Get asbestos out of schools!

On 4 April an impressive and uplifting meeting was held in Hamilton House, north London, to build widespread support for a campaign to remove all asbestos from schools, starting with the most dangerous situations.

Appropriately, it was held during Global Asbestos Awareness Week. The aim is to press government to take corrective action urgently. Since 1980, at least 1,400 teachers and support staff and 12,600 pupils have died from mesothelioma – caused by inhaling asbestos fibres.

No cure

It can take 20 to 60 years between exposure to asbestos and developing symptoms. Most victims die within 18 months of receiving a diagnosis. There is no cure; current treatments can only slow the cancer’s growth.

Britain has the world’s highest mesothelioma rate. Teachers and support staff are more vulnerable than the rest of society. Statistical research by Robin Howie, former President of the British Occupational Hygiene Society, presented to parliament found that they are three to five times more likely to develop mesothelioma than the general population.

Crumbling buildings

The fear is that numbers could grow dramatically over coming years as many of Britain’s old crumbling schools expose more children and educators to increasing danger. The risk increases as buildings degrade through use of neglect.

For decades, the policy of successive governments has been to leave asbestos where it is in public buildings, unless visibly damaged. Assurances are too readily given that most schools are managing asbestos safely.

‘Cost cutting has prevented remedial action.’

Yet asbestos is a fragile material easily damaged in places where it was used – ceilings and display boards for instance. Current asbestos regulations are ineffective; an invidious cost-cutting environment prevails that has often prevented remedial action.

There is no official figure for the number of schools affected. Freedom of information requests to the Department for Education have established that at least 21,500 schools containing asbestos. Any school built before 1999 – when the use of asbestos was finally banned – is likely to contain it.

Successive governments and the Health and Safety Executive have consistently rejected recommendations to begin a phased removal of asbestos from schools. A robust report from the parliamentary work and pensions committee in 2022 called for action across all public buildings. But even that produced no effective action.

Calls for action

The meeting heard from a range of speakers who gave moving calls for immediate action, including asbestos experts, researchers, a statistician, a solicitor, a primary school teacher and concerned parents. Quite a few of them had personal experience of mesothelioma in their extended families, which made their testimonies and contributions even more memorable.

The meeting called for an end to inaction and the adoption of three essential measures as part of a national asbestos strategy to combat this unseen killer: the creation of a national database of school buildings containing asbestos; proper inspections, recordings and readings of asbestos levels in schools, not just areas with damaged asbestos; a programme to remove asbestos from schools starting immediately.