HSE launch asbestos awareness campaign

Published on Fri 29 Feb 2008

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched its latest asbestos awareness campaign 'Asbestos: The Hidden Killer' laimed mainly at building and maintenance workers (plumbers, electricians, carpenters etc).

The campaign includes a series of radio adverts aimed at individual professions, a video that can be viewed on the HSE website and free-to-download information packs.

Commenting on HSE's ongoing asbestos awareness raising campaign, Judith Hackitt, chair of the HSC said,

"Every week, twenty tradesmen die simply because they have breathed in asbestos fibres during the course of their work. The problem today is that we associate it with a problem that's been and gone because asbestos is now banned. We regard asbestos as something a previous generation were exposed to.

"There is a real risk that the younger generation entering the workforce today will think this does not apply to them but it does. If they work on any building built or refurbished before the year 2000 it could well contain asbestos."