Asbestos: It’s Still a Killer
For over thirty years, the General Municipal and Boilermakers’ Union (GMB) has been campaigning to reduce the incidence of disease and death caused by occupational exposure to asbestos. Having observed the rise in the levels of asbestos-related illness, the union participated in the national campaign and European debate to have asbestos banned. Throughout the 1990s, efforts have been made to raise public awareness of the dangers of asbestos through media campaigns, conferences, seminars and briefing sessions.
A meeting in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on November 21, 2001, launched the beginning of the union’s five year plan which will focus on:
encouraging the government to introduce a duty on building managers and employers to manage asbestos in buildings;
pressing for the establishment of a national asbestos register;
working with the Health and Safety Executive to increase preventative measures and ensure enforcement of all controls;
working with the European Commission to ensure worker protection, training and raise awareness of asbestos problems in all Member States;
participating in the international campaign to ban asbestos
encouraging the government to investigate the insurance industry with a view to ensuring fulfilment of all their asbestos liabilities.
A range of high quality literature, just published, confirms the GMB’s on-going commitment to these issues; information sheets and booklets describing landmarks in the campaign, current efforts and problems stemming from asbestos still within the British infrastructure are available. A particularly useful document is entitled: Asbestos in Buildings; it contains nearly twenty photographs of asbestos-containing board, cement, insulation, rope, flock and debris. Information on the GMB’s Asbestos: It’s Still a Killer campaign can be found on the web at: http://www.gmb.org.uk/docs/ViewADocument_search.asp?ID=363
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December 2, 2001
