The Government must commit to a strategy to remove all asbestos
from public and commercial buildings within 40 years, MPs say
today, with the risk to health only likely to increase as
buildings are adapted with the move to net zero.
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.
- Asbestos-related illness ‘one of the great workplace
tragedies of modern times’ with thousands of deaths each year
from past exposures.
- An increase in retrofitting in response to net zero ambitions
means that more asbestos-containing materials will be disturbed
in coming decades – a cross-government approach is needed.
- More funding for HSE to boost enforcement activity.
Many of these deaths will relate to exposures from 35 or more
years ago. The available evidence indicates that cumulative
exposures are much lower now for younger age groups but more data
is needed to understand the current picture.
With asbestos still in around 300,000 non-domestic buildings and
a likely dramatic increase in disturbance from net zero
retrofitting, 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 Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) to back up their stated goal of removing all
asbestos by committing to a clear 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 must also ensure adequate funding for HSE’s
inspection and enforcement of the current asbestos regulations,
which has declined in recent years.
Chair's comment
Rt Hon 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.”
Main findings and recommendationsThe
asbestos risk today
- While there is evidence that the extreme exposures of the
20th century are behind us, HSE is not doing enough to assess
current levels of risk in non-domestic buildings. The Committee
heard accounts of recent exposures in the workplace and beyond.
HSE should adopt a more structured approach to collecting data on
current exposure levels.
A strategic approach to asbestos management
- HSE has been slow to invest in research into the costs and
benefits of removal, and to evaluate options for its safe
removal.
- A deadline should now be set for the removal of asbestos from
non-domestic buildings within 40 years. A new strategic plan
should focus on the highest risk asbestos first and the highest
risk settings including schools.
- This plan should, in the first instance, commit to improving
urgently the evidence around safer asbestos removal and disposal,
considering relative costs and benefits.
HSE’s enforcement and campaigning
- HSE issued 60% fewer asbestos enforcement notices annually
between 2011/12 and 2018/19. The scale of decline is remarkable
when compared with HSE's enforcement activity overall, despite no
specific and compelling evidence that compliance with the
asbestos regulations has improved dramatically during this time.
- HSE should commit to a sustained increase in inspection and
enforcement activity. The Committee repeats its recommendation
from June 2020, that the Government should ensure adequate
funding for this increased programme of work.
Further information
