HSE nears total asbestos ban

by Michael Gordon



The Health and Safety Executive published the long-awaited consultation document towards an outright ban on white asbestos last week.

Days before, the EU Scientific Committee on Toxicity, Ecotoxicity, and the Environment announced that the substitutes are indeed safer than white asbestos (chrysotile), following three months' examination of the safety of asbestos substitutes.

The consultation paper sets out regulatory proposals to restrict further the importation, supply and use of chrysotile, with a three-month period of industry consultation. It proposes prohibiting all importation, supply, new and second-hand use in the workplace of all chrysotile-containing products, apart from a few essential uses where adequate substitute materials have not yet been developed.

The new regulations will mean that any contractor caught using chrysotile asbestos could face financial penalties and jail sentences. The new safety minister Alan Meale has expressed serious concern that prison sentences and fines handed out by the courts for asbestos offences are too light.

Industry sources say Meale is passionately in favour of an asbestos ban. In an interview with CJ (see pages 14-15) Meale indicated that he wanted tough sentences to be applied if the Medley brothers are convicted next year for employing school children to remove brown asbestos. The Medley brothers pleaded not guilty at an interim hearing, and are set to reappear before Leeds Crown Court on 12 April 1999 to face charges.

Meale said: "I'm really concerned with it because the seriousness is that children may not show signs of asbestosis - if they do at all - for another 40 years. I just find it unbelievable that anybody could do such a thing."