For more detail: This paper analyses around 100 asbestos incidents in schools, contamination of the schools and inhalation of fibres. Many incidents have occurred because of a failure in asbestos management and a lack of asbestos awareness and training.

An unpublished "final draft" of a Department of the Environment (DETR) document, Asbestos and man-made mineral fibres in buildings, dated August 1998, obtained by Clinica, adds to mounting concerns about the safety of children and those working in schools.  A table of "lifetime" exposure calculations and estimates of the impact of poorly maintained or deteriorating asbestos-containing materials on contamination levels, was omitted from the final published version of the guidance document dated August 1999.

The table calculates that school-children will breathe three million fibres during their 12-year schooling life, based on a level of 0.0005 fibres per millilitre (f/ml) of air, as attributed to an interior environment with asbestos materials in "good condition". Of this "good condition" estimate, Michael Lees, a schools asbestos safety campaigner, is scathing: "That might be the case in some schools, but all the asbestos is now old and much is deteriorating," he told Clinica. "It has been found that when you slam doors, hit the walls or sit on the window sills, the levels can be up to 0.33 f/ml and 0.44 f/ml [660-880 times higher]," he explained.

Comment: The full report is at this link. A short summary of the situation is at this link with individual statements from the General Secretaries of all the Teaching Unions and the school support unions. DCSF has produced a misleading press statement that is quoted by a few of the reporters. It is at this link followed by a factual analysis of its dangerously misleading "spin":

Comment: The report is at this link. A short summary of the situation is at this link with individual statements from the General Secretaries of all the Teaching Unions and the school support unions. DCSF has produced a misleading press statement. It is at this link followed by a factual analysis of its dangerously misleading "spin".:

Comment:The AtaC report is at this link. A short summary of the situation is at this link. It includes individual statements from the General Secretaries of all the Teaching Unions and the school support unions. DCSF has produced a misleading press statement that the BBC article quotes. The full DCSF press statement is at this link followed by a factual analysis of its dangerously misleading "spin".

Comment: Despite the fact that contractors had damaged asbestos in a nursery school, the staff and children were allowed to return to the school, and it was four days later that the damage was discovered and measures taken to make the classroom safe. The asbestos was damaged because of a serious failure in asbestos management in the school, the problem was then compounded as the damaged asbestos was not made safe before the occupants of the school had potentially been exposed.

Philip Parkin, general secretary of Voice, said that there needed to be an immediate programme of awareness-raising among teachers.

The audit, by the Asbestos Testing and Consultancy Association, also found that some schools had asbestos particles in the air ......... A preliminary report said that most schools are failing to comply with their legal "duty to manage" the asbestos, that the responsibility for ensuring safety was dogged by confusion, and that staff training was "either poor or non-existent".

Mr Kitchin died on 21 January 2009

Mr. Coaker [holding answer 7 December 2009]: The Department's survey asked for information on whether schools contain asbestos containing materials. It also asked questions about asbestos management in local authorities and schools. The Department did receive a response from Essex county council but we are not in a position to publish any of the local authority responses as this information may be required for legal purposes. The Health and Safety Executive is planning follow up investigations in 2010 in a number of local authorities to clarify the information provided.

Comment This concerns the DCSF questionnaire that attempted to assess the management of asbestos in schools and the compliance with HSE guidance on asbestos in System built schools. In his answer the Schools Minister, Vernon Coaker MP has refused to publish any of the responses from the questionnaire. The Minister’s reason for his refusal is that “this information may be required for legal purposes.” The same reply was given by HSE to the asbestos in schools group at their meeting with the Parliamentary Under–Secretary Dianne Johnson MP when they asked which local authorities were being investigated and which had failed to reply.

It is unacceptable that the Minister refuses to publish the names of the councils that have failed to reply or are being investigated, for as well as being a legal matter this is a matter that affects the safety of the occupants of schools. Therefore the names of the failing councils who are potentially putting teachers, support staff and children at risk should be made public without further delay.

For further information see : 11 Nov: Meeting with the new Schools Minister Diana Johnson MP   

 DCSF Questionnaire - 15 Nov 09 Determining the scale of the problem in System Built Schools

One council insider said:...... “ To reach the stage of an Improvement Notice is a serious state of affairs which would suggest the council has not been bothering its backside about the regulations governing asbestos....“Contractors have come in and done surveys on schools in the past and the management was so shambolic no-one knew where the surveys were kept and no-one had overall responsibility for managing asbestos. In some cases, surveys were given to head teachers and in some cases they were not.”

Highlands MSP Mary Scanlon, said: “This looks like a catalogue of failure in management of a potential health hazard.

At the link is the full report, but there is also a petition to the Scottish Parliament and background evidence that further illustrates the problem in Scotland.

1. A public petition to the Scottish Parliament about action on asbestos in schools
2. Public Petitions Committee discussion and report on the petition
3. Action being taken on the petition

Several weeks ago, the HN learned that contract documents issued by the council revealed no surveys for asbestos had been carried out in 65 schools in the region and 58 had only had partial surveys.....When we asked for the names of the schools involved, we were suspicious about the delaying tactic employed when the council decided to treat our request under the time-consuming Freedom of Information Act......... The eventual response we received did not contain the list of schools ........................ No mention was made of the HSE notice........

Many will wonder exactly what the council is playing at when figures on which firms are being asked to tender change dramatically within a few weeks. That would appear to confirm the HSE's worries about record-keeping on a crucial health issue for staff and pupils.

But it also brings into question the manner in which this whole issue is being dealt with.........it is recognised that asbestos is a difficult and potentially extremely costly issue for the education service to deal with at a time of financial constraint - but it serves no purpose to attempt to hide the reality from the public.

Report to HSE as dangerous occurence under RIDDOR

Norfolk

Comment This probably relates to the report shown here on 28 April from the Eastern Daily Press for one school with damaged ceiling tiles. At that time we produced detailed comment - which is repeated here. The comment appears fully justified and many questions have still not been answered

Earlier Comment: Ceiling tiles are a known risk. They are specifically covered in HSE guidance. It is known that this ceiling tile contained asbestos and it is likely that it is asbestos insulating board, which normally contains brown asbestos, amosite, and must be handled with great care so as not to release the fibres. Also asbestos fibres and debris can rest on the top surface of the tile so that when it is disturbed the fibres filter down through the smallest crack or gap. Asbestos fibres can readily pass wherever air can pass..

It is known that hitting an AIB panel can release significant levels of asbestos fibres, with tests giving levels more than forty times greater than that at which the room can be legally occupied. In this case the ceiling tile was fractured so it must be assumed that considerable force was used. This would inevitably have released large quantities of asbestos fibres that would have filtered down into the room below. As the material is friable it also releases asbestos debris when it is broken, which, if crushed underfoot, releases even more asbestos fibres.

It would be interesting to know the following

• Why the perceived risk was considered so low that it did not justify carrying out air tests.
• What tests and test conditions identified the fibre release as “minor” and the levels of exposure of the occupants as “exceedingly low, almost nil.”
• If that is the case why it is considered necessary to seal the room and carry out an environmental clean of the area, which is a disruptive and most expensive exercise.

There is a natural temptation for authorities to be very reassuring after an incident when the reassurances cannot always be justified The problem with this is that future cases of damaged ceiling tiles may be assumed by school staff to be a minor problem – not worth reporting – when HSE guidance is that teachers, other staff and pupils should be instructed to report such damage immediately so that it can be repaired and any contamination dealt with. This does not appear to have happened. One wonders how long it was before the damaged tile was spotted as the damage was apparently only reported and dealt with following an inspection. On the face of it this seems a failure in asbestos management.

From the description of the damage and the reassurances given, pupils and teachers should not be overly concerned about this incident as it appears to be an isolated incident with asbestos fibre release over a short period of time. But the fact is that however good asbestos management might be, where there are children there always is the potential that an accident, vandalism or boisterous behaviour will damage asbestos and release the fibres.

It does not help children's safety to gloss over such incidents . It tends to make staff, caretakers and pupils in every school believe that the risk of asbestos fibre release from fractured tiles does not matter, releases "almost nil" fibres and need not be reported urgentl

Mr Rowen said: “This meeting is the most recent step in our campaign to highlight and tackle the problem of asbestos in schools. The current system to control asbestos is failing our pupils and teachers, who are being exposed to the incurable disease of mesothelioma in later life."However, my major concern is for primary schools both in Rochdale and throughout the country that will not be covered under the Building Schools for the Future Program. This is a major problem.

"The Government needs to make sure that there are people in place at the Department for Children, Schools and families who are sufficiently qualified to deal with this problem. This is something that the Minister accepted and agreed to look into.”

It follows similar finds during work at the new Manor Park Primary and the renovation of Seaton Primary,

Comment Unfortunately there is a misleading statement reported from an official about asbestos in schools in this article. The statement is one of the standard misleading statements covered on the home page of this site. The statement, the flaws in it and authoritative references are at this link

"And what about the pupils? Parents need to know their children could be affected by this. Most Inner London Education Authority schools built around the same time had a similar amount of asbestos. Central government knows this stuff is there."

Comment: Identifying the extent, type and condition of asbestos is the first step in managing the asbestos, and yet a third of schools in the Highland local authority do not have an asbestos survey, a further third only have partial surveys. Out of the 197 schools, the condition of the fabric of the building in 126 is rated as poor and a further nine as bad. It is quite clear these schools have not been well maintained and as the fabric of the buildings has deteriorated then it is inevitable that any asbestos materials they contain will have deteriorated as well. As 65 schools have no idea what asbestos they contain or what condition it is in and therefore they cannot manage the asbestos.

Mr Henry’s solicitor said “We are seeing more cases like this where exposure to even low levels of asbestos in the workplace are accepted as a cause of mesothelioma. Joan Henry’s avoidable death highlights the importance of identifying whether school buildings contain asbestos and the necessity of keeping it properly maintained if is not going to be removed”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311979.stm

Dianne Willmore, 49, from north Wales, passed away on Thursday from malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused mainly by breathing in asbestos. She inhaled the dangerous substance as a pupil at Huyton's Bowring School in Merseyside in the 1970s.

In Tasmania “Minister for Workplace Relations, Lisa Singh MP, today announced action to reduce the impact of asbestos on Tasmanians. “I’m not interested in the politics of sitting on the sidelines complaining about an issue, I want to get stuck in and make a difference. “That is what we are doing in dealing with asbestos. “We have begun working with the Commonwealth through the stimulus package and the Building in Education Revolution spending to remove asbestos from schools.”

Comment If schools in the UK are to be made as safe as those in Malta and Tasmania then perhaps our Government should ask the Commonwealth for assistance in removing asbestos from our schools.

Comment: A primary school in Lancashire has closed and the staff and pupils sent home after air tests found raised asbestos fibre levels.  A council spokesman stated ”Earlier this week a regular air test was conducted and the asbestos readings from this test are higher than expected, but still within accepted risk levels.... Council officials have investigated the situation and repeat tests have shown concern in other areas. After discussions, we felt it was appropriate to close the school whilst investigative work takes place.”

Springfields is a typical System built school and is likely to contain significant amounts of asbestos materials. One must question why the air sampling was being carried out. Also if airborne asbestos fibres were found and the readings were higher than expected then it needs to be asked what the levels were, and what grounds the council spokesman has to make the statement that the levels were “within accepted risk levels,” as there are “accepted” risk levels for contractors working on asbestos, but no such levels for the occupants of buildings and certainly no such levels for primary school children.

All of the councils said nobody had been sick or off ill because of asbestos, though an inquest last spring found retired teacher Renee Blodwen Eden, 69, from Anglesey, was most likely killed by exposure to asbestos in a school building in Flintshire. She retired in 1998

UNISON representative said: "This shows a total lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the risks with asbestos through day to day working and living with the materials... Many of the symptoms don’t show for a number of years and in most cases it is too late for medical intervention.....I believe the quote from the local councils that no one has reported any illness or side affects in these schools is unacceptable. Are they sitting back and waiting for children to be diagnosed later in life?

"We will be contacting the HSE to request urgent risk assessments are carried out and the findings of the assessments made public to all parents and staff."

Comment The problems of asbestos in schools in Australia is similar to those in the United Kingdom, however in Queensland they are taking steps to address the problem, as part of that they are adopting a policy of openness. Having examined a number of schools an independent inspector stated “We have come across registers that are grossly out of date and have not been reaudited, and we are not seeing any asbestos management plans. They (the Government) are not really on top of it.”  The Government however claim that "We believe the safety practices are strong and robust but we're taking no chances," consequently they have now appointed their own inspector and have taken the decision to publish their school’s asbestos registers on line, which will be accessible to staff and parents.  Which is precisely what should happen in the United Kingdom.  

Comment: “During window removal in a Scottish school asbestos has been found, the classroom was sealed off and asbestos contractors have been called in to complete the work. According to the article the asbestos is in the window sealant mastic, and the workers staff and parents have been assured that there is no risk. In this particular case if the only asbestos is that in the mastic then the assurances of the council are justified. This does go to prove however that whatever asbestos exists in a school it always poses a potential problem, which in this case will lead to additional costs and disruption to all involved.”

Carole Hagedorn, a former secondary languages teacher who contracted the asbestos cancer mesothelioma in June 2008, said the claims were unacceptable. She told us: “It is indeed not the case of ‘one fibre and you’re dead’, but it is the case that only a brief exposure is necessary to cause damage – including mesothelioma – to some people.”.....Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers..said: “Teacher unions are not being ‘whipped into a frenzy’. We are not being alarmist. We are simply concerned about a government system that doesn’t work: there are no clear lines of responsibility for school management...The knowledge of where asbestos is located is poor, and there is frequently no training for the people in charge of managing it. The point is that no teacher should die of exposure at school, and for every teacher exposed, hundreds of children are exposed too.”

Comment The government advisor remarks were made to the Western Mail. Look at "Wales News" which is seven items down from this item for detailed comment and closely referenced comment on these remarks.

Comment This shows that if a school contains asbestos materials then fibres can be readily released, in this case causing widespread contamination with traces of asbestos dust being found in several rooms.. Despite this the spokeswoman has stated that the air tests were satisfactory. There was a covering of dust in the rooms and therefore one would have expected raised fibre levels with normal air sampling and analysis, and that is because realistic disturbance such as brushing is required to make the dust become airborne, the sampling then collects and measures all types of airborne fibres both asbestos and non-asbestos. Differentiation of asbestos fibres can then be made with the most accurate means using electronic microscopes, with details of the discrimination being recorded on the air test report. It would be interesting to see the results of these tests to see what kind of disturbance and analysis was carried out.

Detailed comment at this link. This discovery in heating ducts appears to highlight the flaws in standard school asbestos surveys and raises question that should be asked about the condition of the discovered asbestos and the effectiveness of the encapsulation. It appears to have a general lesson for other schools as the problem of hidden asbestos in an unknown condition and with potentially inadequate encapsulation also potentially exists in many schools. Solutions used by some Councils to find hidden asbestos in the comment.

Comment: The asbestos in schools group of multi-disciplined experts in asbestos and professionals in teaching and running schools have never, of course, claimed any such thing. Unfortunately Steve Coldrick's reported evidence for the statement that "The danger of asbestos in schools is exagerrated" lacks a sound factual base and appears to rest on demonising and exaggerating the position of those advocating proper reseach, evidence based practical action and pragmatic ways forward

Closely referenced comment is attached.

Evening Leader - Flintshire
11 August

“From the onset I would like to help protect children against the harmful effects of asbestos and increase awareness of its use in schools by sharing my experience and knowledge. From a parents viewpoint I would like to ensure my children are being educated in a safe environment and the sad truth is that over 90 per cent of British schools still contain asbestos.”

Video brief on the tests by MP.

“I have recently tabled a Statement of Opinion in the Welsh Assembly, calling on Assembly Members to support immediate action to increase the awareness of this problem amongst education staff, which has been met with cross-party support.”

Comment: A basic principle of risk management is assessing the scale of the problem and the risk. The Independent highlights how MPs, the teaching unions, the British Safety Council and others have called for an audit of the extent of asbestos and the standards of asbestos management in the nation’s schools, they have also asked that a risk assessment is carried out for the occupants, and yet for more than twenty five years successive Governments have refused. Because of this a joint project between the combined teaching unions and the asbestos consultants association has asked school authorities to volunteer their schools for an assessment of the standards of asbestos management. The assessment will be made by experienced asbestos consultants, and guidance will be given where necessary, with the names of the schools remaining anonymous.

Comment: Although the asbestos will be removed during the school holidays one must ask just how long have staff and pupils being storing props and equipment under the stage and presumably disturbing the asbestos.

Comment: Hampshire has a considerable number of SCOLA System Built schools. Notes on their asbestos and fire situation are attached.

Lancashire Telegraph
18 June

The list of buildings, revealed under a freedom of in formation investigation, shows that 55 out of 73 schools in Blackburn and Darwen contain asbestos.

NW Evening Mail
26 May

Sec Ed (speciailst education magazine)

21 May

"Asbestos management in the Houses of Parliament: Training available for all staff. A dedicated team to monitor danger areas. Millions of pounds of detailed work.
Asbestos management in schools: Responsibility often left to one senior leader. A lack of training or clear guidance. Comprehensive audit of asbestos yet to take place.

Reports of a seminar in Westminster following a deputation from all the teaching unions to the PM. The PM agreed there was a problem with asbestos in schools and directed action.

Last night Carole Hagedorn, 58, a teacher diagnosed with mesothelioma last year, said: "I was absolutely horrified and very disappointed that the records have been destroyed.'' She had been trying to get the relevant files on schools where she had worked more than 13 years ago when she thinks she came into contact with asbestos dust.

Comment: As mesothelioma has a long latency before symptoms develop the files are destroyed before mesothelioma becomes apparent. This means it is almost impossible for a teacher or pupil to identify whether they were in contact with asbestos in their school. It means that coroners often have no evidence of exposure in schools when deciding on cause of death. It removes statistical evidence on which to base estimates of deaths in later life from school exposure and assess the effectiveness of preventive action. It makes it much more difficult for victims to get compensation.

Asbestos timebomb - Mirror campaign update by Mark Ellis. At a private meeting at No.10 the PM met asbestos campaigners, the leaders of the biggest teaching unions and worried MPs amid rising concern about asbestos-related deaths. ........................ And Schools minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry will meet the delegation again within weeks to thrash out an agenda for tackling the problem.Campaigners say it is a major breakthrough after repeated requests for top level meetings on asbestos in the past were turned down and praised the Mirror for raising awareness of the problem.

International Ban Abestos secretariat press release

6 May

On 6 May the Prime Minister 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 May 13. Detailed report at this link

Monmouthshire Beacon

1 May 2009

Asbestos shock at Raglan Primary School. A building “not fit for its purpose” is how one parent this week described Raglan Primary School after receiving a copy of a survey carried out by Monmouthshire County Council..... The survey revealed a catalogue of faults in both the infant and junior schools, including the discovery of asbestos under the flooring.Mrs Vaughan said she was horrified to read in the report that asbestos had been disovered in the cracked vinyl floor tiles in classes in both schools.

Eastern Daily Press 24

28 April 2009

Teletext Scotland

Norfolk School at the centre of asbestos scare. "During a routine inspection, asbestos was found in a fractured ceiling tile in one of the sixth-form common rooms. The room has been sealed off as a precautionary measure due to the inspector identifying a small area of asbestos-containing material being disturbed." The incident happened within days of teachers, union leaders and politicians calling for asbestos to be removed from Norfolk's classrooms, as an EDP investigation showed 390 of Norfolk's 438 schools had asbestos on their premises.

Comment: Ceiling tiles are a known risk. They are specifically covered in HSE guidance. It is known that this ceiling tile contained asbestos and it is likely that it is asbestos insulating board, which normally contains brown asbestos, amosite, and must be handled with great care so as not to release the fibres. Also asbestos fibres and debris can rest on the top surface of the tile so that when it is disturbed the fibres filter down through the smallest crack or gap. Asbestos fibres can readily pass wherever air can pass..

It is known that hitting an AIB panel can release significant levels of asbestos fibres, with tests giving levels more than forty times greater than that at which the room can be legally occupied. In this case the ceiling tile was fractured so it must be assumed that considerable force was used. This would inevitably have released large quantities of asbestos fibres that would have filtered down into the room below. As the material is friable it also releases asbestos debris when it is broken, which, if crushed underfoot, releases even more asbestos fibres.

It would be interesting to know the following

• Why the perceived risk was considered so low that it did not justify carrying out air tests.
• What tests and test conditions identified the fibre release as “minor” and the levels of exposure of the occupants as “exceedingly low, almost nil.”
• If that is the case why it is considered necessary to seal the room and carry out an environmental clean of the area, which is a disruptive and most expensive exercise.

There is a natural temptation for authorities to be very reassuring after an incident when the reassurances cannot always be justified The problem with this is that future cases of damaged ceiling tiles may be assumed by school staff to be a minor problem – not worth reporting – when HSE guidance is that teachers, other staff and pupils should be instructed to report such damage immediately so that it can be repaired and any contamination dealt with. This does not appear to have happened. One wonders how long it was before the damaged tile was spotted as the damage was apparently only reported and dealt with following an inspection. On the face of it this seems a failure in asbestos management.

From the description of the damage and the reassurances given, pupils and teachers should not be overly concerned about this incident as it appears to be an isolated incident with asbestos fibre release over a short period of time. But the fact is that however good asbestos management might be, where there are children there always is the potential that an accident, vandalism or boisterous behaviour will damage asbestos and release the fibres.

It does not help children's safety to gloss over such incidents . It tends to make staff, caretakers and pupils in every school believe that the risk of asbestos fibre release from fractured tiles does not matter, releases "almost nil" fibres and need not be reported urgently.

Sec Ed
(Speciailst education magazine)

28 April 2009

Lead story after the NASUWT conference gave a standing ovation to a teacher dying of mesothelioma.

'Carole Hagedorn is dying. Last year, after 34 years as a teacher, she was diagnosed with mesothelioma.' She says "The latency period for the cancer can be anything between 10 and 50 years , so even if initial exposure will frequently happen when at school, the current occupation is what gets recorder on the death certificate. Everyone goes to school and children are thought to be more susceptible to the effects of asbestos exposure than adults. The government could wipe out a huge proportion of this cancer if it set about removing the material from schools."

CLASSROOMS at a Gorseinon school may have to be closed for up to two weeks after workers found asbestos. .An annexe of Penyrheol Comprehensive School, which contains 16 classrooms, has been shut after asbestos was found. The asbestos was discovered over the Easter break when new windows were being installed.

Comment: The Council say that asbestos had not been disturbed and so is "not a health risk", but windows vibrating, slamming and opening are known to disturb hidden asbestos as does water damage. It is also very surprising that the presence of asbestos around the windows came as a surprise. It suggests that the management of hidden asbestos might be less thorough than required to prevent fibre release.

It is surprising that Swansea Council say this does not pose a health risk when HSE make it clear that asbestos is a health risk that is being managed - and the management of potentially deteriorating hidden asbestos seems to have failed on this occassion - possibly over a long period of time.

Cases against head teachers for poor asbestos management likely to increase. Report on NASUWT conference

Comment: The TES article highlights the risk of prosecution of headteachers. This is a very valid concern as increasingly they and the governors have responsibility for ensuring that the asbestos in the schools is safely managed, and yet many have not been adequately trained and do not even have sufficient awareness of the dangers of asbestos to give it the priority it deserves.  Presently each school has to carry out about 136 risk assessments from the dangers of slips, trips and falls, to car parking, legionella and a whole plethora of other risks among which asbestos is but one.  If a headteacher or chairman of the governors is not even aware of the dangers of asbestos then it might be given no more priority than the problem of pot holes in the playground, and yet the risks are far greater and the potential for prosecution if something goes wrong is increasingly likely. It is essential that all headteachers and governors are given training so that they are fully aware of the dangers of asbestos and whether their school is managing it effectively.

Eastern Daily Press

Norwich Evening News
18 April 2009

South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon said local authorities should be doing more to deal with problem (of asbestos in most Norfolk schools) - after a Freedom of Information request by the EDP revealed asbestos was present in 390 of Norfolk's 438 schools.

Mr Bacon said, in the Norwich Evening News : “The fact is local authorities are not as prepared to deal with this as they should be. There should be much greater information available to the public. He said he believed it was possible to manage asbestos until schools were rebuilt but there were too few people able to deal with the job safely in the schools.“It is possible to manage the problem of asbestos in school and a lot of schools are being rebuilt,” he said. “We have to look at the issue of building schools for the future.”

Times On Line
Evening Standard
Guardian

16 March 09

Report of NASUWT Conference "Children face asbestos Time Bomb"

"Teachers .... said many of their schools had been told it was safer not to remove asbestos, as it lay undisturbed. But they said this was dangerous and foolhardy as the substance could be released by flooding, accidental damage or vandalism. One teacher said she found pupils kicking around blocks of asbestos they had discovered in a cupboard, and another said members of staff had been asked to sweep up asbestos debris"

"Children's lives are at risk and an unknown number will die from cancer after being exposed to asbestos in schools, a terminally ill London teacher warned today. Carole Hagedorn described how her mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos in school buildings, left her feeling “like some sort of collateral damage in the education game”"

"Thirty or 40 years on, these buildings are in decay. They are leaking and crumbling, but we, the teachers and our children, carry on working in them – day in, day out."

BBC Radio Scotland
9am 6 April 09

An investigation into asbestos in schools. Listen to it here

Comment: detailed and balanced programme - it illustrated the common problem in all UK schools. We have submitted a response to the blog about asbestos mananagement and detecting breaches in asbestos defences in schools on a daily basis.

Raises the issue of management, and deteriorating asbestos due to normal school activity. .

Comment: The Schools Minister has said that asbestos will not necessarily be removed when schools are refurbished in the Building Schools for the future campaign. New builds, as stated in the article, will get rid of asbestos, but the many schools being refurbished may well not.

Express and Star
2 April

Personal story of a teacher with mesothelioma followed by:

Article: "Why is asbestos still being allowed to kill teachers and threaten thousands of pupils?"
Leader: "Safe schools can save nation"

Sec Ed (Speciaiist secondary Education Magazine

Western Mail
27 March

Sec Eds report on asbestos seminar in the Welsh Assembly: "in about two-thirds of mesothelioma we cannot identify where the exposure to asbestos occurred. What we do know is that most of those people will have attended school. I think there is a significant risk of mesothelioma in schools containing asbestos" (Page 6 on this link)

Report on Assembly of Wales conference on asbestos: Mesothelioma rates were “far higher than should be expected” among teachers. “And if the teachers are showing significantly high on the statistics, then what about the children?”

An issue raised in this Radio 4 report is the failure of Government reports, statistics and procedures (including a very recent one) to address the following issue:

If teachers, a profession where there should be no asbestos exposure, are dying from asbestos exposure, what is happening to children - who are recognised as being particularly vulnerable to asbestos?

The comment expands on this issue and there is a downloadable podcast of the Radio 4 report

Times Educational Supplement
27 March 09

Clinica
(A world medical technology journal)
25 March

Westminster safety disagreement highlights risk in schools - Clinica Calls for Public Inquiry into Asbestos Safety

"Some high-profile examples of management failures have reached the media, but the risk of any such instance in schools, in particular, cannot be entertained. Yet there is growing evidence............ that it is actually happening."

Politics UK
26 March 09

Paul Rowen MP - I was deputy head of a secondary school. Nobody gave me any training advice, told me what I should or should not do, Yet when things happen teachers are the people responsible Parliamentary debate on asbestos in schools

VOICE - the Union
24 March

Express and Star

23 March 2009

There is still no date for a Staffordshire school to re-open after it was closed following the release of dangerous asbestos fibres into a nursery room.

Comment: Workmen damaged Asbestos Insulating board when they removed a cupboard from a Nursery classroom wall while the children were present.  It took the council a week to inform the parents. The children’s coats. books furniture and equipment are being stripped from the classroom. HSE say that the exposure “has led to a limited risk to the children.”

This is Scunthorpe
23 Mar 09

Daily Mirror

21 March 09

Asbestos gave me cancer at 13 years old. "We can't think of a time where I could have come into close contact with asbestos" . "The rate (of mesothelioma) for UK sufferers with no known exposure is four times the world average".

If you read the link you might also read the first comment on the Mirror article which discusses asbestos exposure in schools and how to identify if one has been exposed to asbestos in a school.

Parents are battling plans to send children to an asbestos-ridden school. Pupils at St Gilbert's Primary - which is in good condition - will move to crumbling St Philomena's in Blackhill, Glasgow.

Sec Ed (Specialist Secondary Education Magazine)
12 Mar 09

A two page article (pages 8 and 9) of the magazine. Michael Lees gives the reasons the Government policy towards asbestos in schools has failed to protect the occupants.

Littlehampton Today
Midhurst and Petworth
West Sussex County Times
Hastings Observer
Crawley Observer
Mid Sussex Times

11 Mar

"Asbestos in Mid Sussex Schools is no danger to children or adults" West Sussex County Council

Comment: One must question how West Sussex County Council’s are so confident that the asbestos in their schools is no danger to children or adults, for if any asbestos material is present there is always the potential that the fibres could be released, and if inhaled they present a risk.  In comparison to West Sussex CC the HSE are more cautious to qualify their statements, for in a recent interview for BBC Inside Out when they were informed of a failure of asbestos management in a school a senior HSE official stated “No I didn’t say that asbestos was safe. I said that it was for the duty holder to make sure it didn’t represent a risk to health. You are calling it a problem. I don’t think that it is a problem. I think that it is a health risk that is being managed.”

271 of the 286 schools in West Sussex contain asbestos, 78 of which are a type of System built school called SCOLA which are of a type that are known to contain significant quantities of asbestos including asbestos insulating board.  It has been known for more than twenty years that in schools of a similar construction,  if the walls and columns are hit, or even doors are slammed, then significant levels of amosite fibres can be released into the rooms.

Unless West Sussex are totally confident that there will never be a failure in asbestos management in any of their schools then they cannot justify their statement that asbestos is no danger. In addition unless they have carried out comprehensive air sampling with realistic disturbance in all their schools they will have no real idea if the hidden asbestos is releasing asbestos fibres into the rooms.

Mirror
10 March

Article 1: 90% of Manchester schools contain asbestos ... .. similar picture likely across UK. Rochdale MP seeking Parliamentary debate. The NUT's Christine Blower said: "An employer must ensure buildings are safe and yet this appalling situation continues."

Article 2: Pupil is suing over asbestos exposure in school

Mid Sussex Times
4 March

Another teacher dies

Halesowen News
9 March 2009

Sadly another teacher has died of mesothelioma.

Wendy Stevens died on October 31st 2008.  Mrs Stevens had worked at Bromsgrove College, a System built complex, where major construction work had been carried out during term time. Report on Wendy Steven's death.

The Press and Journal

BBC News

Highland News

4, 5 March 2009

Parents fearful of health risks at school after asbestos scare - 6 March
School asbestos find causes chaos 5 March
The BBC report that the clean-up at Nairn academy will take until Easter. -5 March
Nairn Academy pupils sent home after asbestos dust scare also _ 4 March: Asbestos found in flakes of debris on classroom floor

Comment: The Nairn academy was opened in 1976 and within weeks the flat roof was leaking. A year ago water was running down the walls into the classrooms with staff and parents expressing fears about asbestos contamination. The year before that warnings had been given that drawing pins must not be inserted in the walls because of the presence of chrysotile in the wall coverings.  As asbestos problems were known about in the school one must question why the recent work on installing the solar panels was not carried out under more stringent control measures.  Earlier details are at the following links:

http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/8894/Nairn_school_closed_amid_asbestos_fears.html
http://www.highland-news.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/3174/Leaky_roof_adds_to_academy_pressure.html
http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/news/newsreleases/2009/March/2009-03-03-01.htm
http://www.highland-news.co.uk/news/printpage.php/aid/3374/New_call_to_rid_schools_of__killer_.html

Edinburgh city council have been fined for breaching the asbestos regulations, which resulted in unlicensed contractors littering a school in unsafe debris.27 Feb 2009

Daily Mirror campaign

The Mirror is running a series of articles. They want, amongst other things, a public register of all asbestos surveys. If anyone has any comment or stories of asbestos incidents in schools please contact the Mirror atasbestos@mirror.co.uk  or join their blog at http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/asbestos-campaign/  

Contractors fined for refurbishment work carried out in a junior school in Manchester that released asbestos fibres when asbestos ceiling tiles were removed without any precautions being taken. This was despite the fact that the contractors were given the asbestos register.

This is Lichfield,
Times Educational Supplement

Builders disturb asbestos at primary school in Staffordshire

Heating fails in school, pipes lagged with asbestos

Comment: On 2 Feb 09 Lancashire Council said “there is nothing to worry about so long as it (asbestos) remains intact”. A week later in a school water is leaking out of pipes with asbestos lagging. Water damages friable asbestos and the fibres are dispersed, to precipitate out when the water dries. Floor ducting does not keep in asbestos fibres for “ wherever air can pass then asbestos fibres can just as readily.”

Lib Dems W&P Shadow Minister calls for an audit of all asbestos in schools.

Health and Safety Team (Educational) newsletter - 20
19 Jan 09

Asbestos under the stage of a primary school. An environmental clean has taken place with all the equipment destroyed.