If you have asbestosis, did you work in the car industry?

People often wonder when they were exposed to asbestos at work. A diagnosis of asbestosis or pleural thickening is a sure sign that someone has worked hands-on with asbestos, but sometimes people are left puzzling about when this might have been. This is because there were a lot of products containing hidden asbestos. Worse still,…

Read More

Action Mesothelioma Day: Prevention is better than seeking a cure

Ahead of Action Mesothelioma Day on Friday, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is posing this question, ‘What can we do to help prevent lives being ruined by exposure to asbestos?’ In Britain, more than 2,500 people die from mesothelioma every year because of past exposure to asbestos. The deadly material has been…

Read More

Why asbestos is still threatening our health

In an article published today, Treven Pyles from US health and safety advisers EHS explains why asbestos is still ‘a considerable threat’ to our health. Why is there so much asbestos around? Although asbestos was first used by people in the Stone Age, its use became widespread around the time of the Second World War.…

Read More

A minute’s silence for the 100s of people who died across the West Midlands this year because of work related accidents and diseases

This afternoon people gathered on-line from charities and trades unions to remember the loss of 100s of lives across the West Midlands this year. The cause of death was work related accidents and diseases. These causes ranged from being crushed by cattle to covid-19 and microscopic asbestos fibres. The vast majority of those who died…

Read More

We are calling for Zero Asbestos!

“ZERO Asbestos” was the campaign message to take forward from the conference, Asbestos — Campaign Against All Fears. The joint conference was held on April 16 by Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team (DAST), Asbestos Support Central England (ASCE) and Yorkshire and Humberside Asbestos Support (SARAG), and delegates heard from a number of speakers about the key…

Read More

Asbestos Sheets Dumped on Country Roads

Staffordshire County Council has reported an increase in fly tipping on rural roads and lanes during the Easter Bank Holiday weekend. This has included sheets of asbestos, which is dangerous to passersby and expensive to remove. The cost is borne by the taxpayer. They are appealing to everyone not to use tradespeople to carry out…

Read More

The Silent Killer: Asbestos in People’s Homes

This week’s ‘Engineering & Technology’ magazine draws attention to a hidden killer, asbestos in the home. The article, by Ben Heubl, warns that DIY isn’t a harmless activity. When was asbestos used in British homes? Asbestos was first used in British homes in about 1870. It was particularly popular from the 1950s to the 1980s,…

Read More