A British Lung Foundation survey has revealed that most tradespeople are unaware of the health risks posed by asbestos. Out of 400 people in this survey relating to asbestos, it was found that 75% had not received any form of asbestos awareness training. The survey showed that asbestos related diseases are currently the main cause of work related ill health. The asbestos related survey estimated that approximately 3000 people die each year due to exposure to the mineral dust.Asbestos was commonly used in the construction of many buildings due to its insulation and fire retardant properties. Asbestos was used in some building materials until 1999; however most was phased out in the early 1980s. Tradespeople now have the highest risk of developing asbestos related lung cancers, mesothelioma and asbestosis as they regularly disturb and come into contact with materials that may contain asbestos fibres. Building owners should always consider having an asbestos survey carried out on their premise. An asbestos survey can help evaluate the presence and extent of any suspect asbestos containing materials in any building and assess their condition.

The British Lung Foundation survey relating to asbestos concentrated on builders, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, joiners and gas fitters. The survey found one in 10 had felt under pressure to continue working even if they had not seen an asbestos survey for the building and suspected that asbestos was present. In addition, nearly a third of those in the survey mistakenly believed that they did not need to see any types of asbestos survey because asbestos had already been removed from all British buildings.

The majority of tradesmen - 81% in the British Lung Foundation’s asbestos survey - said they never, rarely or only sometimes asked if the site they were working on had been checked for asbestos via an official asbestos survey, before they started a job - even though it is a legal requirement for them to see an Asbestos survey which informs them of the presence of asbestos.

Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, it is a legal requirement that all those that may disturb the fabric of any building must have Asbestos Awareness Training. This form of awareness training for asbestos helps tradespeople increase their general awareness of asbestos within their working environment. It has been estimated that as many as 20 tradespeople die every week as a result of exposure to asbestos in their workplace. In fact exposure to asbestos has been deemed as one of Britain’s biggest workplace killers.

So why isn’t asbestos awareness training a number one priority for all tradespeople because with better training they would reduce their risks of asbestos related lung disease and mesothelioma. However if the British tradespeople continue their ignorance to the dangers of asbestos and don’t put their own health first then campaigns, like those run by the British Lung Foundation, to eliminate asbestos related cancers such as mesothelioma and make them a disease of the past, are a lost cause.

So lets all strive to make our British tradespeople more aware of the dangers of asbestos by making sure asbestos awareness training is a core skill they all own and all tradespeople are presented with an official asbestos survey before they start a job on a particular site.

Asbestos is the collective term used to describe a family of several types of mineral fibrous rocks. There are currently six different regulated types of asbestos, with the three main types being Crocidolite, Amosite and Chrysolite. Crocidolite which is usually blue can be found a lot in southern Africa, Australia and in Russia. The Amosite which is usually brown is most commonly found in Africa. The Chrysolite is of a white colour and can be found in different places all around the world. All those three types were actually imported a lot in the United Kingdom before being banned from use in the eighties for some and at the end of the nineties for others. Asbestos fibres have been incorporated into many different materials and especially building materials since the end of the nineteenth century because of their useful properties. It was used as an acoustic insulator, a thermal insulator but also as fire proofing. The mineral fibre was actually known by the ancient Greek who recognized certain hazards of it. But its disadvantage is that it is a highly toxic material and can cause serious illnesses such as mesothelioma and asbestosis. Asbestos fibres can be easily inhaled and can become lodged in the tissue of your chest and as a result, your body’s natural defenses may not be able to break them down. This can then lead to lung diseases and cancer especially if you are exposed to the fibres repeatedly over a certain number of years.Even though the white asbestos, also called chrysolite, is still used a lot in the United States and known as less dangerous as the other types of asbestos, it can still cause cancer in humans but with some uncertainty as to the scale of the risk involved there. The first death recorded as related to asbestos occurred in 1906 and at the same period, scientists started to notice a large number of deaths and lung diseases in asbestos mining towns. The British Lung Foundation carried out a survey recently that revealed that most tradespeople were actually unaware of the health risks posed by asbestos, and that they did not think about asking if there was any asbestos on the site they were working on.

Today, the best way to find out if there is asbestos in a building is to ask a company to carry out asbestos surveys. More and more companies have actually specialized in asbestos surveys as well as asbestos risk assessment and legionella risk assessment.

Asbestos is something very dangerous and a lot of people are still unaware of that. Asbestos surveys need to be carried into buildings if it has not be done yet in order to identify if asbestos was used or not in the building.A recent survey carried out actually indicates that the highest risk of asbestos related lung illness in fact arises from insulation work in the United Kingdom. Epidemiologic work done by a professor called Peto has shown that in the first few years of the twenty first century we can keep on expecting a rise in the number of new cases of mesothelioma in Great Britain mainly due to asbestos. Mesotheliome really is a horrible cancer with a very long latency period.

In the United Kingdom, it presently causes more deaths than road traffic accidents and epidemiologists predict that a further one hundred thousand individuals would die from one type of asbestos cancer called mesothelioma in the coming years. When all types of asbestos-related diseases are gathered, the final death toll could be even higher than that previous number which is shocking.

Research into the treatment and care of this aggressive cancer in the United Kingdom is apparently in bad shape due to a lack of government help over the last years. In 2007 there was just one project dedicated to mesothelioma research funded by Cancer Research UK, but nothing by the Medical Research Council, despite the fact that between 1995 and 2004 the incidence rate of this disease in United Kingdom grew faster than any other cancer. Improvement have been made though with the availability of support for people suffering from mesothelioma by cancer charities throughout the United Kingdom. Any delay in diagnosing mesothelioma can impact negatively on treatment options, since an early diagnosis is a key to achieving a better cure for the patient. With the fact that patients are now getting older and are often diagnosed at a late stage of the disease. It becomes more and more urgent to use asbestos surveyors to carry out asbestos surveys. It seems that other countries like Australia have done things differently when it comes to deal with asbestos related diseases. The Australian government actually committed millions of pounds for a research program which would help people suffering from those diseases.

It is very easy to find a company specializing in asbestos management. They would usually also do legionella risk assessment and asbestos awareness training.