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Around 20 building trades workers a week die from asbestosis and related diseases each week, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which is renewing its campaign about the industrial disease.
Each year, of the 4,000 or so who die from the mesothelioma cancer, around a quarter are tradesmen such as electricians, plumbers and joiners, and the numbers are increasing.
In a warning to self-employed people, employers and employees, the HSE says the figure for fatalities in 2007 increased by 5% and that the dangers cannot be consigned to history as many people think.
Asbestos may be present in any building built or refurbished before 2000 and it is estimated around 500,000 workplace premises could contain asbestos fibres. Workers could put themselves at risk of fatally breathing in the microscopic fibres if workers cut into panels containing it without taking precautions.
The November 2009 HES asbestosis campaign, Hidden Killer, is backed by the TUC, trade unions, trade associations, training organisations, charities and victim support groups, which all have an interest in reducing the number of asbestosis cases and winning personal injury compensation claims for its victims.
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