Asbestos in 75% of schools. Teacher killed from pinning up art work.

[IamFatherChristmasNOTsanta]

I listened to Jeremy Vine today please listen if you can. It was talk in based around this lady, the only link with info I could see was Daily Mail.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2514958/Caring-teacher-died-exposed-asbestos-hanging-pupils-work-contaminated-classroom-walls-25-years.html?ico=home^headlines


Its in 75% of schools, the issues are where doesnt have it than where has got it.

It can be distrubed in all sorts of ways, this lady sadly passed away from pinning art work into walls.

All it takes is one fibre to settle in the lungs were it lays latent for decades.

What I found most disturbing was one man called in, and said he helped his GF staple art work into the wall until he saw a tiny, postage stamp warning saying, "don't disturb the walls, asbestos". I was aghast at that. As he said how many other un witting teachers in the 75 5 of schools that have this are pinning art work or whatever into the walls and releasing this killer material?

I really want to raise awareness about it. I am in

[Jenny70]

Our school is in a big asbestos hoo-ha due to building works at present... and my rapid learning curve about the issue is that

• your LEA is legally obliged to have a site specific asbestos management plan (involving informing people of it, inspecting it and acting if it is damaged). Many LEA's don't have this and have one plan for all schools (if that), which is useless in helping people in your school avoid asbestos.

• asbestos removal works can take place (by licensed professionals) in your school, with children still on site, without informing parents.

• there are no legal guidelines that separate asbestos exposure to children than anyone else, so asbestos in schools gets no further consideration than a vacant property.

• the LEA is all about butt covering, not common sense or moral duty - if they check the box they are satisfied....

[mrz]

My classroom had ducted air heaters lined with asbestos (apparently removed in the summer although saw no evidence of the type od precautions you would expect) ... so switching on the heating blew out ....

[rabbitstew]

Why just worry about schools? It's just as likely to be in your own home if it was built before the year 2000, and I'll bet you've put shelves and curtain rails up in there. And you wouldn't want to visit a hospital ever again, either, if you were that worried. Or get anywhere near a plumber, or electrician. Asbestos is all over the place. So of course the LEA is all about butt covering. What do you really expect them to do about asbestos in the walls of a school? Tell the school never, ever to put displays up? How easy and cheap do you think it is to remove asbestos from a wall?

[ouchthathurt]

Strange attitude rabbitstew are you of the mindset that we'll all die of something so don't worry about anything at all?

It freaks me out to be honest. My school has stuff on the walls (noticed them for the first time at parent's evening the other day) which is basically an assessment of the asbestos content. Apparently there are asbestos elements in the ceiling. Don't know what they do with this information but was a bit when I saw a ceiling tile missing immediately outside my child's classroom.

[rabbitstew]

A ceiling tile missing isn't a problem - someone drilling into a ceiling tile is a problem. Basically, I'm saying you could probably have an awful lot of asbestos assessment stickers up in your own home, too. You still have to live in it.

[randomquicknamechange]

All schools that contain asbestos should have signs up saying where and how much there is. There are clear rules about where drilling/stapling/pinning is not allowed. Any work on the asbestos is done by licensed contractors in the holidays.
It is one of those frightening things that we can do nothing about as most of us have probably already been exposed, whether at school,hospitals or in our own homes - I am sure many of you have put up light fittings in artexed ceilings.
Due to more awareness our children are far safer than we were at at school.
And yes I do know someone who has died from mesothelioma, my uncle who was an electrician in the 1960s and 70s. At this point the risk isn't one I can change.

[ILoveRacnoss]

I've yet to work in any school where items are pinned or stapled directly to the walls. The Site Manager would kill me before any asbestos would.

We have display boards that we're allowed to use staples on and everything else is blu-tacked.

[wonkylegs]

As somebody who works in construction and is more likely to get exposure than any of the examples cited I think this as slightly hysterical scaremongering.
Asbestos is serious stuff in certain circumstances but it also is endemic in our building stock and we can with awareness, live and work safely with it.
The worst buildings I've found tend to be old NHS buildings - health clinics from the 60's are riddled with it, so are our houses.

The vast majority of asbestos related deaths are related to heavy exposure through construction or industry.

The death statistics being reported with regards to teachers don't seem to marry with the official statistics on Asbestos from the HSE.

If you work in construction there is a big push to educate on identifying and making safe asbestos. There are very strict rules for working with it and these are generally mostly flouted by householders in their own homes through ignorance or through not wanting to pay out to do it safely not in public buildings.

[mrz]

"Tell the school never, ever to put displays up?" actually rabbitstew that is exactly what they do ... someone comes out once a year to check it isn't crumbling and they advice not to stick nails.staples or pins into it.

[mrz]

According to the HSE F "What it does show is that there has been a considerable level of asbestos exposure among female school teachers. The number of deaths is almost three times higher than one should expect in an occupation where the asbestos fibre levels should be no more than that of normal background levels .^

"Among 900 female occupations, primary and secondary school teachers have the sixth highest number of deaths from mesothelioma The HSE statistics giving occupational mesothelioma deaths lists 900 female Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) occupations."

[Alanna1]

My understanding (general knowledge only!) is loads of buildings have asbestos. Not all asbestos is as dangerous as all types. If it's undisturbed - lagging around wiring etc behind plaster board etc - then on balance the fire reduction risk is OK against the health hazards of removing it and the tiny tiny risk of inhalation.

Certain types are more easily inhaled. People who worked in installing it etc at particular risk.

[rabbitstew]

Look at the statistics for nurses dying from asbestos exposure and I think you'll find that's higher than expected from "normal background levels," too. And nurses don't normally stick art work on walls.

Current deaths in general relate to asbestos exposure people could have had at any time in the last several decades, far more likely in previous decades than now. People dying now cannot tell you anything about how safe schools are now you are no longer supposed to stick staples directly onto crumbling walls, rather than display boards... they just tell you we have tonnes of asbestos in an awful lot of buildings and public areas and we literally played about with the stuff for years without realising its dangers - workers even used to throw it at each other for fun. Kids used it every time they went into the chemistry lab at school. Problems with asbestosis nearly brought down Lloyds of London, because NOBODY understood how dangerous it was until it had been used in all sorts of things. Now we are stuck with so much of the stuff, it would cripple the economy to try and get rid of all of it. I don't see why teachers now this minute would really be in any more danger than the kids that they teach, tbh.

[rabbitstew]

And, as pointed out, most asbestos is safer left alone than fiddled with. I think most schools are generally safer than smoking 20 cigarettes a day...

[LackaDAISYcal]

afaik from my previous construction industry experience is that the white asbestos used generally in the building industry, in artex, plaster, boarding etc, is less dangerous than blue asbestos and that the risk of it developing into cancer is on a scale; ie the more exposure, the greater the risk.

Also afaik, blue asbestos does get removed when it is doscovered and the measures used for its removal are pretty thorough; workers in haz-zuits with breathing apparutus, totally sealing off the area that is being dealt with and full on extensive risk assessments. I doubt a school would be allowed to have children on site with a full scale asbestos removal going on, having dealt with such works at a college/university level.

I really do think this is more DM scaremongering tbh; the risk to our children in school is probably the same as it is in the general environment.

[mrz]

Also from the HSE

Comparison of female teachers and nurses

"It is useful to make a comparison between female occupations as they are less likely than males to have been involved in any former high risk occupations, and they are also less likely to have carried out DIY. Therefore a comparison of the PMRs from another female occupation can be used to determine whether teachers have been disproportionately exposed to asbestos.
Female teachers can be compared with female nurses as both are professions in which a similarly large numbers of females are employed. In addition one would imagine that the risk from asbestos exposure in both professions should be minimal. However the statistics show that since 1980 the PMR for female primary and secondary school teachers dying from mesothelioma has been 100 and nurses 50 . The teachers’ PMR is twice that of nurses. As there is a direct correlation between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma one must conclude that the asbestos exposure amongst teachers has been about twice that of nurses. It can therefore be concluded that compared to a similar profession, a disproportionate number of female school teachers have died from mesothelioma."

[wonkylegs]

Mrz can you link to the HSE stats your quoting?
Looking at the HSE Mesothelioma Occupation Statistics document 1980-2011 Male & Female deaths - they state that there are problems with the female PMRs due to the low number of female deaths (the majority of teachers being female) which skews the statistics and the errors in coding due to the way occupations are recorded on death certificates.
Teaching doesn't feature on the table of high risk occupations for females. The PMR is dropping for teaching from it's peak in the late 80's.
Office workers have a higher PMR and one of the saddest and most prevalent cause of asbestos exposure related deaths in women is still exposure to their husbands.
This study even states there is no increased risk in schools.

[mrz]

It's from this site but I've closed the page and can't find it again www.asbestosexposureschools.co.uk I'll link to actual page ASAP

[wonkylegs]

Mrz - I would be careful in taking a site that campaigns only on this specific issue as gospel. It is a little biased on it's evidence base and some of it's statements have a hint of conspiracy theory which is a shame as it does have some valid points, but they have cherry picked their evidence to fit their argument and that alone.
If you look at teaching within the wider occupational research the stats quoted start to look a whole lot less alarming.

[rabbitstew]

From the HSE: "Occupational analyses of female mesothelioma deaths are more difficult to interpret because a lower proportion is caused directly by occupational exposures. Occupations are recorded on death certificates as a matter of course, and so inevitably there are various occupations that are recorded in appreciable numbers on female mesothelioma death certificates. However, these occupations are recorded with the frequency expected if in fact there was no difference in risk between occupational groups. This suggests that where exposure to asbestos did occur at work – for example, due to unwitting exposure caused by others working with asbestos in the vicinity – it was no more likely in any particular occupational group.
The recent epidemiological study supports this view. It suggests that only a minority (around a third) of mesotheliomas in women are a result of either occupational or domestic exposures. This, together with the fact that deaths among women have also increased over the last 4 decades, implies that there has been an increase in the average background mesothelioma risk among both older women (and men) due to exposures that are not readily identifiable. Such exposures could have taken place in a wide variety of settings during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s when asbestos was being widely used within the building industry."

Also: "Among teachers, for example, 7 of the 11 male mesotheliomas and 7 of the 18 female cases had also worked in higher risk jobs."

You wouldn't want to be a male carpenter born in the 1940s who worked for 10 years or more - your risk of getting mesothelioma is, according to the HSE, 1 in 17, with an even higher risk if you include all asbestos-related lung cancers.

[rabbitstew]

In fact, the poor old 1940s born carpenters have a 1 in 10 chance of some kind of asbestos-related lung cancer.

[lalouche]

Gosh rabbitstew that's a shocking statistic. My dad was a foundry worker (yes, born in the 40s) and used to come home doused in the stuff. I worry especially about him now, but also about my mum, me and my sibling. There was so much asbestos around and so much potential for very extensive exposure, especially until the 70s or 80s. I too suspect that pinning artwork on walls is quite low down on the list of likely reasons for developing mesothelioma.

[mrz]

Yes wonkylegs just as it would be foolish to dismiss concerns so casually and I speak as the daughter of someone who died from workplace exposure to asbestos and was told for decades it was safe

[mrz]

For the record I don't find the stats alarming but neither would I dismiss them wonkylegs

[IamFatherChristmasNOTsanta]

I was most surprised by the caller whose partner was staple gunning stuff to a wall and he happened to notice a teeny sign saying, this wall has A or something.

Surely, just as a bottom line measure all schools should have an A risk done, as per Jenny70 AND, where there is the stuff, all new staff should be made very aware of the areas where it is, not to pin stuff in and also, what A does to you.

I appreciate you cannot combate it, I have probably been exposed at home, I am sure I remember playing with old lagging and some sort of insulation board.

However, we do know about it now, and our children if in schools where it is, do not need to be needlessly exposed, nor the teachers just because its not being flagged up properly.

Proper signs where it is, quick maintenance where repairs are shoddy....in the radio interview it was said as 60's built schools fall into repair and they cant afford to repair quickly risks rise...

so many people have lost someone to it, sorry for your loss Mrz