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25 years on Asbestos in 2024
On the 24th of November 1999, the UK government banned the use of asbestos in buildings, after the full dangers of this once-heralded material came to light. A quarter of a century later, why is asbestos still claiming lives?
The problem
For decades, asbestos was used in thousands of products across the construction industry, due to its durability, excellent insulation properties and its ability to withstand fire. Its widespread use leads the British Safety Council to estimate that up to 1.5 million buildings across the UK still contain asbestos in some form. This shocking figure means that the HSE also estimates that over 1.2 million tradespeople are at risk of serious asbestos exposure, and that they may come into contact with asbestos over 100 times a year.
When asbestos is disturbed, it can release tiny fibres, thinner than the width of a human hair, that can cause serious health problems if inhaled, including Mesothelioma, an incurable cancer of the lung, and asbestosis, scarring of the lung tissue. Asbestos remains the UK’s single biggest workplace killer, responsible for approximately 5,000 deaths a year.
25 years since the full ban was introduced, we set out to explore how much had really changed across the UK. High Speed Training commissioned two surveys, seeking to gain answers and insight from tradespeople and from the general public, on their opinions towards asbestos, awareness and training, and the perceived risk that it poses.
Attitudes towards asbestos
Tradespeople
We wanted to speak to the people working in industries that are likely to come into contact with asbestos on a regular basis, and gauge the levels of awareness and training across the sector.
Our survey found that a shocking 49% of tradespeople view asbestos as a problem of the past. This is despite the fact that it remains the largest workplace killer in the UK. A further 50% agreed that asbestos has become less of a concern the longer they’ve been in their trade, with over a quarter (26%) stating that they have not followed correct procedures when they have encountered asbestos.
Findings by profession
Breaking the findings down by industry, we found that roofers are the tradespeople that believe they are exposed to asbestos most frequently. Concerningly, they are also most likely to ignore asbestos removal guidelines (59%), followed by plasterers (57%) and joiners (38%).
Of the industries that have come into contact with asbestos, roofers (54%), plasterers (43%), and joiners (43%) are amongst those that haven’t followed the recommended removal process the most.
The reason why?
This could be due to many factors, including pressure to meet deadlines and concerns about losing employment. In fact, we found that business owners and supervisors are putting their workers' lives at risk across different industries by telling them to remove asbestos themselves. The biggest culprits are plumbers (46%), joiners (38%), and roofers (34%), and 69% of people surveyed believed there should be stricter penalties for improper removal practices that may endanger workers.
The role of training
It is clear from these stats that more needs to be done to educate those in the trades about the dangers of asbestos. One of the most effective ways of increasing awareness across the trades is through correct training and procedures. High Speed Training has authored an open letter to the Department for Education, calling for mandatory asbestos training to be included in apprentice and trade-college level qualifications.
“53% had negative asbestos training experiences ”
General public
Alongside this, we wanted to explore the views of the population as a whole. Had the 1999 ban had the desired effect? Just how much do the general public know about this silent killer?
Whilst general awareness levels around asbestos were high, with 93% of people having heard of asbestos, our research found that 1 in 10 people think that asbestos is still legal in the UK, with 12% believing that asbestos isn’t likely to cause health problems, and 36% believing asbestos is a problem for the past.
Asbestos ambivalence
We also found similar levels of ambivalence towards asbestos, with 68% of people reporting that they have never been concerned about asbestos at home, and 69% never having been concerned about asbestos at work.
58% of respondents either disagreed with or didn't know the statistic that asbestos is the biggest workplace killer in the UK, and almost one third (31%) didn’t know or didn’t believe that asbestos can affect the general public.
We commissioned two 500 participants surveys via TLF Research in September 2024. One survey was shared with tradespeople and the other was shared with the general population.
A call for change
Join us in asking for change by signing our open letter to the Department for Education, calling for mandatory asbestos training for apprentices and trade qualifications.
Sign the letter