As many as 1 in 40 of all men now in their 50s who have been exposed to asbestos dust while working in the building trades may die of the cancer and become a typical mesothelioma patient. Roughly 1 in 100 of all British men now aged about 50 will die of mesothelioma. Building workers - particularly plumbers, gas fitters, carpenters and electricians - will account for about a third of all these deaths.
However, if building workers and various other high-risk groups are not included, the mesothelioma risk to the rest of the population is very much lower.
Asbestos use in this country peaked in the 1960s and 1970s before falling steeply. This was the period when men born between 1940 and 1950 were starting work. Many buildings, however, still contain asbestos materials, and substantial exposure may still be occurring in the building renovation and maintenance trades. Workers in these trades may therefore still be at risk.
As far as the more specialist asbestos removal workers are concerned - people such as laggers working for contractors licensed under the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983 - it is not yet known what the mesothelioma risk will be among this group. This is because the bulk of the work started too recently for asbestos-related diseases to have yet emerged.
The risk from asbestos is much less now than it was in the past, both because its use is now very strictly limited and the removal of asbestos insulation by licensed contractors is much better controlled. The main concern now is about workers who are casually exposed to asbestos dust and who - very often because of their youth or inexperience - are either not aware of, or tend to discount, the dangers.
This may particularly apply to the building renovation and maintenance trades, where the work is often on a small scale and carried out by self-employed workers. This, indeed, is why HSE has mounted the current nationwide publicity awareness campaign targeted at these workers. The campaign alerts them to the potential danger of coming into contact with asbestos dust without taking the necessary precautions.
Asbestos was extensively used in a wide variety of forms in building products during the 1950s, 60s and 70s because of its unique properties such as resistance to heat. Unfortunately, much of it is still in place.
The sad history of the commercial use of asbestos has been littered with statements underestimating the full extent of this substance’s potential to cause harm. People in the past were handicapped by an incomplete knowledge of the potency of asbestos as a carcinogen - but today we do not have this excuse.
Although HSE is confident that the asbestos legislation put in place over the past decade provides an adequate framework for preventing and controlling the risks posed by asbestos, there is no room for complacency. The effectiveness of current legislative controls depends upon everyone who works with asbestos being aware of its dangers and taking the necessary precautions to protect their long-term health.
Asbestos is responsible for more occupationally-related deaths than any other single cause. Mesothelioma is currently responsible for more than 1000 people dying each year in the UK. The great majority of these deaths are associated with exposure to asbestos.
The other major fatal disease linked to asbestos is lung cancer. The incidence of these deaths can only be estimated because they are indistinguishable from lung cancers resulting from other causes such as smoking. However, it is estimated that for every death due to mesothelioma, there is at least one from asbestos-related lung cancer.
Together with the other serious asbestos-related disease, asbestosis, it was estimated that asbestos was currently responsible for about 3,000 deaths annually. The number of mesothelioma deaths was expected to go on rising very probably until 2010, and possibly up to 2025. There could eventually be a peak of more than 5,000 asbestos-related deaths annually.