Young Trades People Alerted To Asbestos Risk

"Asbestos is the most lethal workplace killer in Great Britain"

Every week twenty trades people die simply because they have breathed in asbestos fibres during the course of their work, a Health and Safety Executive campaign launched today (18 Feb) has warned.

Recent research conducted by the HSE shows that young trades people in Merseyside, such as plumbers and electricians, know that asbestos is dangerous but just don’t believe that they are personally at risk.

Every year 4,000 people die of asbestos, which is more than those in road traffic accidents. In Great Britain we are in the middle of an epidemic and it is expected that asbestos deaths will peak at nearly 5,000 a year as a legacy to years gone by.

Judith HackittLaunching the awareness campaign ‘Asbestos-the hidden killer’, which is aimed at young trades persons, Judith Hackitt, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) said:

 “Every week six electricians and three plumbers die as a result of exposure to asbestos.
The problem today is that we associate it with a problem that’s been and gone because asbestos is now banned. People regard asbestos as something only a previous generation were exposed to but there is a real risk that the younger generation entering the workforce will think this does not apply to them - but it does. If they work on any building built or refurbished before the year 2000 it could contain asbestos.”

HSE’s Asbestos campaign will remind trades persons that unless they take precautions asbestos could kill them too.

Supporting HSE’s campaign Dame Helena Shovelton, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation said:

"It is alarming to see that tradesmen know so little about the damage asbestos can do to their health, especially when they are the ones most at risk. The British Lung Foundation is urging tradesmen to make sure they are well informed about asbestos and to follow HSE’s guidance in order to protect themselves from this hidden killer."

Helena Owen, of Aigburth, Merseyside, lost her husband Bobby to Mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer caused by asbestos in March 2007. He was 61 and had worked as a tradesman in Liverpool since he was 16 years old.

She said: “He never thought he would have got it, he was out warning other people about it, and not knowing he was carrying it himself all those years. My advice to all young tradesmen is take all the precautions that the company tells you to take, and if you think you need more please ask.” 

Source: HSE News / GNN


 
 
Icon: back to news
 

Designed, Hosted and Maintained by Union Safety Services