Calls for asbestos to be removed from all schools

Iain Macdonald
Member - 1 post

Further to Dr D Harris Deans comments, i believe that a significant amount of the asbestos used in the third world originates from Canada, where chrysotile (white asbestos) asbestos is still mined and exported in huge quantities. Canada is supposedly a developed and responsible nation?
Iain Macdonald CoCA

Timmy Onabajo
Member - 1 post

Dear All,
I feel Regulation 4 of the CAWR has already define the landlords responsibilties to managing asbestos in premises including workplace and schools. And the onus is on the resposIbile person in the school to ensure surveys are carried out (Type 2 minimum) in their premises to acertain location and condition of all identified Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM's), carryout a risk assessement of the ACM's and devise strategies to management the asbestos if found to be in good condition.
I do not think HSE expect each landlords to retrospectively remove asbestos in the building where it is found to pose no risk to the Health and Safety of the pupiles, teachers and staff in the school.

Graham McIntyre
Member - 1 post

I work for a school in West Sussex, we have a register which is available to all and held in our reception. We are expected to pay for any asbestos removal ourselves with no assistance from the Government or Local Authority. This means usings funds that should be used for our childrens education.

Kevin Brown
Member - 73 posts

This is alarmist, misleading and ultimately unrealistic. (All asbestos to be removed by 2010? I see an invitation to write a few blank cheques).
It is far riskier to remove ACMs in otherwise good condition than to seal them and leave them undisturbed, and much more prudent to identify it clearly and manage the risk properly. In the arsenal of risk assessment there are always times when it's more appropriate to manage the risk.
As a secondary school governor (and one who sits on the Finance and Building Committee) I can confirm that funds are set aside in schools' budgets for building maintenance. To assume 100% of schools' funding is solely for childrens' education is to oversimplify the situation. "Were getting no heLp from the Government or LEA". It rather begs the question of where the funding comes from in the first place.
It's up to schools to use their funds wisely and I'd suggest that the first step is for Headteachers and governing bodies to make sure that the appropriate asbestos surveys are in place. If teachers are concerned about sticking drawing pins in walls then they shouldn't. If anyone sticks pins in walls in the building I manage they get a piece of my mind and instructions on how to use noticeboards.
As far as the HSE statistics are concerned how exactly do they compare with the total number of people employed in the profession betwen 1980 to 2000? How is that expressed as a ratio and how does it stack up against other types of employment? Are people employed in education significantly more at risk than others? How many teachers leave education every year to take up trawling, mining or other 1low risk' employment?
Statistics should never be used in isolation, to state that 1 in every 3 drivers killed or injured in road accidents has been drinking could be interpreted as meaning that proportionately they must be twice as safe as the sober ones. We don't want to go there do we?

Steve Ballantyne
Member - 3 posts

Graham - your school budget should not ony have funds earmarked for maintenance and repairs as part of prudent budget setting under Local Management of Schools (LMS) but it also has a ringfenced grant for capital works (devolved formula capital - although this can now be used for IT purchases as well)