think that any material containing any amount of asbestos is dangerous and again that's not necessarily true. We have material which most people are familiar with if they look at various roofs or of their garages at home or, or other buildings of asbestos cement. That contains very low concentrations of white asbestos and providing people don't do silly things in terms of drilling, sawing and therefore don't release it the risk is not very high at all. At the other end you've got material which is called asbestos insulation board which contains very high levels of brown asbestos which is very dangerous and in fact only people who are licensed by HSE are allowed to work on that material because it requires very special precautions indeed.
But also you were saying right at the beginning of this conversation that around 4000 people die every year because of asbestos and that's more than the number of people who are killed on the roads so you're concerned that people aren't taken it seriously enough
