Hirers deny workers are 'forced' - LABOUR SUPPLIERS & CONTRACTOR REACTION

Agencies who hire labour to construction sites refute the suggestion that they pressurise operatives into working in unsafe conditions by the threat that they will be instantly replaced if they voice concerns about working with asbestos.

John Bothamly, md of labour hire agency, Men At Work, said: 'Everybody is freaking out about this asbestosis thing, often unreasonably. We have no problem as we've never had men reporting back in this way.

'We supply general construction workers and this problem just doesn't affect us. Asbestos removal is a job for specialists, though I have my doubts about the quality of some of them.

'The only problem is where asbestos is wrapped round pipes. There's nothing dangerous about the rest, such as the corrugated asbestos sheets used for roofing, unless you cut them with a powersaw. Asbestos is not the problem it is often made out to be.'

Phil Munnelly, md of Munnelly Construction Services, supplying 2,000 operatives a year, reveals that his workers hardly ever report running into an asbestos problem.

Munnelly said: 'If they did then we would back them up, we would involve the Health and Safety Executive and the main contractor. Our HSE policy has a grievance procedure that allows for this.

'But we've only had a few problems in the last 10 years because main contractors are well on top of the situation. They are aware of the problem.'

Ken Urquhart, safety chief at Clugston Construction, confirmed this. 'We give all our workers an induction course listing potential hazards,' he said.

'And whenever we go on site we check for hazards and if there is a bit of asbestos we have a controlled method statement to deal with it. Anything more and we would bring in the specialists.' Urquhart said that Clugston would not use asbestos in new construction. 'If it was specified we would advise the use of alternatives with no risk.'