HSE warns Norwich businesses of asbestos health risk

Posted 26/11/2009

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has called on builders in Norwich to ensure they have taken precautions against the ongoing health hazard posed by .

HSE will be visiting City College Norwich this month to remind tradesmen that the industrial disease risk caused by the deadly fibre remains a prevalent and contemporary issue.

The authority reminded those working in the sector that any building constructed or refurbished before 2000 could contain the substance, as well as highlighting the fact that 20 tradesmen die each week from an -related condition.

Paul Carter, HSE’s Norwich-based expert, stated that precautions need to be taken by builders to ensure they are not inadvertently breathing in dangerous fibres while working.

He said: “The tradesmen of today and tomorrow cannot afford to be complacent because is still present in hundreds of thousands of buildings.”

According to figures from HSE, more than 35,000 people died from the -related cancer mesothelioma between 1977 and 2007.