The report from the Work and Pensions Committee highlights how despite being banned more than two decades ago, asbestos persists as the single greatest cause of work-related fatalities in the UK. There were more than 5,000 deaths in 2019, including from cancers such as mesothelioma.
The MPs are also concerned that asbestos risks are only likely to increase as buildings are adapted with the move to net zero. An increase in retrofitting means that more asbestos-containing materials will be disturbed in coming decades.
With asbestos still in around 300,000 non-domestic buildings, the committee says that reliance on the current asbestos regulations will not be good enough. It concludes that a cross-government and ‘system-wide’ strategy for the long-term removal of asbestos is needed.
The report calls for the government and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to back up their stated goal of removing all asbestos by committing to a time frame and strategy. The plan should strengthen the evidence base on safe and effective asbestos removal in the first instance before prioritising removal from the highest risk settings, including schools.
The government is also urged to ensure adequate funding for HSE’s inspection and enforcement of the current asbestos regulations, which has declined in recent years.
Stephen Timms MP, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said: “Asbestos is one of the great workplace tragedies of modern times and while the extreme exposures of the late twentieth century are now behind us, the risk from asbestos remains real.
“The drive towards retrofitting of buildings to meet net zero aspirations means the risk of asbestos exposure will only escalate in the coming decades. Falling back on regulations which devolve responsibility to individual building owners and maintenance managers will not be sufficient to protect people’s health.
“Setting a clear deadline of 40 years for the removal of asbestos from non-domestic buildings will help to focus minds. The clock is ticking and the Government and HSE must now come up with a strategic plan which builds the evidence on safer removal and prioritises higher risk settings such as schools.
“This is no time for laissez-faire. The government needs to fund the HSE properly to allow it to reverse the decline in enforcement activity seen in the decade before the pandemic and ensure that asbestos, and its removal, is managed safely and effectively.”
Anthony Waddington, an asbestos illness lawyer at law firm Simpson Millar, said: “This is a positive step in the right direction, but 40 years is still too long for those who work, live and learn in schools and other public buildings to continue to live under such threat of exposure.
“Over the years we have represented dozens of people who have suffered because of exposure to the deadly material, including people who came into contact with it while in hospitals, infant schools, council flats and even local libraries.
“As the evidence shows, this is not just an illness that is isolated to heavy industrial sectors, and it is not just an illness that afflicts the elderly. Many of our clients are in their 30s and 40s, and many do not live more than a year or so after diagnosis.
“It is absolutely imperative that the government puts forward a comprehensive, cohesive strategy on how and when the deadly asbestos materials will be removed, and that the commitment to remove all asbestos from schools is done as quickly as possible.”
The full report is available at publications.parliament.uk
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