Fresh campaign demands removal of asbestos from public buildings

The use of asbestos in the construction of public buildings between 1940 and 1980 has, according to a Report from the Joint Unions Asbestos Committee (“What is the real risk of asbestos in schools?”)(“the Committee”), led to 1,400 teachers/support staff and over 12,000 pupils developing mesothelioma – a fatal cancer, which only develops many years after first exposure.

The Committee predicts that “hundreds of thousands” of students and staff will die unless the government takes urgent action to remove asbestos from all schools and public buildings.

A campaign launched by The Daily Mail on 21 October 2024 supports the “urgent removal of all asbestos” allied to the compilation of an online database of every non-domestic building which contains asbestos.    

Asbestos is ubiquitous

The Daily Mail report refers to asbestos being present in most hospitals and schools constructed prior to 1999 – the date when the use of any type of asbestos was outlawed in the UK.

The Committee notes that 21,000 schools are potentially affected by the risk said to be increasing, given the need to repair or retro-fit buildings which have gone beyond their initial and expected design life.

This campaign is the second of its kind launched in recent years and follows The Sunday Times highlighting the dangers of asbestos present in public buildings (“10,000 killed by asbestos in schools”, 2 July 2023), with its campaign garnering broad-cross party political support.

The government’s current policy requires the duty holders of public buildings to identify asbestos where it is present, but if it is deemed to be in good condition and unlikely to be disturbed, the advice from the Health and Safety Executive, is for it to be managed through the remaining life of the school rather than taking positive steps to remove it. 

Commentary

The Daily Mail campaign once again places existing government policy under close scrutiny and follows previous calls from the All-Party Parliamentary Committee on Respiratory Health, for the HSE to take a different approach to the existing guidance which has been in force for several decades.

Although reports  suggest that Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is broadly supportive of the campaign, the estimated cost of removal will, according to expert predictions, run into tens of billions of pounds, thus presenting the fledgling government with another unbudgeted fiscal black hole.

With a previous National Audit Office report suggesting 24,000 school buildings were now beyond their initial design life, the need for a different strategy on asbestos grows more imminent as time passes.