On Action Mesothelioma Day, which takes place today (Friday), the
NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union is calling for the
urgent prioritisation of removal of asbestos from school
buildings in order to safeguard the health and welfare of
education staff and pupils.
The last official figures published by the Department for
Education (DfE) in 2019, showed that asbestos is present in four
out of five schools (81%) in England. The Joint Unions Asbestos
Committee (JUAC) estimate that 1,000 school staff in Great
Britain have already died from mesothelioma between 1980-2017,
and up to 9,000 former pupils may also have died from
mesothelioma during the same period.
Last week the National Audit Office estimated that as many as
24,000 school buildings were beyond their initial design life,
and of particular risk were 13,800 “system-built” blocks
constructed between 1940 and 1980. Many of these contain
asbestos.
The NASUWT is working with Sir MP, Chair of the Work and
Pensions Select Committee, to call on political parties
throughout the UK to adopt recommendations made by the Committee
in April 2022 on asbestos management.
These include the introduction of a 40-year deadline for the
removal of asbestos from non-domestic buildings, focusing on
removing the highest risk asbestos first, and the early removal
from the highest risk settings, including schools. Under current
Government plans to build just 50 new schools a year, it would
take over 350 years to completely eradicate asbestos from all
schools in England.
The NASUWT is also backing the Committee’s recommendation that a
central digital register of all asbestos in non-domestic
buildings, describing its location and type, is created to
identify the extent of asbestos present in public buildings and
to support the process of prioritising its removal.
Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary,
said:
“It is a national tragedy that more and more school teachers are
dying from Mesothelioma, the deadly asbestos lung cancer.
Asbestos exposure continues to be the biggest cause of
work-related deaths in the UK.
“Around 5,000 people are dying each year from asbestos cancers
linked to work exposure, including from mesothelioma. The latest
HSE data shows that the number of female teachers dying from
mesothelioma is increasing.
“Asbestos is one of the great workplace tragedies of modern times
and it is a national disgrace that the UK has one of the highest
mesothelioma mortality rates in the world.
“The risks are now well known, yet as last week’s National Audit
Office report shows, there is a lack of urgency from the DfE to
address the problem. This is needlessly and avoidably passing on
a potentially deadly legacy to the staff and children working and
learning in our schools today.”
Sir , Chair of the Work and
Pensions Select Committee, said:
“In 2009-10, under the last Labour Government, £7.5 billion was
spent on building and refurbishing schools - the Department for
Education's (DfEs) Capital Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL).
“The National Audit Office report shows that between 2016-17 and
2022-23 the DfE spent on average just £2.3 billion a year.
“The Government must significantly increase investment in
building and refurbishing schools, not least to remove the deadly
asbestos that is present in four out of five schools in England.
“Setting a 40 year deadline for removing all workplace asbestos
and creating a central digital register of all asbestos in
non-domestic buildings, are the first crucial steps in addressing
the problem. The Government should work towards removing
the highest risk asbestos first, including from the crumbling
schools estate.”
