Asbestos and your workplace

This year marks the 20th Annual Global Asbestos Awareness Week which runs from April 1-7, 2024. The event is aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure and promoting prevention efforts worldwide.

You might wonder why I am writing a blog about this as an RCN Health and Safety Representative and UK Health and Safety Reps Committee (UKHSRC) member. We work in healthcare and traditionally the risks from asbestos have been associated with construction workers, shipbuilding and automotive manufacturing.

As you are probably aware, asbestos is a known carcinogen. Inhaling small amounts of fibres can cause inflammation, scarring of the lungs and cancers, such as mesothelioma. Asbestos was considered a wonder material and was widely used in the construction and infrastructure of UK buildings especially between 1950s and 1980s, until a total ban on the use and import of all asbestos was introduced in 1999.

Unfortunately, this means that asbestos is still present in many homes, hospitals, schools and workplaces and can pose a significant health risk if it is in poor condition or is damaged – asbestos is certainly not a risk of the past.

A survey carried out by the Labour Research Department (LRD) for the TUC found at least 451 premises with asbestos in London during the first half of 2022. Buildings include hospitals, health centres, blood donor clinics and GP surgeries.

Combined with the significant backlog in maintenance across the NHS estate, condition of health and social care buildings and issues with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete there is concern that nursing staff may be exposed to asbestos. This concern is echoed in the media and you may have seen the articles published recently by the RCN and Nursing Standard ‘Asbestos: Tackling the toxic legacy’ and 'Asbestos risk for NHS staff: why this is not a danger of the past'.

The RCN ‘s UKHSRC are dedicated to raising awareness of the risks associated with asbestos and this is embedded into the workplan for 2024/25.

If you are attending Congress 2024, make sure not to miss the John Goodlad lecture focused on asbestos and whether it is a thing of the past. The lecture is being delivered by Liz Darlison MBE, a nurse herself and Chief Executive of Mesothelioma UK, a national charity for mesothelioma.

The RCN has also developed an asbestos position statement and is working to lobby the government to mandate and fund the phased removal of asbestos from buildings and increase visibility by developing a publicly available digital central register of asbestos to enable workers to access real time information on where asbestos is located. You can find out more about the risks of asbestos by visiting the member advice guide. The advice guide provides more information about asbestos and on what you should do if you have any concerns about your workplace. 

RCN Representatives can also read the briefing on asbestos in the Health and Safety A-Z on the Reps Hub. The briefing contains a toolkit to support you in asking your employer to find out how they manage asbestos and inform employees about the location and presence of asbestos in their workplace. A webinar for RCN Reps on asbestos, to provide more information and offer support in moving this issue forward in your workplace is currently being developed and details will be circulated shortly by the RCN Health, Safety and Wellbeing team.

As an RCN Health and Safety Representative, I have used the asbestos briefing to start work on raising awareness in my workplace about the risks of asbestos and I am working collaboratively with my organisation’s health and safety committee to ask further questions and check how my employer is complying with asbestos legislation. This is something I would urge all Reps to do. Together we have a voice, and we can influence change to help keep nurses safe and healthy.