The asbestos threat in our schools - is enough being done?
The asbestos threat in our schools - is enough being
done?
It is too late for Dianne
Willmore. She has less than six months to live since developing the
terminal cancer mesothelioma after being exposed for years to
asbestos as a pupil at school. She was recently awarded £240,000 in
compensation at the High Court in Liverpool. In a separate case,
the widow of a teacher whose death was caused by exposure to
asbestos during a long teaching career won a £290,000
settlement.
Mesothelioma is one of the most
aggressive forms of cancer. Linked to asbestos exposure, it is
difficult to treat and can take more than 20 years to develop.
Despite its rapidly increasing incidence, it is the least
researched of the UK’s top 20 cancers, with little funding from
government.
Cancer Research UK says the number
of deaths from mesothelioma has been rising since 1968 and it kills
almost 2,000 people a year. In the last 14 years, 228 teachers have
died as a result of exposure to asbestos. Thousands of schools were
built between the 1930s and 1980s when asbestos was routinely used
in ceilings, wall linings and pipe lagging.
Teachers across the country told a
recent NASUWT conference about exposure to the deadly fibres. A
teacher in Wales alleged that she had found pupils kicking around
"chunks of asbestos" in a school playground. They voted to campaign
for the removal of asbestos from all schools by 2012. The National
Union of Teachers has also called for its removal.
According to UK
government estimates, materials containing asbestos can be found in
around 70% of schools in England. In Wales it is estimated that
more than 377,000 school children are exposed to asbestos in their
classrooms.
The Health and Safety Executive
says it is safer to leave undisturbed or undamaged asbestos in
place and carefully manage it, rather than risk damaging it by
removal. By law, robust processes must be in place in schools to
carefully monitor asbestos.
There have been calls on the
government to carry out a national audit of asbestos in schools,
claiming that some schools and colleges are not taking health and
safety issues like this seriously, while many local authorities are
failing to comply with their statutory responsibilities.
Cenric Clement-Evans, a
partner at Hugh James with specialist knowledge of industrial
disease, commented: “The health and welfare of our children, our
teachers and all who work in our schools is absolutely paramount.
It is astonishing that an audit of asbestos in UK schools has not
yet been carried out. The risks from asbestos in our schools must
be assessed and the necessary action taken to protect our children
and those working in our schools.”
The greatest tragedy is
that Dianne’s illness was wholly preventable. Let it not be too
late for our children.