Not Waving but Drowning: UK vs EU Asbestos Policy 2023
As the European Union progresses efforts to protect citizens from toxic asbestos exposures as part of the “New Wave of EU Renovation,” the UK is going down for the third time with experts warning that as a result of Brexit, by the end of 2023 the country could be without asbestos safeguards for the first time since the 1930s.1
On April 26, 2023 the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament approved a legislative report on Protecting Workers from Asbestos – the full title being: Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2009/148/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work – by a vote of 40-0, with 7 abstentions.2 The text, which awaits confirmation from a plenary session of the European Parliament later this month (May 2023), introduces a raft of restrictions and regulations to lower workplace asbestos exposures as well as prevent secondary and passive exposures. Member States would be obliged to introduce medical surveillance of at-risk workers and ensure that steps were taken to safeguard workers including the use of state-of-the-art protective equipment and techniques.3
Welcoming the results of the vote, ETUC Deputy General Secretary Claes-Mikael Ståhl said:
“Exposure to asbestos is the number one cause of occupational cancer in Europe, claiming the lives of more than 90,000 people a year, so there is no place for half measures. MEPs have made the only responsible choice in following the science and voting for the 1,000 fibres m³ exposure limit recommended by the International Commission of Occupational Health. On the eve of the International Workers’ Memorial Day, I call on Member States and the Commission to put the protection of people’s lives ahead of the protection of company’s profits and support the safer exposure limit, which is 10 times lower than the one contained in their proposals. EU policymakers have a particular responsibility to provide the safest possible conditions for workers at a time when the EU’s Renovation Wave policy will substantially increase the risk of exposure to asbestos.”4
Meanwhile back in London serious concerns were being raised over the likelihood that UK asbestos protections would be decimated as part of the post-Brexit bonfire of EU legislation. The deadline for the eradication of thousands of EU laws not specifically exempted is the end of 2023: “No one knows the exact total, nor what or who might fall into the legal sinkholes that would open when some of these statutes vanish.”5
In a Parliamentary debate on Asbestos in the Workplace (April 19, 2023), MP Sir Stephen Timms, Chair of a parliamentary committee which in April 2022 recommended the removal of asbestos from UK buildings, grilled the Minister about the scrapping of asbestos regulations. The response he got from Mims Davies, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression, was underwhelming:
“… we are looking at exactly that at the moment. The rules and regulations are for the HSE [Health and Safety Executive]. It has the experts and it needs to do what it sees fit…. As soon as I have more to share, I will do so. We are clear that the HSE is committed to its regulatory role and to supporting wider Government priorities.”
The HSE is, unfortunately, part of the problem not the solution. After years of Tory cuts, critics argue the HSE is no longer fit for purpose.6 By sticking robustly to its mantra of “asbestos management” rather than eradication, the HSE has ensured that the UK’s deadly asbestos epidemic will persist for generations to come.7
According to The Review of UK Asbestos Management – the first annual data analysis report into asbestos in UK buildings:
- of 128,761 buildings inspected, 100,660 (78%) were found to contain asbestos;
- within the contaminated buildings 710,433 items of asbestos were found, of which 507,612 (71%) had some level of damage;
- “there is currently a high proportion of asbestos materials in UK buildings that could present a potential risk to public health, and which need remediation or removal…overall asbestos management in these premises is failing.” 8
 Parliament is one of tens of thousands of UK buildings contaminated with asbestos. |
Asbestos victims’ groups, trade unionists, Parliamentarians and campaigners have taken steps to highlight the repercussions of the HSE’s head-in-the-sand policy in light of the country’s aging built environment.9 In a press release issued by The Trades Union Congress (TUC) on International Workers Memorial Day (April 28, 2023), the TUC rejected Government reassurances saying:
“We know that if asbestos is in a building, it will eventually become disturbed. There can be few cupboards, boilers, panels and pipes that have had no work done on them since the 1970s, when asbestos use was at its peak. There is therefore considerable doubt that most of the asbestos that is to be found in buildings is going to lie undisturbed for the next 40 years (a timeframe for removal the UK government recently rejected). The only safe, sustainable way forward is to set out a place for phased removal of asbestos, to protect workers now and in future generations. What’s more, we need to upgrade many buildings anyway, especially if we are serious about improving insulation, ventilation and meeting net zero targets…
As well as providing adequate support, and research, for those affected, the only real way to prevent asbestos-related illness in the long term is to remove the substance once and for all.
Only by removing asbestos from all public buildings can we avoid future risk of exposure and stop the thousands of early – and entirely preventable – deaths from this dreadful, fatal illness.”10
The results of a survey published last week confirmed the TUC’s warnings.11 According to researchers, 60% of UK tradespeople are exposed to asbestos every year; 35% every month; 25% every week and 8% every day.
Evidence documenting the human health consequences of the contamination of the country’s infrastructure continues to be unearthed by investigative reporters, asbestos cancer charities, trade unions, law firms and campaigners. The documents cited below, all of which were released last month (April, 2023), detailed the grim reality of people living with and dying from asbestos-related diseases as well as the circumstances which caused these tragedies:
- Asbestos in Public Building. April 2023.12
- ‘The tragic cost of under-investment:’ asbestos blamed for 150 deaths of school and hospital workers in England. April 16, 2023.13
- As Safe as Houses? Still dealing with asbestos in social housing. April 17, 2023.14
- The UK’s Grim and Enduring Asbestos Legacy. April 17, 2023.15
- Asbestos responsible for 53 deaths of hospital workers throughout England. April 19, 2023.16
- Asbestos: the forgotten killer taking 5,000 lives a year. April 23, 2023.17
- MPs call time on asbestos as the deadly substance kills 5,000 people every year. April 23, 2023.18
- Asbestos is the biggest cause of work-related deaths in Britain. April 28, 2023.19
It is utterly deplorable that more than a century after alarm bells began ringing about the asbestos hazard, people are still dying from diseases which are totally avoidable. The blame for this rests squarely on callous politicians, impotent regulators and penny-pinching employers. God help us all when EU asbestos protections are gone.
May 2, 2023
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1 Hansard. Asbestos in Workplaces. April 19, 2023.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-04-19/debates/35AD7922-57BB-4501-835C-F7864128E12E/AsbestosInWorkplaces
IWMD: Asbestos victims urge EU to stop workplace cancer scandal. April 28, 2023.
https://etuc.org/en/pressrelease/iwmd-asbestos-victims-urge-eu-stop-workplace-cancer-scandal
2 Protection of workers from asbestos.
https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?reference=2022/0298(COD)&l=en
Asbestos at work: boost detection, protection and prevention for EU workers. April 26, 2023.
https://www.europeaninterest.eu/article/asbestos-at-work-boost-detection-protection-and-prevention-for-eu-workers/
3 EPP: End dark legacy of workers’ exposure to asbestos. April 26, 2023.
https://www.europeaninterest.eu/article/epp-end-dark-legacy-of-workers-exposure-to-asbestos/
4 MEPs protect workers from asbestos - now the Commission must do the same. April 26, 2023.
https://www.etuc.org/en/pressrelease/meps-protect-workers-asbestos-now-commission-must-do-same#:~:text=ETUC%20Deputy%20General%20Secretary%20Claes,no%20place%20for%20half%20measures
5 Behr, R. The Brexiters are getting their bonfire of EU law – and democracy will lie in the ashes.
January 18, 2023.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/18/brexit-eu-law-democracy-rishi-sunak
See also: Stein, J. Asbestos regs set to vanish in EU law cull, MPs warn. April 21, 2023.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/health-and-safety/asbestos-regs-set-to-vanish-in-eu-law-cull-mps-warn-21-04-2023/
6 Allegretti, A. Workplace accidents increasingly ignored by UK safety regulator. April 27, 2023.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/apr/27/workplace-accidents-increasingly-ignored-by-uk-safety-regulator-hse-health-and-safety-executive
7 The conclusion of Parliament’s Work and Pensions Committee’s report on the Health and Safety Executive’s approach to asbestos management (2022) was less than flattering: “HSE has been slow to invest in research to understand better the costs and benefits of more wholesale removal of asbestos and options for its safer removal. This is becoming a more urgent task. The likely dramatic increase in retrofitting of buildings in response to net zero ambitions means that more asbestos-containing material will be disturbed in the coming decades, thus changing the cost-benefit analysis. Simple reliance on a set of regulations which devolve asbestos management to individual dutyholdersthe building owners or managers responsible for maintenancewill not be good enough. We need a pan-government and ‘system-wide’ strategy for the long-term removal of asbestos, founded on strong evidence of what is best from a scientific, epidemiological, and behavioural point of view.”
Work and Pensions Committee. The Health and Safety Executive’s approach to asbestos management – Report Summary. April 21, 2022.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmworpen/560/summary.html
Also see: Kazan-Allen, L. Parliament Call for Asbestos Eradication Program. May 3, 2022.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-parliament-call-for-asbestos-eradication-program.php
Boggan, S. Asbestos: the forgotten killer taking 5,000 lives a year. April 23, 2023.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/asbestos-the-forgotten-killer-taking-5000-lives-a-year-6srsrp6pq
8 Asbestos Testing & Consultancy and National Organisation of Asbestos Consultants. The Review of UK Asbestos Management (2022) – the first annual data analysis report into asbestos in UK buildings. November 2022.
https://issuu.com/stevesadley/docs/atac_asbestos_report_nov2022?fr=sMDVkZTIwNzQwNjQ
9 Boggan, S. Asbestos: the forgotten killer taking 5,000 lives a year. April 23, 2023.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/asbestos-the-forgotten-killer-taking-5000-lives-a-year-6srsrp6pq
10 Trades Union Congress. Asbestos is the biggest cause of work-related deaths in Britain. April 28, 2023.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/asbestos-biggest-cause-work-related-deaths-britain-iwmd
11 Asbestos is still a ‘very real problem’ in the UK workplace. April 27, 2023.
https://www.shponline.co.uk/occupational-health/asbestos-is-still-a-very-real-problem-in-the-uk-workplace/
12 Irwin Mitchell Law Firm. Special Reort on Asbestos in Public Buildings (direct PDF download). April 2023.
https://www.irwinmitchell.com/medialibrary/IrwinMitchellcom%20-%20NEW/documents%20and%20pdfs%20-%20NEW/News%20and%20Insights/2023/irwin-mitchell---asbestos-in-public-buildings-report---april-2023.pdf
13 Savage, M. ‘The tragic cost of under-investment’: asbestos blamed for 150 deaths of school and hospital workers in England. April 16, 2023.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/16/150-deaths-school-hospital-workers-blamed-on-asbestos
14 As Safe as Houses? Still dealing with asbestos in social housing. April 17, 2023.
https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/as-safe-as-houses-still-dealing-with-asbestos-in-social-housing/
15 Kazan-Allen, L. The UK’s Grim and Enduring Asbestos Legacy. April 17, 2023.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-the-uk-s-grim-and-enduring-asbestos-legacy.php
16 Asbestos responsible for 53 deaths of hospital workers throughout England. April 19, 2023.
https://practicebusiness.co.uk/asbestos-responsible-for-53-deaths-of-hospital-workers-throughout-england
17 Boggan, S. Asbestos: the forgotten killer taking 5,000 lives a year. April 23, 2023.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/asbestos-the-forgotten-killer-taking-5000-lives-a-year-6srsrp6pq
18 Aurora, M. MPs call time on asbestos as the deadly substance still kills 5,000 people every year. April 23, 2023.
https://news.sky.com/story/mps-call-time-on-asbestos-as-the-deadly-substance-still-kills-5-000-people-every-year-12863968
19 Trades Union Congress. Asbestos is the biggest cause of work-related deaths in Britain. April 28, 2023.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/asbestos-biggest-cause-work-related-deaths-britain-iwmd
