Workers still exposed to asbestos despite warning

Many construction workers are still being forced to work unprotected with asbestos and are too scared of losing their jobs to complain about the conditions.

This shocking situation - revealed by a Contract Journal survey of workers on sites in London - comes in the week that cancer experts have released appalling new figures on the dangers of asbestos to construction workers.

Professor Julian Peto from the Institute of Cancer Research revealed last week that one in 40 building workers in their 50's exposed to asbestos may die of the asbestos cancer mesothelioma. He said: 'Roughly one in 100 of all British men now aged 50 will die of mesothelioma. Building workers - particularly plumbers, gas fitters, carpenters and electricians - will account for about a third of these deaths.'

And, worryingly, Peto said that builders were still at risk because of the amount of asbestos still in buildings and the danger to today's workers could not yet be quantified.

Campaigners are up in arms because asbestos is still used in building materials now because it is cheap - despite the dangers.

Peto's figures, published in The Lancet, back up the HSE's recent asbestos information campaign.

But CJ's site survey (see page 3) found that most workers knew nothing of the campaign, underestimated the death toll due to asbestos and - although realising there was a risk - continued to work in asbestos dust because otherwise they could lose their job.

Contractors and labour agencies have been quick to deny that anyone complaining about working conditions would be victimised and that they would be given full support.

But that message has not got through to the site workers.

One agency worker who did not want to be identified said: 'You've got to live with it [asbestos] to keep your job. If you complain, the agency gets someone else.'

Fitter Michael Doran said he was on a job where they were all working for a month before the asbestos was identified. 'The asbestos problem is totally out of control,' he said. 'It's so huge - it's everywhere.'

This message was repeated time and again. Chris Cleary and his colleague Ray Melvin had both worked on sites where the main contractor did not control the material. 'We came off the site but other trades worked on - they simply didn't know what they were dealing with.'

Safety campaigners are calling for a ban on the further use of the material - which is being used in new building work.

They also want guaranteed protection for workers who refuse to work in unsafe conditions. Ucatt said new rules that attempt to protect workers only offer cash compensation and not reinstatement.