We need to get asbestos out of schools
As long as asbestos remains in school buildings children and staff are at risk of entirely preventable illnesses.
The first national conference addressing the issue of how to protect children and staff from the dangers of asbestos in schools and colleges was held at the Hillscourt Conference Centre, Rednal, near Birmingham, on 4 July.
The conference was organised by the Joint Union Asbestos Committee (JUAC), a non-party political campaign which aims to protect children and staff in schools by promoting awareness of the dangers of asbestos and the need for improved management.
The continuing presence of asbestos in our schools is a scandal, as is the shocking lack of consistency in the way in which it is managed across the country.
Around 86 per cent of schools contain asbestos and deaths from mesothelioma are increasing.
In 2014, 17 teachers aged 74 and under died of mesothelioma. The total number of support staff deaths is not known.
Of even greater concern, particularly to parents, is that children are at an increased risk of developing mesothelioma in later life, because of exposure to asbestos at their school.
It is estimated that 200-300 former pupils are dying each year as adults because of exposure at their schools in the 1960s and 1970s.
This number is likely to increase considerably because many of the system buildings, such as CLASP, the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme, schools with the most asbestos, are deteriorating and inadequate funding and support is available for necessary maintenance, renovation and demolition.
Freedom of Information (FOI) data obtained from local authorities indicates that at the current rate of funding it will take another 50 years for potentially dangerous CLASP schools to be demolished.
Only 25 per cent received funding for repair, maintenance and demolition between 2010 and 2017.
This FOI CLASP School data is available on line here, and a summary of the preliminary findings is available here.
Recent Freedom of Information requests to all local authorities in England and Wales have revealed that over £10 million has been paid in compensation to former school staff and pupils as a result of asbestos exposure.
The FOI requests, available online here, also reveal a shocking disparity in how asbestos in schools is being managed, with some local authorities saying they do not hold this information, despite being the legal duty holder.
JUAC is currently repeating this FOI exercise with Multi-Academy Trusts, in order to establish a national picture of which schools contain asbestos, something the Department for Education (DfE) has so far failed to do.
JUAC’s contention is that the policy of managing asbestos in schools is simply not working and is putting children and staff at risk.
JUAC has called upon the governments in England, Scotland and Wales to:
undertake a national audit of asbestos in schools;
set out a long term strategy for the removal of asbestos from all schools; and
ensure that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has the funding it needs to routinely inspect schools.
And JUAC is calling on all political parties to confirm their commitment to protecting our children and school staff from this hidden killer.
The 2017 Labour Party Manifesto included a commitment to remove asbestos from all schools, the first time any political party has made this pledge.
Labour MP Rachel Reeves, who chairs the Asbestos in Schools Group, addressed the conference, and there were speakers representing the trade unions, the DfE and HSE, alongside medical and other experts in the field.
Delegates left with a better understanding of the hidden dangers that asbestos poses to pupils and school staff, and what needs to be done to keep them safe.
Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “It is shameful that the government continues to ignore the simple fact that as long as asbestos remains in school buildings children and staff are at risk of entirely preventable illnesses.”
And Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT – the teacher’s union – said: “The NASUWT has long campaigned for the phased removal of asbestos from schools, and the fact that over 70 per cent of schools still contain this lethal substance is unacceptable.
“Asbestos is a silent killer and its continued presence in schools means that hundreds of thousands of teachers, support staff and our children and young people are at risk of being exposed every single day.”
UNISON’s general secretary Dave Prentis said: “Cuts to budgets have made managing asbestos in schools a great deal more difficult.
“And forcing schools to become academies has made it harder to know where the responsibility for this deadly hazard really lies.
“This is putting the health of pupils, support staff and teaching assistants, at risk.
“The only way of eliminating the damage done by asbestos is its phased removal from all schools and public buildings.”
For more information about asbestos in schools, click here.
To sign Lucie Stephens’ petition calling for our children and teachers to be protected from asbestos exposure in schools, click here.