Posts Tagged ‘UKAs accredited asbestos inspection firms’
One Teacher A Month Dying From Asbestos
EXPOSURE to asbestos in classrooms is claiming the life of a teacher a month from cancer, shocking new official figures reveal.
And for every teacher at risk from the deadly building material used in almost all older schools at least 20 children are also exposed to the threat.
New statistics show 64 school teachers have died from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in the past five years. In all at least 272 teachers have suffered from the horrific cancer since figures began to be collated a little over a decade ago. Read More
Asbestos closes operating theatres
Six operating theatres at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd will be closed for 14 months from March, after asbestos was discovered in their ceilings and adjacent corridors.
Asbestos was used in the construction of the hospital, near Rhyl, which was opened in 1980.
A spokeswoman for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which runs the hospital, said: “Plans are currently being drawn up to ensure that emergency and elective surgery will continue despite the disruption, and these plans should be finalised by the end of January. Medical staff are leading the planning to make sure patients can access care as needed whilst this important and much needed work is done.
“This work will ensure the continued health and safety of staff and patients, and reaffirms the future of Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.”
Source: WalesOnline.co.uk
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Asbestos scandal
Viewed through an electron microscope, asbestos fibres look like thin glass straws, some no more than a fraction of a micrometre wide. If inhaled, they penetrate the soft alveoli of the lungs and the membranes that line the chest cavity. And there they stay. Over time, damaged cells can cause a malignant disease called mesothelioma, which often kills people, horribly, less than a year after diagnosis.
Before the widespread industrial use of asbestos began in the late nineteenth century, malignant mesothelioma was unheard of, yet it is now responsible for tens of thousands of deaths around the world every year. After the link between asbestos exposure and the disease was convincingly made in 1960, responsible nations eventually took strong measures to remove the mineral from commercial products and to halt mining and export. Less responsible nations did not; this is a scandal that deserves wider attention. Read More
Managing asbestos safely
Fiona Riley, from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s Education Group, discusses how important it is that asbestos in schools is managed with the utmost caution
There has been a heated debate over the years as to whether asbestos needs to be removed completely from schools. The answer is no, it just needs to be managed safely. If those responsible are complying with their legal obligations then it is extremely unlikely that teachers or pupils will be put at any risk from the substance during the course of their day-to-day activities.
Asbestos-containing materials were widely used in public service buildings such as schools and hospitals constructed between 1945-1980. In the UK, it is estimated that around half a million non-domestic buildings still contain asbestos, however, the exact number of schools that are included in this figure is unknown.
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