It’s been more than 20 years since asbestos was banned in the UK but the deadly building material is still claiming the lives of more than 1,000 tradespeople people every year because of a lack of awareness of the dangers, says the UK Asbestos Training Association (UKATA). Imported into the UK from countries such as Canada and South Africa, asbestos started to be widely used in the industrial revolution during the late 1800s. Because of its resistance to heat, corrosion and electricity, asbestos was used widely in construction for 100 years prior to its ban. So much so, that it is estimated that even today there is six million tonnes of the highly toxic material in as many as 1.5 million buildings in the UK. The shipbuilding industry also used large amounts of asbestos-containing material to insulate pipes, boilers, and incinerators. Deaths
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UKATA urges workers to take asbestos training more seriously increased dramatically in the last 15 years after widespread use between the 1950s and 70s. Asbestos is now considered the largest single industrial killer ever seen in the UK. Asbestos is thought to have been used in more than 4,000 products including ceiling tiles, cement fireplaces and textured ceilings, mixed in with other materials making it almost impossible to detect. Other common products that contain asbestos include asbestos insulating boards, sprayed coatings on ceilings and walls, loose fill insulation and soffits. When undisturbed, asbestos rarely poses a threat, however if the microscopic fibres are released, people are at risk of inhaling them and developing deadly asbestosrelated diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma (cancer of the lung linings). A worrying lack of awareness of the deadly construction material by tradespeople means
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