Posted By Crim http://www.liverpoolecho...-danger-100252-20489023/ Interesting article in the Liverpool Echo yesterday especially for those of us who are old enough to have worked in the late 60's early 70's.

Posted By Dave Wilson The HSE have just started a new Asbestos campaign for free info and downloads see http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/campaign/index.htm Feb 27th is also National Mesothelioma Day.

Posted By Robert K Lewis Dave Housing Associations seem to be the big pick up area but contractors are slow to realise what the requirements are and tend to argue when confronted with the information. Directors are beginning to come to terms with it. But the fruit has yet to fully mature. Bob

Posted By Crim I was a firefighter in Liverpool from 1968 and fought many a fire in the old prefab type of house, (asbestos cement) without wearing breathing apparatus. Also many derelict property fires in and around the City. Risk assessments had not been invented then and the dangers of asbestos certainly were not known.

Posted By Robert K Lewis GeoffB4 But the real problem is that the exposures of construction people especially have not ceased. I still get called upon to deal with situations where operatives have been working in the proximity of damaged lagging without prior information and training resulting in a lack of adequate protective measures. 2015 - 2020 is the current anticipated peak but it is not the end of the tunnel. People exposed today will still be dying, albeit in hopefully smaller numbers. My fear is that the way the problem is being managed on the ground means that the decline may not be achieved. We are not going to remove all asbestos from buildings until all current structures are demolished so the problem may need to be managed for several generations yet. Only by remembering the devastation of today and previous years can we hope to avoid the toll in the future. Bob

Posted By Robert K Lewis Geoff The fatality figures up to 2010 will reflect the exposures of the 70s. The 80s forward are meant to be the start of a decline, originally projected at 2010 and is now put back at least 5 - 10 years. In other words there will continue to be a rise even though we apparently knew of the hazards and were supposedly controlling it from the 80s forward. I am making the point that even today I am seeing control of the problem that is not significantly different to what I witnessed in the 80s in some places. On housing stock Lambeth blazed a LA trail which was over the top to a degree and was modified by other LAs but they were exceptions. Even now maintenance, refurbishment and other construction personnel are efffectively left to fend for themselves with regards to asbestos. Dave W represents an organisation at the forefront of the problem nowadays but most persons working on asbestos are not employed by such people. They are the ordinary telephone installers, IT cablers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, gas fitters etc etc. The problem has to be kept to the forefront of minds in order to reduce apathy. I would that I could be as confident as yourself that exposure was now not an issue. Bob

Posted By Dave Wilson Geoff I agree, however today and I mean TODAY there will be Botchit Builders Ltd out there knocking lumps out of this stuff with no real knowledge of what they are letting them selves in for. About 25% of the deaths today are from this type of worker who installed or worked with it, we will get a reduction in the numbers however until employers / industry understand that this is still a real issue then we will still see this continue for what is entirely preventable.

Posted By GeoffB4 No problem Bob.

Posted By Robert K Lewis I think the HSE are missing out on some much needed cash for the revenue and customs as well!:-) There seems a great reluctance to deal with some major public organisations who are sometimes among the worst offenders. I have had 4 from one such body in the last 2 years - all insulation exposures. The affected persons are often subcontractors afraid of losing a major public sector client if they make too many waves. Equally they still fight shy of too much asbestos training, on the basis that they will not work on asbestos if they know it is there. Trouble comes when they do not know!! Bob