Petition on asbestos in schools

I know that there will be a few who will criticize the compensation monies paid out, so we have to be ready to challenge them with the facts. The top one being ‘wrongful exposure to asbestos fibres because of the negligent act of the employers’. FULL STOP.

Asbestos claims hit £10m over English schools – BBC News

I hope you will hear coverage of asbesos in schools in the BBC. I have been working with them to understand the extent of the problem across England and Wales through submitting freedom of information requests.

We have found that

– in the last 5 years there have been 99 significant incidents of asbestos disturbed in schools. This is likely to be the tip of the iceberg. An NUT survey in 2015 found that 44% of teachers have not been told if their school contains asbestos so they wil not be in a condition to report an asbestos disturbance.

– in the last 10 years over 230 claims have been submitted to local authorites by teachers and school staff who have been affected by asbestos. Over £10 million already paid in compensation payments and there are still more than 100 claims unsettled. Each of these compensation payments represents another family devastated like mine by this horrible disease where people have died simply from breathing the air where they work.

– 519 teachers have died in the last 30 years from mesothelioma. All of these deaths are preventable as mesothelioma only comes from exposure to asbestos.

Whilst more coverage of this issue is essential that this leads to an actual change. Today more than 7 million children and teachers will be studying and working in schools that contain asbestos. This has to stop.

Please can you help me to build on this increased awareness and get more people to demand action. Can you take a moment and tell your friends and family about our petition on social media and in the playground?

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/protect-our-children-and-teachers-from-asbestos-exposure-in-schools