In HEJ’s latest technical guidance article, Paul Reeve, director of Business Services at the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), discusses some of the key issues surrounding dealing with asbestos when refurbishing healthcare properties.
It is a sad and repeated fact that thousands of tradespeople die every year from previous exposure to asbestos. Far from being a problem of the past, asbestos remains the single greatest cause of work-related deaths, according to the Health and Safety Executive. Asbestos is, of course, still out there in many healthcare properties, and tradespeople are still at risk of being exposed to it.
Asbestos was used extensively as a building material in the UK from the 1950s through to the 1980s; among other things, it was ideal for fireproofing and insulation. Asbestos material in good condition is not a significant health risk. The problems arise when asbestos fibres become airborne, such as when the material is worked or damaged. When these fibres are inhaled, they can cause very serious, and too often, fatal, diseases, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, and diffuse pleural thickening. Mesothelioma alone accounts for the deaths of around 2,400 people every year, and numbers are still set to increase.
Healthcare properties and asbestos
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