Checking asbestos management
Information on Asbestos in schools
Asbestos Policy Suggested Improvements
Asbestos Guidance for 'System Built' schools
Reports of incidents and media articles
Contact

Asbestos in Schools

The aim of this site is to inform parents, teachers and support staff about asbestos in schools. It gives guidance on how to improve the management of asbestos in schools. It aims to encourage openness in the UK Government's policy towards asbestos in schools.

INFORMATION AND GUIDANCE

SUMMARY

If asbestos is damaged or deteriorating then the fibres can be released and breathed in. Mesothelioma is a cancer that is almost exclusively caused by exposure to asbestos. A large exposure can cause mesothelioma and so can small exposures, particularly as each exposure is cumulative. There is no known threshold below which there is no risk. Lung cancer can also be caused by exposure to asbestos but it is considered that the exposures will normally have to be greater than the very low levels in the case of mesothelioma.

The majority of schools contain asbestos. The teaching unions consider that total removal is the safest option, whereas the Government consider that "managing" asbestos is the best system.  If asbestos is in a good condition and undamaged then an effective system of management can be effective. However there is increasing evidence that a significant number of schools are not managing their asbestos effectively, and that in many cases the asbestos is not in good condition. Much of it is hidden and a normal asbestos survey will not identify the fact that fibres are being given off, only comprehensive air-testing can determine that. 

The effective management of asbestos in schools is essential because children are particularly vulnerable to developing disease after an exposure to asbestos.
How to check your school's asbestos management

 

 

Many schools have good asbestos management procedures and this site gives simple guidance on how parents and teachers can check that this is the case and outlines their right to do so.

Other State and private schools, including infant and nursery schools may have inadequate management procedures. This site gives simple guidance that enables parents and teachers to check whether their school is managing asbestos in the safest way and if it is not doing so gives guidance on what to do next.
Information on Asbestos in Schools

.

This section describes where asbestos can be found in school buildings. It identifies the risks and outlines the history of how teachers and children have been exposed in the past. You can also download the paper this is based on if you have free Acrobat Reader software
Asbestos Policy Suggested Improvements

This section describes how policies have allowed these exposures to happen, and how the management of asbestos can be improved so that exposures do not happen.
You can also download the paper this is based on if you have free Acrobat Reader software.

 

Guidance for System built schools
  • Identifying whether there is a problem.
  • Methods for sealing cracks and gaps. 
  • Training and cautions.
  • Control measures.
  • Who should carry out the inspection and subsequent work. 
  • Tests to confirm the effectiveness of the work. 

In a profession where one should expect little or no asbestos exposure, the statistics show that over the years there has been a significant asbestos exposure of school teachers, assistants and college lecturers. As a direct result some have developed mesothelioma and have died.

Download Papers

 

These papers are closely referenced, factual papers. The papers on Asbestos in System Built Schools have just been rewritten and updated - part 2 is new. You can also obtain a printed edition. Please email us for details.

The following papers are on System Built Schools. If you download any of them please also download this one page update of 17 April 2009

Download Lecture notes

"Notes on the problem of asbestos in schools and Government policies"
(22 April 2009)

Latest copy of background lecture notes. Earlier lectures given at

  • Asbestos Testing and Consultancy Association seminar. Attended by asbestos surveyors, consultants, analysts and contractors, Chairman of the UK Asbestos Training Association, the Manager of the UK Accreditation Service, specialist scientists, local authority safety officers, solicitors, Teachers Unions and HSE Head of Asbestos Policy.(Updated 11 January 2009)
  • NUT
  • MPs in Portcullis House, Westminster.

More Information

If you would like to be kept up to date on developments and papers as they are released please click here.

 A further paper will be added to the web-site that discusses Government, HSE and DfES policy and the reasons why those policies have resulted in frequent asbestos incidents in schools with staff and pupils being exposed to asbestos.

The paper is in the final stages of completion.

Links

 www.schoolasbestosaction.co.uk gives parents the ability to check their own school's asbestos management and gives them the facts to assess the effectiveness of the plan. The site is also a campaigning site with a list of common sense measures the government, the HSE, LEAs and schools should adopt to make management effective.

Link to the British Asbestos Newsletter

Link to the British G.M Asbestos Victims Support Group


LATEST NEWS ON OPENNESS
AND GOVERNMENT POLICY
- further recent asbestos reports and incidents =

Prime Minister acknowledges that there is a problem in schools that has to be addressed. A delegation representing six Teacher Unions presented a paper to the Prime Minister voicing their concerns about the problem of asbestos in schools. The delegates were the General Secretaries of ATL and the NASUWT and the Assistant Secretary of the NUT. In full support and agreement on the statement were the teaching unions Voice, ASCL and NAHTA. Specialist scientists, solicitors, Health and Safety specialist organisations and asbestos support groups are also in full support and agreed the statement. The delegation was led by Paul Rowen MP (Lib Dem Shadow spokesman W&P). Michael Lees was also a delegate. The Union GMB announced it would join the campaign shortly afterwards. The full list is here

The Prime Minister acknowledged that there is a problem and that it would be addressed, and instructed that a further meeting should take place in the near future with the Schools Minister to decide the way forward.

The four key points in the paper are:

  1. A comprehensive audit of the extent, type and condition of asbestos in schools, and the standards of management.
  2. An assessment to be made of the risk to the occupants, with particular emphasis on children.
  3. The asbestos in schools campaign to be reinstated.
  4. All the asbestos is to be identified and removed in a phased programme when schools are refurbished under BSF and PCP.

The complete text presented to the Prime Minister is at this link.

Parliamentary Seminar contrasts asbestos management in Parliament and that in schools
A Parliamentary asbestos seminar followed the PM meeting. There were various presentations including one describing the well resourced and highly efficient asbestos management systems in the Palace of Westminster. The General Secretary of ATL gave a joint presentation with a teacher dying of mesothelioma. The General Secretary of ATL pointed out the considerable differences between the resources and standards in asbestos management in the Palace of Westminster compared to those in schools.

Daily Mirror report on the meeting

Update 7 May 2009. The update contains a report of a formal complaint about HSE scientific tests (including complaints of non-declared commercial interests, secrecy and lack of peer review). It also includes an analysis of misleading standard statements produced by authorities about asbestos in schools, it reports on the very supportive Teachers Unions AGMs, including a presentation by a teacher dying of mesothelima. It also contains an excellent BBC Radio investigation of school asbestos management at every level.

The Prime Minister agrees to meeting on 13 May. Liberal Democrat MP Paul Rowen asked the Prime Minister on Prime Minister's Questions to meet a delegation to discuss how concerns over asbestos in schools could be allayed. Responding, Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed that asbestos was a crucial issue, and agreed to meet the delegation.

Yesterday (6 May) the Prime Minister also met asbestos campaigners at a private meeting in the House of Commons. On the agenda were a series of issues including: the fatal legacy left by asbestos manufacturing in Britain, the consequences of low level exposures to asbestos, the asbestos contamination of schools and the urgent need for a coordinated national research strategy for medical treatment and cures for asbestos-related diseases.

Having acknowledged the threat posed by low level exposures to asbestos, the Prime Minister confirmed that further discussion on asbestos in schools will take place at a Westminster meeting on 13 May. Full report

Conference on "Mesothelioma the wider perspective" 12 May 2009 with scientific, medical and legal leaders in the field. There will be a lecture on asbestos in schools. Agenda, speakers, precis of discussions and booking a place at this link. Medway Maritime Conference 2009

Parliamentary asbestos seminar “Asbestos Update” 13 May. Michael Clapham MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Health and Safety, will chair it. The agenda is at this link. The General Secretary of the Association of Training and Lecturers and Carol Hagedorn, a teacher suffering from mesothelioma will be talking about asbestos in schools. The meeting is for MPs and invited guests.

NASUWT Conference Calls for removal of asbestos. A terminally ill teacher says ".I am understandably unhappy that the lack of proper asbestos control will end my life prematurely, like some sort of collateral damage or natural wastage in the education game".

BBC Investigation A detailed, factual investigation by Radio Scotland, applicable to the rest of UK. The BBC web site has now lapsed (some 20 days) but it is now on this link. Quotes: “What we are risking with this are young children's lives. The authorities have to be whiter than white, they have to prove to us there is no asbestos not just assume…. ”Asbestos expert
“If I as a teacher was exposed to it then so also were huge numbers of children that were spending more time than I was in a particular environment. All these children will have grown into adults and are likely to be affected just as I was…” Teacher with mesothelioma

NW TUC Conference. Asbestos in Schools. Motion carried unanimously, Hear the speech

A Teacher's Story " I now have this terrible disease which need not have happened if I had been looked after in my professional environment".
Leader, personal story and article: "Why is asbestos still being allowed to kill teachers and threaten thousands of pupils?" from Sunday Express

Parliamentary Debate The debate on asbestos in schools covered the issues well - the MP leading the debate was a Deputy Head Teacher so spoke from experience. Unfortunately an analysis of the Minister's reply was less than convincing and demonstrates that children will still be at risk. Analysis and Hansard script of the debate is at this link.

BBC 1 "Inside Out" ran a report on asbestos in schools on 25 March. It can be seen on the BBC Inside Out site. An earlier report can be seen on this site.

Welsh Assembly Asbestos Conference 24 March. The conference highlighted the problem of asbestos in schools.  A leading occupational hygienist, Robin Howie, gave a graphic illustration of how deaths from asbestos exposure amongst school teachers is significantly higher than one should expect in an occupation where there should be minimal or no exposure to asbestos. He stated that  between 1980-2000 male teachers have an incidence of mesothelioma deaths (PMR) almost ten times greater than would have been expected if they had had no exposure to asbestos. During the same period female teachers had an incidence almost three times greater. He stressed that the teachers’ deaths are but the tip of the ice-berg. Because for every teacher there are many more children, and they are more vulnerable. However because of the very long latency their mesothelioma deaths occur many years later and are recorded in whatever occupation they had at the time, and not as the result of their asbestos exposure at school. (Western Mail report)

Dr John Osman, chief medical adviser of the HSE, said that 90,000 were expected to die in the asbestos-related disease “epidemic” by 2050.

A senior HSE official Steve Coldrick, director of the HSE’s disease reduction programme, said: “This is an absolute horror story, there’s no getting away from it.”

Parliament An Early Day Motion has been put forward by Michael Clapham MP. It is for five specific changes in Govenment Policy on asbestos that the Daily Mirror is campaigning for.

There is a No10 petition for the same proposals that you can sign if you wish to make a difference.

Sadly another teacher has died of mesothelioma

Update 2nd March 2009 Today the Daily Mirror launched a campaign to raise public awareness of the dangers and issues surrounding asbestos. The first article asks the Government to give financial support for a research centre into asbestos related disease. There is so much bad news associated with asbestos that this is a positive move forward and is a project that we strongly support.

As part of the Mirror’s campaign there will be an article about the problems associated with asbestos in schools. If you have any comment or stories of bad asbestos management, of a lack of awareness or you know of any asbestos incidents in schools then please contact the Mirror at asbestos@mirror.co.uk  or join their blog at: http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/asbestos-campaign/

.Update 5 February 2009 Parliamentary Asbestos Sub-committee briefed by Teachers Unions, Asbestos Consultant's Association and a Teacher ill with mesothelioma on:

  • Poor asbestos management standards in practise in schools
  • Teachers' death statistics being the tip of an iceberg
  • Iceberg being childrens' deaths which are not assessed
  • Asbestos Consultants' repeat offer to inspect 100 schools is accepted

MPs attending say that something must be done and Committee agree to speak to Minister again.

.Update 2 February 2009. Includes:

BBC investigation into school asbestos management (video)

  • HSE reaction to BBC report and an analysis of the flaws based on referenced confidential documents
  • Lessons for schools

Parliamentary Asbestos sub-committee consider repeated calls over many years for:

  • national audit of asbestos in schools
  • undertaking a risk assessment of asbestos in schools, particularly for children
  • reinstating a campaign to improve asbestos management in schools.

----------

28th January 2009 - BBC Inside Out broadcast a report on asbestos in schools in the South East. The lessons learnt here apply to many schools in the country. There is detailed comment on the programme here and you can see the 13 minute video.

-----------

3rd February 2009 - a meeting of the Parliamentary asbestos sub-committee where the Liberal Democrats Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, the Teaching unions, the medical profession and others will join the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Safety and Health in his call for the Government to undertake:

  • A national audit of asbestos in the Nation’s school.
  • A risk assessment with particular emphasis on the risks to children.
  • Reinstate the campaign to improve the asbestos management in schools.
    ---------

14th November 2008 - ITN’s Teachers TV broadcast a news report on asbestos in schools. The report focuses on the widespread calls for the reinstatement of a campaign to improve the asbestos management in schools, the need for a national audit of asbestos in schools and the need for an assessment to be made of the risk to staff and children. The calls are from the teaching unions, MPs, asbestos consultants, surveyors, doctors, occupational hygienists, solicitors, mesothelioma research organisations, mesothelioma support groups, teachers, parents and individuals.

As licensing constraints prevent the showing of the videos for more than 28 days the following summaries cover many of the main points:

A transcript of the report.
An analysis of statements made by the HSE using confidential documents that show that cost is the reason the Government has never carried out an audit or risk assessment of asbestos in schools. A chronological list of calls for an audit with the source and the results.

---------

14 Nov 2008 - Letter in the Times A letter from the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Health and Safety, the medical profession and asbestos specialists requests action on asbestos in schools.

---------

30 Oct 2008 - BBC Today report on asbestos in schools and other public buildings and an interview with the chest consultant John Edwards.

---------

July 2008 - Asbestos Testing and Consultancy Association professional development seminar. It identified failings in school asbestos management survey, procedures, training and standards.

It was attended by asbestos surveyors, consultants, analysts and contractors, Chairman of the UK Asbestos Training Association, the Manager of the UK Accreditation Service, specialist scientists, local authority safety officers, solicitors, Teachers Unions and HSE Head of Asbestos Policy.

Michael Lees presented. His notes (updated Jan 09) are attached.

--------

.Friday 15 February 2008 ITN News reported on the discovery of asbestos in a System Built School and raised the possibility of the same problem affecting many other schools. This paper has guidance on asbestos precautions in these schools based on best practice. It has been written in consultation with experienced asbestos consultants.

 

 

Michael Lees
ml@asbestosexposureschools.co.uk