Asbestos: back to school for employers
Daily Hazard, n81 , May 2004From 21 May, it's a criminal offence not to manage asbestos in workplace and public buildings properly. That's when Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 came fully into force. Recent events in Islington and Dagenham schools suggest that councils and education service contractors are among the many employers not up to speed with their twenty-first century obligations regarding the twentieth century's biggest industrial killer.
In March, parents, staff and governors of Winton Primary School, Islington, clashed with CEA, the contractors currently running Islington's education services. A few weeks before, school staff had been shocked to discover that classrooms closed for "electrical work" were really being smoke tested as part of an asbestos investigation. The building had to be closed until it could be declared safe.
CEA had been forced to apologise for its communication failures and to acknowledge its duty to consult union safety representatives and inform staff. CEA managers expected to carry out that duty at the public meeting on 13th March by declaring the school safe and re-opening it two days later, in time for the final two weeks of term. Hazards centre adviser David Drury was at the meeting.
By this time the staff, through their UNISON and NUT representatives, had taken their own steps to be informed. They confronted CEA's suits with a survey report that both amosite (brown) and chrysotile (white) asbestos were still exposed both in the boiler room and in the service ducting which runs under the school.
The survey carried out by the HSE-tested Euro Lab Environmental Ltd, and commissioned by Bluestone plc, a construction company carrying out works at the school, also warns of breaches in the fabric of the building which could allow air containing asbestos fibres to flow into classrooms. Euro Lab says these breaches should be sealed and air tests repeated afterwards. The report said access to the ducting or works in the area should be prohibited until the asbestos had been removed under controlled conditions by a licensed contractor.
CEA managers claimed the contaminated area was sealed off from the rest of the school. It was quickly pointed out to them that the door leading to the contaminated area was not only unsealed but had been seen swinging wide open less than half an hour before the meeting started. They defended asbestos as perfectly safe if undisturbed and sealed. It was pointed out to them that this wasn't of much relevance because, according to a second report provided to them by ACE Laboratory, the asbestos in the basement of Winton Primary was highly damaged and unsealed in 19 identified areas.
They further revealed their detachment from reality when they praised asbestos for its excellent tensile strength and thermal insulation properties, but didn't know that the importation and use of asbestos materials in the UK was banned in 1999.
In all, CEA failed to win the confidence of the meeting. They had to agree to keep the school closed until damaged and otherwise dangerous asbestos had been removed.
David also used his visit to see the layout of the school areas above the contaminated boiler room and service duct. Heating pipes and wiring trays lead from the boiler room and mains electricity intake via the contaminated duct. He also examined the cavities and breaches referred to in the Euro lab report between the corridor and class room areas, and the contaminated duct. There was no evidence that any attempt had been made to seal these areas.
UNISON and NUT safety representatives were not consulted by CEA when the Winton School asbestos problem was uncovered. After its humiliation at Winton, CEA provided union representatives with copies of asbestos survey reports for another 10 Islington schools. Nine of the reports identified asbestos debris and exposed asbestos in basement areas and recommended emergency remedial works. Some of this work was done over the Easter holiday and it is unclear how much is left to do.
Support group in East London
A similar story is told by Gary McCarthy, site manager at Monteagle Primary School in Barking and Dagenham. Gary had to take the initiative to seal off the school boiler house after a contractor tipped him off to damaged asbestos lagging. The council officer responsible for managing asbestos claimed the site was safe, 'from the comfort of his chair in his office without the courtesy of visiting either the school or myself,' Gary commented. The support of the head teacher and the UNISON branch brought an apology and appropriate action.
If any council understands asbestos, it should be Barking and Dagenham, former site of the Cape asbestos factory and much of London's docklands. Since the 1920s its people have suffered an epidemic of asbestos-related diseases. It now has the highest rate of male mesothelioma outside the shipbuilding regions, at three times the normal rate, and the worst female rate anywhere, six times worse than normal, with corresponding lung cancer rates. And as elsewhere, asbestos-related deaths are increasing as the history of neglect comes home to roost.
Barking's history underlines why the management of asbestos in schools has to be taken far more seriously. Among its victims have been Fred Lodge, who grew up in a house by the Cape factory, never worked with asbestos, and died of mesothelioma at the age of only 39. Children's growing tissue may be more susceptible to cancer than that of adults.
Barking and Dagenham UNISON and the London Hazards Centre are working to set up a support group on asbestos-related disease in the borough. A first step is the launch of our joint campaign document, Rising from the Dust. As well as Gary's present-day story, Rising from the Dust looks at the massive pollution left by the area's industrial history, at the toxic materials used by industries still sited there, and at the possibilities for action by trade unionists and the community.
© London Hazards Centre 2004
London Hazards Centre, Hampstead Town Hall Centre, 213 Haverstock Hill, London NW3 4QP, UK
mail@lhc.org.uk
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