The council is the latest local government authority to approve plans to carry out a detailed asbestos survey, ahead of new regulations from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), which are due to come into force in the spring of 2002.
The council's five-year programme will begin with an investigation in 209 schools and libraries in the Scarborough area, which will be completed over the summer holidays. The council will also survey a number of council offices and social services buildings before the end of next month.
Similar to investigations underway at other local authorities, including Greenwich, Gloucestershire, Newport and Warwickshire, North Yorkshire's project is intended to give property managers detailed information about any asbestos present in their buildings.
All the information collected will be inputted onto a database, known as the Central Asset Register. Digitised building plans and numbered floor layouts will also be created to enable facilities managers to tell construction workers where there are traces of asbestos.
This information will be accessible to online users and eventually the 'plan is to release the information to regular council contractors, so they know what to expect before they start work,' said Brian Williams, head of building management.
North Yorkshire is conducting the survey with environmental specialists Casella, which works with a number of local authorities in the UK and the US.
Where asbestos is found, a management plan will be agreed for the property, and managers will be advised on how to comply with council policy. Once or twice yearly, technical checks will be made on property that contains asbestos.
North Yorkshire does not have a policy of removing asbestos — the materials containing asbestos are less harmful if left in situ — providing they have not previously been damaged. However, the council has untaken a £3m removal project in a secondary school near Skipton.
South Craven is a 1960s build and is one of just two schools built by West Riding County Council to incorporate not only asbestos-containing ceiling tiles, but also wall panels.
The council received a special grant for the work at the school, which will take 18 months to complete. Temporary classrooms replace parts of the building that have been closed off to allow the work to be carried out.
The HSE, unions and legal representatives, all of which believe asbestos surveys are a step in the right direction towards better management of the lethal substance, have welcomed the projects.
Ian McFall, head of the asbestos team at law firm Thompsons said: 'I applaud efforts made by local authorities to make a proper assessment of the buildings they are responsible for.
'These assessments will map the asbestos within buildings, enabling construction workers to know where it is so that it can be avoided,' he added.
Construction workers are among the groups of asbsetos-related victims that McFall is representing in compensation claims, which to date have yet to be paid.
News this month that the Association of British Insurers (ABI) was to launch a rescue package to fund compensation claims for asbestosis victims, failed to reassure McFall that claimants' battle for compensation is reaching an end.
A lethal legacy
In the past four years 18,000 people have died from asbestos-related diseases in the UK (17,124 of those in England). Every year some 4,500 people die from mesothelioma and related diseases. By 2020 an estimated 10,000 deaths every year will be caused by exposure to the substance.
Although most victims are from areas traditionally associated with shipbuilding, manufacturing, railway engineering and the docks, many have worked in schools, hospitals, garages and even hairdressers.
Until recently asbestos was a major component of brake linings. Many mechanics were exposed to asbestos fibres while replacing worn brake pads. Hairdressers who worked with salon hair dryers were also exposed to the fibres used to line the inside of the dryer.
Tyne and Wear has the highest death toll in England based on deaths per million. More than 700 people have died since 1997 as a result of the asbestos legacy of shipbuilding.
Devon is the second hardest-hit English county, with dockyards in Plymouth contributing towards over 600 deaths in the past four years.
London's East End docks, where much of the UK's asbestos was imported, are also listed as one of the country's hotspots for asbestos-related fatalities. Barking and Dagenham, home to an asbestos factory, has seen over 100 deaths.
In Wales, one third of the 564 deaths from asbestos-related diseases have resulted from mesothelioma – the remaining two-thirds from lung cancer.
Litigation drags on
Many of the victims represented by Ian McFall, a lawyer specialising in asbestos cases have not seen a penny in compensation.
'I expected within weeks of the [first] announcement for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) that the ABI and/or insurance companies would have been writing cheques,' said McFall.
'The fact that so far the ABI has failed to write any such cheques just confirms my scepticism about the insurance industry, which has a history of dragging its feet. I have not seen a single cheque furnished in payment from the ABI.'
A spokesman for the ABI was unable to confirm the launch of the package. He was unsure as to whether it would be launched or just finalised by the end of the week beginning 6 August.
One of the biggest problems facing those exposed to asbestos, many of which have developed mesothelioma — a fatal lung disease that results in death within nine to 12 months — is the insolvency of former employers liability insurers like Chester Street.
The insurer, formerly Iron Trades Holdings, went into liquidation in January this year. It is the first insurer in the UK to go to the wall and collapse under asbestos liability.
McFall believes that 'Chester Street was totally unprepared.' The company did not have the resources for the claims that were far in excess of what they had taken for cover, he added.
A number of companies that exposed workers to asbestos have closed, leaving victims no choice but to turn to insurers for compensation.
'But insurance companies have resourced themselves well to resist and delay the payment of claims, so that they can hold onto their money,' said McFall.
'In terms of macroeconomics so much is at stake for insurance companies that they are prepared to throw a lot of money at trying to save a lot of money,' said McFall.
'Asbestos litigation is soul destroying and there is very little job satisfaction even when a settlement has been reached. Companies are still not paying up,' he concluded.
The FSCS was announced as a public private partnership in May. Under the terms the government agreed to meet the liabilities of public companies such as a number of British shipbuilders.
In line with the agreement, the ABI would manage the payment of claims in the private sector. The government has fulfilled its part of the bargain and has made payments to victims, but the ABI has so far failed to do so.
Source
The Facilities Business
