Workers in construction trades all over Scotland are the targets of a new public service crusade by the British Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The messages warn these workers to keep in mind the hazards posed by the rampant asbestos use in the country's structures built in the last sixty years. Construction workers who specialized in plumbing, joining and electrical systems were determined to be those with the highest risk factors for asbestos exposure.
According to a study conducted by the agency, doctors diagnose up to twenty new cases of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related lung disorders every week in construction workers throughout the country. The report also indicates that the number of workers who will receive such diagnoses is expected to rise for the next several years. From 1981 to 2005, more than twenty-six hundred Scottish construction workers have died from mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that affects the fluid lining the lungs.
In recent years, scientists have determined a direct link between long-term exposure to asbestos fibers and the incidence of mesothelioma. Once the cancer appears in a patient, the prognosis is that the patient will survive for no more than two years. Most mesothelioma patients live on for less than eighteen months after diagnosis. With an average of more than a hundred deaths per year in Scotland, as well as the rising mesothelioma incidence rates, HSE officials are treating the widespread use of asbestos and the complications that come with exposure to the dangerous substance as a national health crisis.
One of the participants in the media campaign is John Greig, a former railway worker in Glasgow who was diagnosed with mesothelioma last year. In the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Greig worked on railroad yards where he tore out sheets of asbestos by hand. He inhaled asbestos fibers routinely throughout the years, with loose fibers clinging to his skin and clothing.
In those times, medical science was unaware of the hazards posed by the toxic material, nor did the technology exist to provide workers with protective clothing and breathing filters. Now, Mr. Greig reports, he can walk no more than a hundred yards without tiring out and he cannot fly on an airplane due to his breathing problems. In his messages, he urges Scottish workers, "don't be macho" and believe that they can work with asbestos without the proper protective equipment.
Although the British government banned the use of asbestos in construction in 2000, as many as five hundred thousand non-residential structures still carry some form of asbestos. HSE officials warn that any building constructed or renovated before 2000 could contain asbestos and pose a serious health risk to work crews. According to Greg Haywood, an HSE representative with the Edinburgh office, asbestos exposure is the "biggest industrial killer" in the country. The object of this public information campaign is to make these workers aware of the risks and, if they suspect that a building where they work may contain asbestos, to take steps to check on the presence of the contaminant before continuing the job.
Sources: BBC, Google Hosted News
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