TUC Risks 20th September
A company boss whose firm used deadly silica despite the process being banned for 58 years has received a £26,000 fine but has escaped jail.
Andrew Thomson, trading as Thomson Sandblast, of Great Harwood, was also ordered to pay £24,000 costs and was told that magistrates had considered a custodial sentence.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the company after receiving a complaint that sand containing free silica was being used for the dry sand blasting of vehicles. Blasting of articles using sand containing free silica has been banned since 1950 and can lead to silicosis, which is progressive, irreversible and can continue to develop after exposure ceases. It is also a known cause of occupational cancer and autoimmune diseases.
The firm was issued an HSE prohibition notice on 29 June 2006, requiring an end to sandblasting without adequate breathing protection for workers. When inspectors revisited the firm in February 2007 they found the notice had been ignored. HSE principal inspector Dorothy Shaw commented: 'When the premises were visited the general conditions were found to be poor. Vehicles were being dry blasted using what was suspected to be sand in a building that was not fully enclosed or had a filtered extraction unit. The respiratory protection equipment being used was in poor condition putting employees at risk from silicosis, which is a chronic obstructive, pulmonary disease characterised by breathlessness and a chronic cough.' She added: 'The dry blasting of vehicles with sand containing silica and the non compliance of enforcement notices are regarded as very serious matters by the HSE. When passing sentence on Mr Thomson, the magistrates commented that there had been a complete disregard for health and safety and that they had considered a custodial sentence.'
Friday, 3 October 2008
The asbestos industry's deadly lies
TUC Risks August 30th 2008
The deaths of tens of thousands of UK workers from asbestos disease was not an unanticipated tragedy, but resulted from a sophisticated political and public relations campaign to prolong the use of the deadly fibre.
Ed Howker, writing in the New Stateman, reveals the extent of the support asbestos giant Turner and Newall (T&N) received from government officials and politicians.
One government medical adviser is recorded as advising T&N to keep quiet about the cancer dangers of their product.
In correspondence between two directors of the plant, the opinion of Professor Archie Cochrane, director of epidemiology at the Medical Research Council, was noted: 'In tackling a problem of this nature [mesothelioma] one should either be completely frank with everyone or maintain complete secrecy - it is the latter that he feels is best at the moment.' To assist in the cover up, the company employed public relation firm Hill and Knowlton, credited with writing the playbook on 'product defence' in its highly effective defence of the tobacco industry.
In 1968, T&N circulated a confidential five-point plan prepared by Hill and Knowlton entitled 'Putting the case for asbestos.' Its purpose was to enable staff to field questions about asbestos cancer. It began, in capital letters: 'Never be the first to raise the health question.'
The government, meanwhile, brushed aside health concerns, fearing a risk to jobs. The company also had the loyal support of then Rochdale MP Cyril Smith, a sometime company shareholder who claimed in the Commons to be basing his comments on his own detailed research, but who in fact had asked T&N to draft a speech delivered in the House. The New Statesman article brings the story up to the moment, revealing how a bankruptcy ruse and other company manoeuvring continue to deny its asbestos disease victims the compensation they are due.
The deaths of tens of thousands of UK workers from asbestos disease was not an unanticipated tragedy, but resulted from a sophisticated political and public relations campaign to prolong the use of the deadly fibre.
Ed Howker, writing in the New Stateman, reveals the extent of the support asbestos giant Turner and Newall (T&N) received from government officials and politicians.
One government medical adviser is recorded as advising T&N to keep quiet about the cancer dangers of their product.
In correspondence between two directors of the plant, the opinion of Professor Archie Cochrane, director of epidemiology at the Medical Research Council, was noted: 'In tackling a problem of this nature [mesothelioma] one should either be completely frank with everyone or maintain complete secrecy - it is the latter that he feels is best at the moment.' To assist in the cover up, the company employed public relation firm Hill and Knowlton, credited with writing the playbook on 'product defence' in its highly effective defence of the tobacco industry.
In 1968, T&N circulated a confidential five-point plan prepared by Hill and Knowlton entitled 'Putting the case for asbestos.' Its purpose was to enable staff to field questions about asbestos cancer. It began, in capital letters: 'Never be the first to raise the health question.'
The government, meanwhile, brushed aside health concerns, fearing a risk to jobs. The company also had the loyal support of then Rochdale MP Cyril Smith, a sometime company shareholder who claimed in the Commons to be basing his comments on his own detailed research, but who in fact had asked T&N to draft a speech delivered in the House. The New Statesman article brings the story up to the moment, revealing how a bankruptcy ruse and other company manoeuvring continue to deny its asbestos disease victims the compensation they are due.
Council's school asbestos warning
TUC Risks August 23rd
Denbighshire County Council could face prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) if it fails to deal safely with asbestos in Prestatyn High School.
The council has suspended a staff member after an attempt to remove asbestos failed to meet HSE standards. The watchdog has ordered that the work must be completed by the end of September. The local authority said action was being taken and the work would not affect pupils and staff returning to school at the beginning of September.
The work relates to asbestos pipe cladding at the school. An HSE spokesperson said: 'There is an improvement notice on the removal of asbestos at Prestatyn High School. It was issued on June 27. There is a compliance date for the work to be completed by the end of September.
If the council fails to do so it is a criminal offence, and it could face prosecution.' A council spokesperson confirmed an HSE improvement notice had been served, adding: 'An action plan is already being implemented and we shall be meeting the HSE to ensure compliance with their requirements.' She said 'that a member of staff has been suspended pending the results of an internal investigation.' Earlier this year, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) called on the government to carry out a survey of all UK schools to check whether asbestos is present.
Denbighshire County Council could face prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) if it fails to deal safely with asbestos in Prestatyn High School.
The council has suspended a staff member after an attempt to remove asbestos failed to meet HSE standards. The watchdog has ordered that the work must be completed by the end of September. The local authority said action was being taken and the work would not affect pupils and staff returning to school at the beginning of September.
The work relates to asbestos pipe cladding at the school. An HSE spokesperson said: 'There is an improvement notice on the removal of asbestos at Prestatyn High School. It was issued on June 27. There is a compliance date for the work to be completed by the end of September.
If the council fails to do so it is a criminal offence, and it could face prosecution.' A council spokesperson confirmed an HSE improvement notice had been served, adding: 'An action plan is already being implemented and we shall be meeting the HSE to ensure compliance with their requirements.' She said 'that a member of staff has been suspended pending the results of an internal investigation.' Earlier this year, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) called on the government to carry out a survey of all UK schools to check whether asbestos is present.
Canada: How to kill a UN convention
TUC Risks August 23rd 2008 accused Canada of trying to kill a UN convention.
The Rotterdam Convention gives countries the right to be informed about, and to refuse, extremely hazardous chemicals and pesticides. For more than two years, the committee has called for chrysotile asbestos (white asbestos - the only form used in the world today) to be put on this 'prior informed consent' list. It meets every criterion in the convention, but in 2006, Canada brought the convention to its knees by blocking a consensus for chrysotile asbestos to go on the list.
Human rights activists are calling for Canada to stop acting like a rogue state and instead allow chrysotile asbestos to be listed under the Rotterdam Convention.
The Rotterdam Convention gives countries the right to be informed about, and to refuse, extremely hazardous chemicals and pesticides. For more than two years, the committee has called for chrysotile asbestos (white asbestos - the only form used in the world today) to be put on this 'prior informed consent' list. It meets every criterion in the convention, but in 2006, Canada brought the convention to its knees by blocking a consensus for chrysotile asbestos to go on the list.
Human rights activists are calling for Canada to stop acting like a rogue state and instead allow chrysotile asbestos to be listed under the Rotterdam Convention.
Essex companies exposed workers to asbestos risk
TUC Risks 16th August reported that two companies in Essex have been fined after workers in their employment were exposed to asbestos containing materials.
R Maskell Ltd of Loughton was fined £150,000 with costs of £30,000 at Ipswich Crown Court while LCH Contracts Ltd of Billericay was fined £70,000 and costs of £13,821.
Both companies pleaded guilty to breaches of Regulation 15 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002.
In 2005 R Maskell was carrying out refurbishment work and had, after discovering asbestos, sub-contracted LCH Contracts to carry out asbestos removal at St Francis Tower, Ipswich.
When HSE inspectors visited the site to inspect asbestos removal work taking place, they became very concerned over the state of the building, as there was debris on floors and in black sacks on most floors of the 15 storey tower block and some appeared to be asbestos containing materials (ACMs).
The HSE investigation found the building to be contaminated with ACMs and evidence was found that asbestos insulation board (AIB) had not been removed following adequate safety procedures.
HSE Inspector, Nicola Surrey said, "Every year 1000 people who worked in building maintenance and repair trades die from past exposures to asbestos fibres. The exposure of employees from R Maskell Ltd and LCH Contracts Ltd to asbestos could and should have been avoided by straightforward safety precautions. HSE will not hesitate to take action against those who fall short of the law in such a way. Asbestos must be properly managed to prevent people dying from asbestos diseases in the future. If you are responsible for managing the maintenance and repair of a building, you must manage any asbestos in it. HSE has provided guidance to help people understand what they have to do to comply with their legal obligations."
R Maskell Ltd of Loughton was fined £150,000 with costs of £30,000 at Ipswich Crown Court while LCH Contracts Ltd of Billericay was fined £70,000 and costs of £13,821.
Both companies pleaded guilty to breaches of Regulation 15 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002.
In 2005 R Maskell was carrying out refurbishment work and had, after discovering asbestos, sub-contracted LCH Contracts to carry out asbestos removal at St Francis Tower, Ipswich.
When HSE inspectors visited the site to inspect asbestos removal work taking place, they became very concerned over the state of the building, as there was debris on floors and in black sacks on most floors of the 15 storey tower block and some appeared to be asbestos containing materials (ACMs).
The HSE investigation found the building to be contaminated with ACMs and evidence was found that asbestos insulation board (AIB) had not been removed following adequate safety procedures.
HSE Inspector, Nicola Surrey said, "Every year 1000 people who worked in building maintenance and repair trades die from past exposures to asbestos fibres. The exposure of employees from R Maskell Ltd and LCH Contracts Ltd to asbestos could and should have been avoided by straightforward safety precautions. HSE will not hesitate to take action against those who fall short of the law in such a way. Asbestos must be properly managed to prevent people dying from asbestos diseases in the future. If you are responsible for managing the maintenance and repair of a building, you must manage any asbestos in it. HSE has provided guidance to help people understand what they have to do to comply with their legal obligations."
Asbestos report withheld for giving wrong view
TUC Risks August 16th 2008 reported that the Canadian Government is withholding a damning report on asbestos on the eve of an international conference at which Canada plans to defend its export of the carcinogen.
The report was commissioned by 'Health Canada' to support the Conservative government's long-standing fight to keep chrysotile asbestos off a UN watch list, a position federal officials plan to argue at a convention in Rome this October. But, according to 'The Star', members of an expert panel that produced the $100,000 report say the findings justify a ban on production and use in Canada.
Health Minister Tony Clement commissioned the report last year to determine the relative carcinogenic potency of chrysotile asbestos, which is linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma, which this week lead to the death of British MP John MacDougall. The panel's findings were made final in March but have yet to be released. A Health Canada spokesman said in an email the department is reviewing the report to "help further its knowledge of chrysotile asbestos fibres in relation to human health ... (and the report) will be made available to the public after the department has reviewed the findings."The panel was originally criticised by opposition parties because it was believed some of its members were so-called asbestos supporters, however the report seems to back the position of asbestos campaigners world-wide. That asbestos of all kinds are a killer.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin, a supporter of a Canadian ban on asbestos, said "They want the world to believe that Quebec asbestos is somehow magically benign. ... It's cowardly and it's the very antithesis of transparency and accountability." At a UN convention in 2006, the Canadian government successfully blocked a decision by more than 100 governments that would have required all exporters to label the product as hazardous. There is only one mine still producing chrysotile asbestos in Canada which produced 13,000 tonnes in July, a four-year high. Global consumption has increased almost 25 per cent in the last five years as a result of demand in developing countries such as India.
The report was commissioned by 'Health Canada' to support the Conservative government's long-standing fight to keep chrysotile asbestos off a UN watch list, a position federal officials plan to argue at a convention in Rome this October. But, according to 'The Star', members of an expert panel that produced the $100,000 report say the findings justify a ban on production and use in Canada.
Health Minister Tony Clement commissioned the report last year to determine the relative carcinogenic potency of chrysotile asbestos, which is linked to lung cancer and mesothelioma, which this week lead to the death of British MP John MacDougall. The panel's findings were made final in March but have yet to be released. A Health Canada spokesman said in an email the department is reviewing the report to "help further its knowledge of chrysotile asbestos fibres in relation to human health ... (and the report) will be made available to the public after the department has reviewed the findings."The panel was originally criticised by opposition parties because it was believed some of its members were so-called asbestos supporters, however the report seems to back the position of asbestos campaigners world-wide. That asbestos of all kinds are a killer.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin, a supporter of a Canadian ban on asbestos, said "They want the world to believe that Quebec asbestos is somehow magically benign. ... It's cowardly and it's the very antithesis of transparency and accountability." At a UN convention in 2006, the Canadian government successfully blocked a decision by more than 100 governments that would have required all exporters to label the product as hazardous. There is only one mine still producing chrysotile asbestos in Canada which produced 13,000 tonnes in July, a four-year high. Global consumption has increased almost 25 per cent in the last five years as a result of demand in developing countries such as India.
Asbestos in schools and hospital
Bedford Today, 25 September 2008 reported that asbestos had been found in 192, (almost 90 per cent) of schools across the county and in Bedford Hospital.
Teachers and hopsital workers exposed to asbestos fibres have a high incidence of deaths from asbestos related diseases.
A spokesman for Bedford Hospital, confirmed there was asbestos at Bedford Hospital. He said: "A number of buildings at Bedford Hospital contain asbestos which is well managed and closely monitored in line with the 'Control of Asbestos Regulations' (Health & Safety Executive, 2006)."
To read the full story please click on the link below:
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/bed-news/Asbestos-in-schools-warning.4527267.jp
Teachers and hopsital workers exposed to asbestos fibres have a high incidence of deaths from asbestos related diseases.
A spokesman for Bedford Hospital, confirmed there was asbestos at Bedford Hospital. He said: "A number of buildings at Bedford Hospital contain asbestos which is well managed and closely monitored in line with the 'Control of Asbestos Regulations' (Health & Safety Executive, 2006)."
To read the full story please click on the link below:
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/bed-news/Asbestos-in-schools-warning.4527267.jp
Cyril Smith accused of being part of asbestos cover up
Rochdale on Line 28th August 2008 reported that former MP Sir Cyril Smith had lobbied on behalf of the world's largest asbestos factory, Turner and Newall.
Smithe tried to help the Rochdale based company to supress knowledge of the dangers of asbestos.
An article in the New Statesman magazine reveals that Rochdale's former MP wrote to the head of personnel at T&N during a summer political recess in 1981 to tell him that the House would debate EEC regulations on asbestos in the next parliamentary session and asked what the factory would like him to say
The letter reads: "Could you please, within the next eight weeks, let me have the speech you would like to make (were you able to!), in that debate?" The T&N draft response is almost identical to what the Rochdale MP said in his house of commons speech, which stressed the need for less regulation on asbestos and that other products should be approached 'with caution'.
Sir Cyril said: "The public at large are not at risk. It is necessary to say that time and time again." T&N exposed millions to asbestos fibres in full knowledge of the dangers and used Sir Cyril to cover a truth that it had secretly admitted to in 1961, namely that "the only really safe number of asbestos fibres in the works environment is nil".
To read the full account click on the link below
http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/print/13421
Smithe tried to help the Rochdale based company to supress knowledge of the dangers of asbestos.
An article in the New Statesman magazine reveals that Rochdale's former MP wrote to the head of personnel at T&N during a summer political recess in 1981 to tell him that the House would debate EEC regulations on asbestos in the next parliamentary session and asked what the factory would like him to say
The letter reads: "Could you please, within the next eight weeks, let me have the speech you would like to make (were you able to!), in that debate?" The T&N draft response is almost identical to what the Rochdale MP said in his house of commons speech, which stressed the need for less regulation on asbestos and that other products should be approached 'with caution'.
Sir Cyril said: "The public at large are not at risk. It is necessary to say that time and time again." T&N exposed millions to asbestos fibres in full knowledge of the dangers and used Sir Cyril to cover a truth that it had secretly admitted to in 1961, namely that "the only really safe number of asbestos fibres in the works environment is nil".
To read the full account click on the link below
http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/print/13421
Legal challenge to French warship dismantling in Britain
AFP Sep 3, 2008
Environmental campaigners are to go to court to try to stop an asbestos-contaminated French aircraft carrier from being broken up in Britain.
The 32,700-tonne Clemenceau has spent the past five years being moved around the globe as officials tried to find a final resting place for the vessel, which contains 700 tonnes of asbestos.
The 51-year-old vessel was towed to India in a failed bid to have it dismantled there before it was announced in July that she will be scrapped by British company Able UK in Hartlepool, northeast England, after it was granted a waste management licence by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Campaigner Iris Ryder said the Friends of Hartlepool group had lodged a High Court challenge to the decision to bring the ship to Britain from its current base in Brest, western France.
"Today's legal challenge is the beginning of a new stage in the fight by Hartlepool residents to prevent our community from becoming the international toxic waste dumping ground of choice of both governments and polluting industries," she said.
"The Clemenceau was considered too toxic to be broken and dumped in India and Turkey and was even refused permission to be towed through the Suez Canal on its voyage of shame back to France.
A HSE spokesman confirmed that a legal challenge had been lodged.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPEWt24Fayg03gKJo9jobwjoA3NQ
Environmental campaigners are to go to court to try to stop an asbestos-contaminated French aircraft carrier from being broken up in Britain.
The 32,700-tonne Clemenceau has spent the past five years being moved around the globe as officials tried to find a final resting place for the vessel, which contains 700 tonnes of asbestos.
The 51-year-old vessel was towed to India in a failed bid to have it dismantled there before it was announced in July that she will be scrapped by British company Able UK in Hartlepool, northeast England, after it was granted a waste management licence by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Campaigner Iris Ryder said the Friends of Hartlepool group had lodged a High Court challenge to the decision to bring the ship to Britain from its current base in Brest, western France.
"Today's legal challenge is the beginning of a new stage in the fight by Hartlepool residents to prevent our community from becoming the international toxic waste dumping ground of choice of both governments and polluting industries," she said.
"The Clemenceau was considered too toxic to be broken and dumped in India and Turkey and was even refused permission to be towed through the Suez Canal on its voyage of shame back to France.
A HSE spokesman confirmed that a legal challenge had been lodged.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPEWt24Fayg03gKJo9jobwjoA3NQ
‘Sandwich panels’ as deadly as asbestos
Property Week .com 29.08.08 reported that the construction industry could be facing huge costs to remove a commonly used substance when demolishing buildings after experts warned it was as hazardous as asbestos.
CA Group, a UK industrial buildings manufacturer, said foam insulation ‘sandwich panels’ that are used in many buildings posed an environmental hazard risk and a pollution threat to the water table, and their removal would financially hit the property industry.
Brian Watson, commercial director at CA Group, said the project removal costs would affect funders, owners, manufacturers, specifiers and demolition contractors because the removal would be ‘massive and expensive’.
However, it is unclear who would be required to pay the clean-up costs. Watson said foam panels could no longer be disposed through crushing or burning but must conform to the same costly recycling regulations as refrigerators.
CA Group estimates that removal costs range between £1/sq ft to nearly £3/sq ft and, ‘when multiplied by the quantities of foam that hides in roofs and walls nationwide, runs into the billions’.
http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=274&storycode=3121081&c=3
CA Group, a UK industrial buildings manufacturer, said foam insulation ‘sandwich panels’ that are used in many buildings posed an environmental hazard risk and a pollution threat to the water table, and their removal would financially hit the property industry.
Brian Watson, commercial director at CA Group, said the project removal costs would affect funders, owners, manufacturers, specifiers and demolition contractors because the removal would be ‘massive and expensive’.
However, it is unclear who would be required to pay the clean-up costs. Watson said foam panels could no longer be disposed through crushing or burning but must conform to the same costly recycling regulations as refrigerators.
CA Group estimates that removal costs range between £1/sq ft to nearly £3/sq ft and, ‘when multiplied by the quantities of foam that hides in roofs and walls nationwide, runs into the billions’.
http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=274&storycode=3121081&c=3
Dead MP was suing government over asbestos
Dunfermline Press 28th August 2008
AN ASBESTOS support group hopes the tragic death of former Rosyth Dockyard worker and MP John MacDougall will force a change of heart from the UK Government on compensation awards.
Labour MP Mr MacDougall (60) was suing his own Government over his terminal lung cancer at the time of his death.
He believed the cause of the incurable mesothelioma was exposure to asbestos when he was working at the dockyard in the 1960s.
His friend, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, paid tribute to Mr MacDougall at the funeral and described his illness as a “cruel legacy”.
Defence secretary Des Browne and a predecessor in that role, John Reid, were also present.
However, it has now emerged that Mr MacDougall launched a court action against the Ministry of Defence in November after the Government turned down his request for £300,000 in compensation.
And whereas the Scottish Government is bringing forward legislation to help workers suffering from asbestos-related conditions, the same is not true at Westminster, where Mr MacDougall served for seven years.
The campaign group Clydeside Action on Asbestos will give evidence at the Scottish Parliament next week in a bid to make it easier for victims to claim.
In June, the Government at Holyrood unveiled a new bill aimed at entitling anyone in Scotland to raise an action if they contract pleural plaques.
The move would overturn a House of Lords ruling last year that workers were not entitled to compensation because the condition itself is not a disease.
To read the full stroy please click on the link below:
http://www.dunfermlinepress.com/articles/1/27840
AN ASBESTOS support group hopes the tragic death of former Rosyth Dockyard worker and MP John MacDougall will force a change of heart from the UK Government on compensation awards.
Labour MP Mr MacDougall (60) was suing his own Government over his terminal lung cancer at the time of his death.
He believed the cause of the incurable mesothelioma was exposure to asbestos when he was working at the dockyard in the 1960s.
His friend, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, paid tribute to Mr MacDougall at the funeral and described his illness as a “cruel legacy”.
Defence secretary Des Browne and a predecessor in that role, John Reid, were also present.
However, it has now emerged that Mr MacDougall launched a court action against the Ministry of Defence in November after the Government turned down his request for £300,000 in compensation.
And whereas the Scottish Government is bringing forward legislation to help workers suffering from asbestos-related conditions, the same is not true at Westminster, where Mr MacDougall served for seven years.
The campaign group Clydeside Action on Asbestos will give evidence at the Scottish Parliament next week in a bid to make it easier for victims to claim.
In June, the Government at Holyrood unveiled a new bill aimed at entitling anyone in Scotland to raise an action if they contract pleural plaques.
The move would overturn a House of Lords ruling last year that workers were not entitled to compensation because the condition itself is not a disease.
To read the full stroy please click on the link below:
http://www.dunfermlinepress.com/articles/1/27840
HMS Intrepid final voyage to be recycled in Liverpool
September 18th 2008 , IC Liverpool reported that the first warship to be recycled in the UK for more than a decade doccked in Liverpool.
HMS Intrepid, a Royal navy ship which saw service in the Falklands sailed Canada Graving Dock, where it will be dismantles over the next five months.
Ninety five percent of the material on board will be recycled though the union UNITE expressed concerns about safety conditions and the presence of asbestos on board.
It is hoped that this will be the first of many such projects at the Liverpool facility and that many more ships will be broken up responsibly. The Royal Navy has disposed of the waste on board apart from a small amount of asbestos which remains within the frame of the ship and which the yard can handle.
To read the full story please click on the link below:
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=hms-intrepid-final-voyage-to-be-recycled-in-liverpool&method=full&objectid=21846498&siteid=50061-name_page.html
HMS Intrepid, a Royal navy ship which saw service in the Falklands sailed Canada Graving Dock, where it will be dismantles over the next five months.
Ninety five percent of the material on board will be recycled though the union UNITE expressed concerns about safety conditions and the presence of asbestos on board.
It is hoped that this will be the first of many such projects at the Liverpool facility and that many more ships will be broken up responsibly. The Royal Navy has disposed of the waste on board apart from a small amount of asbestos which remains within the frame of the ship and which the yard can handle.
To read the full story please click on the link below:
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=hms-intrepid-final-voyage-to-be-recycled-in-liverpool&method=full&objectid=21846498&siteid=50061-name_page.html
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
The patron saint of charlatans is again spreading dangerous misinformation
Writing in the Guardian on 23rd September 2008, columnist George Monbiot takes the Telegraph columnsit Christopher Booker to task over his misleading articles, (38 of them so far), where he claims that chrysotile asbestos, (white asbestos) is safe.
He wrote 'Mr Booker champions the work of John Bridle, who has described himself as "the world's foremost authority on asbestos science". Bridle has claimed to possess an honorary professorship from the Russian Academy of Sciences, to be a consultant to an institute at the University of Glamorgan, the chief asbestos consultant for an asbestos centre in Lisbon, and a consultant to Vale of Glamorgan trading standards department. None of these claims is true. Neither the institute at the University of Glamorgan nor the centre in Lisbon have ever existed. His only relationship with the Glamorgan trading standards department is to have been successfully prosecuted by it for claiming a qualification he does not possess.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/23/controversiesinscience.health
He wrote 'Mr Booker champions the work of John Bridle, who has described himself as "the world's foremost authority on asbestos science". Bridle has claimed to possess an honorary professorship from the Russian Academy of Sciences, to be a consultant to an institute at the University of Glamorgan, the chief asbestos consultant for an asbestos centre in Lisbon, and a consultant to Vale of Glamorgan trading standards department. None of these claims is true. Neither the institute at the University of Glamorgan nor the centre in Lisbon have ever existed. His only relationship with the Glamorgan trading standards department is to have been successfully prosecuted by it for claiming a qualification he does not possess.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/23/controversiesinscience.health
Monday, 28 July 2008
Probe into 'dangerous' housing association
TUC Risks 12th July reported that an official investigation has been launched into union claims that a housing association flouted rules on handling deadly asbestos.
William Whalen, an official with the construction union UCATT, presented a petition at a drama filled meeting of Carlisle City Council last week calling for Carlisle Housing Association to be wound up and its 6,140 homes handed back to the council.
He produced a lump of asbestos, safely wrapped, and brandished it at councillors. Mr Whalen said: 'This is asbestos taken from one of the houses. It was swept up with a shovel, thrown onto a flat wagon and taken to a dump. If that's not dangerous, I don't know what is.'
The union officer added: 'It shows the [lack of] care this housing association has for its employees and the people of this city.' Councillor Ray Bloxham, the environmental portfolio holder, told the meeting an investigation would be launched.
Mr Whalen failed to persuade councillors to reverse the transfer of council houses to Carlisle Housing Association that took place in 2002, after a council official said legal, financial and contractual issues would make the reversal of the housing transfer 'non feasible'. Mr Whalen said he intended to raise the issue at the autumn Labour Party conference. He said: 'I will be asking Gordon Brown to investigate this
William Whalen, an official with the construction union UCATT, presented a petition at a drama filled meeting of Carlisle City Council last week calling for Carlisle Housing Association to be wound up and its 6,140 homes handed back to the council.
He produced a lump of asbestos, safely wrapped, and brandished it at councillors. Mr Whalen said: 'This is asbestos taken from one of the houses. It was swept up with a shovel, thrown onto a flat wagon and taken to a dump. If that's not dangerous, I don't know what is.'
The union officer added: 'It shows the [lack of] care this housing association has for its employees and the people of this city.' Councillor Ray Bloxham, the environmental portfolio holder, told the meeting an investigation would be launched.
Mr Whalen failed to persuade councillors to reverse the transfer of council houses to Carlisle Housing Association that took place in 2002, after a council official said legal, financial and contractual issues would make the reversal of the housing transfer 'non feasible'. Mr Whalen said he intended to raise the issue at the autumn Labour Party conference. He said: 'I will be asking Gordon Brown to investigate this
Jail for asbestos dumpers
RISKS 21ST June 2008, reported that two men have been jailed for a £1.2 million flytipping scam which saw thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste including asbestos dumped at bogus construction sites emblazoned with mock health and safety notices.
James Kelleher, from Dagenham and Patrick Anderson, from the Irish Republic, were accused of dumping over 14,600 tonnes of waste - the equivalent of 750 lorry loads - at 15 sites in London and Essex.
Kelleher, 40, and Anderson, 51, were sentenced to 14 months and 22 months respectively, for conspiracy to unlawfully deposit controlled waste.
Mr Justice Philpott ordered the men to spend half their sentences in custody and half on licence.
For the first time, the Environment Agency employed forensic techniques used in other criminal cases - financial and handwriting analysis - to make the link between payments, lorries and people. The techniques were needed because the scam was highly sophisticated, including the use of false identities.
Kelleher and Anderson broke in to waste ground awaiting development, where they put up hoardings with fictitious company names, health and safety notices and a mobile phone number for members of the public to call if the so-called construction work bothered them. The pair wore reflective jackets, hard hats and carried surveying equipment. Behind the official-looking exterior, however, there was no construction work - just more tipping.
James Kelleher, from Dagenham and Patrick Anderson, from the Irish Republic, were accused of dumping over 14,600 tonnes of waste - the equivalent of 750 lorry loads - at 15 sites in London and Essex.
Kelleher, 40, and Anderson, 51, were sentenced to 14 months and 22 months respectively, for conspiracy to unlawfully deposit controlled waste.
Mr Justice Philpott ordered the men to spend half their sentences in custody and half on licence.
For the first time, the Environment Agency employed forensic techniques used in other criminal cases - financial and handwriting analysis - to make the link between payments, lorries and people. The techniques were needed because the scam was highly sophisticated, including the use of false identities.
Kelleher and Anderson broke in to waste ground awaiting development, where they put up hoardings with fictitious company names, health and safety notices and a mobile phone number for members of the public to call if the so-called construction work bothered them. The pair wore reflective jackets, hard hats and carried surveying equipment. Behind the official-looking exterior, however, there was no construction work - just more tipping.
RELEASE OF ASBESTOS FIBRES IN SYSTEM BUILT SCHOOLS
Asbestos in Schools, 25th June reported that twenty years ago the ILEA found slamming a door five times in a "System build" school in Wandsworth resulted in measurements of asbestos 33 times higher than the Clearance level a safety limit set by the Health and Safety Executive. Advice was given nationally but little effective action taken. In July 2006 the problem was rediscovered in many schools.
The asbestos present in such schools and the lack of action has left a 20 year legacy of exposure of children and teachers that could and should have been avoided and is embarassing to the HSE, local councils and the Government. The legacy includes many schools today with asbestos that has had twenty years and, at times, more than fifty years in which to deteriorate and so is no longer "in good condition" - a prerequisite for the safe management of asbestos.
Children are more susceptible to asbestos fibres than adults but HSE standards are set for adults so, for instance, HSE standards for reoccupation of schools after an asbestos incident is the "Clearance Level" - a level that ILEA asbestos working group say "is very dangerous for children" and the 2006 Control of Asbestos Regulations state: “........ should be taken only as a transient indication of site cleanliness .. and is not an acceptable permanent level”
The asbestos present in such schools and the lack of action has left a 20 year legacy of exposure of children and teachers that could and should have been avoided and is embarassing to the HSE, local councils and the Government. The legacy includes many schools today with asbestos that has had twenty years and, at times, more than fifty years in which to deteriorate and so is no longer "in good condition" - a prerequisite for the safe management of asbestos.
Children are more susceptible to asbestos fibres than adults but HSE standards are set for adults so, for instance, HSE standards for reoccupation of schools after an asbestos incident is the "Clearance Level" - a level that ILEA asbestos working group say "is very dangerous for children" and the 2006 Control of Asbestos Regulations state: “........ should be taken only as a transient indication of site cleanliness .. and is not an acceptable permanent level”
USA: Watchdog complicit as firms bury victims
Risks July 19th reported that the US system for measuring workplace safety is flawed and misses up to half of all workplace injuries, according to a report presented last week at a hearing on OSHA, the federal agency charged with protecting workers' safety and health.
The committee report said both employers and OSHA have incentives to report and use faulty data. The fewer injuries and illnesses an employer reports, the less likely the employer will be inspected by OSHA and the more likely it will pay lower premiums for workers' compensation.
Bob Whitmore, former chief of the OSHA recordkeeping division, is highly critical of the safety watchdog. 'I contend that the current OSHA injury and illness information is inaccurate, due in part to the wide scale underreporting by employers and OSHA's willingness to accept these falsified numbers,' he said. 'There are many reasons why OSHA would accept these numbers, but one important institutional factor has dramatically affected the agency: steady annual declines in the number of workplace injuries and illnesses make it appear that OSHA is fulfilling its mission.' OSHA has dramatically reduced its enforcement programme, instead promoting a series of voluntary approaches, including industry 'alliances' and 'voluntary protection programmes'.
The committee report said both employers and OSHA have incentives to report and use faulty data. The fewer injuries and illnesses an employer reports, the less likely the employer will be inspected by OSHA and the more likely it will pay lower premiums for workers' compensation.
Bob Whitmore, former chief of the OSHA recordkeeping division, is highly critical of the safety watchdog. 'I contend that the current OSHA injury and illness information is inaccurate, due in part to the wide scale underreporting by employers and OSHA's willingness to accept these falsified numbers,' he said. 'There are many reasons why OSHA would accept these numbers, but one important institutional factor has dramatically affected the agency: steady annual declines in the number of workplace injuries and illnesses make it appear that OSHA is fulfilling its mission.' OSHA has dramatically reduced its enforcement programme, instead promoting a series of voluntary approaches, including industry 'alliances' and 'voluntary protection programmes'.
Asbestos lorry smash shuts road
The A 127, London to Southend road was closed at Laindon for seven hours on 23rd June when a heavy goods vehicle ran into the back of another lorry, knocking a metal container holding 14 tonnes of asbestos off its trailer and shedding the contents over the road.
Top medical journal backs nano precaution
Risks 12th July reported that Lancet Oncology, one of the world's top cancer journals, has called for the precautionary principle to be used when dealing with nanotechnologies.
Responding to research this year that suggested a possible mesothelioma risk from exposure to carbon nanotubes an editorial in the July edition of the journal says until 'knowledge has caught up with the technological advances, it would be wise to invoke the Precautionary Principle to ensure health and safety measures are sufficiently rigorous to decrease the possibility of health risks to industry workers.' The editorial continues: 'These actions would prevent a repetition of the pitiful response seen in the 20th century to evidence linking asbestos with various lung diseases.
Responding to research this year that suggested a possible mesothelioma risk from exposure to carbon nanotubes an editorial in the July edition of the journal says until 'knowledge has caught up with the technological advances, it would be wise to invoke the Precautionary Principle to ensure health and safety measures are sufficiently rigorous to decrease the possibility of health risks to industry workers.' The editorial continues: 'These actions would prevent a repetition of the pitiful response seen in the 20th century to evidence linking asbestos with various lung diseases.
Asbestos Industry Gets Heavy
The Canadian Chrysotile Institute, which is largely funded by the Canadian federal and Quebec provincial governments, is attempting to to bring a libel suit against French asbestos campaigner Francois Desriaux.
This attitude towards chrysotile is in sharp contrast to official concerns about nano technology. Canada is a leading producer of chrysotile asbestos, and though it has reduced the use of the material in Canada, it is happy to export the material to emerging economies in the far east.
This attitude towards chrysotile is in sharp contrast to official concerns about nano technology. Canada is a leading producer of chrysotile asbestos, and though it has reduced the use of the material in Canada, it is happy to export the material to emerging economies in the far east.
Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments
The Government has approved a law that will benefit mesothelioma sufferers.
A loophole existed previously which meant that benefits were only available to those who had been exposed to asbestos at work. Non occupational mesothelioma, for example when family memebrs were exposed to asbestos fibres on workers' clothing did not qualify for a lump sum payout.
Now they will be entitled to a lump sum compensation payout, in the region of £10,000 per case. The Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) Regulations 2008 set out how and when a claim must be made. This is the latest in a series of measures extending asbestos compensation to differing groups.
A loophole existed previously which meant that benefits were only available to those who had been exposed to asbestos at work. Non occupational mesothelioma, for example when family memebrs were exposed to asbestos fibres on workers' clothing did not qualify for a lump sum payout.
Now they will be entitled to a lump sum compensation payout, in the region of £10,000 per case. The Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) Regulations 2008 set out how and when a claim must be made. This is the latest in a series of measures extending asbestos compensation to differing groups.
Government u-turn hits disease sufferers
TUC Risks, - Hazards , 12 July 2008, reported that workers developing occupational diseases could lose out as a result of a government u-turn on retention of insurance records by employers.
The government is pressing ahead with a move to drop the requirement on firms to keep their employers' liability insurance records for 40 years - despite opposition from workplace health groups, lawyers, unions and insurers.
It has instead laid before parliament an order to revoke the record keeping requirement.
Critics argue that many occupational diseases, for example occupational cancers, may only develop decades after a worker was exposed to risks. The current requirement on firms to retain their Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance details for 40 years was designed to ensure the insurer responsible for a payout for one of these 'long-tail' diseases - the one covering the firm at the time the negligent exposures occurred - could be identified.
Tony Whitston, chair of the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK criticised 'the government's manic determination to reduce administrative burdens on business', which he said was hurting occupational disease victims. 'Retaining insurance records costs each employer next to nothing but the burden and the cost of losing compensation is incalculable: it is not simply a question of financial compensation, but a question of justice and fairness.' He added: 'Introducing voluntary measures rather than a statutory central database for employers' liability insurance instead of the current regulation is totally unsatisfactory: there has to be a statutory requirement to retain and to record employers' liability insurance in a central register.'
The Government's approach would appear to be perverse given the raised awareness of chronic occupational diseases.
The government is pressing ahead with a move to drop the requirement on firms to keep their employers' liability insurance records for 40 years - despite opposition from workplace health groups, lawyers, unions and insurers.
It has instead laid before parliament an order to revoke the record keeping requirement.
Critics argue that many occupational diseases, for example occupational cancers, may only develop decades after a worker was exposed to risks. The current requirement on firms to retain their Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance details for 40 years was designed to ensure the insurer responsible for a payout for one of these 'long-tail' diseases - the one covering the firm at the time the negligent exposures occurred - could be identified.
Tony Whitston, chair of the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK criticised 'the government's manic determination to reduce administrative burdens on business', which he said was hurting occupational disease victims. 'Retaining insurance records costs each employer next to nothing but the burden and the cost of losing compensation is incalculable: it is not simply a question of financial compensation, but a question of justice and fairness.' He added: 'Introducing voluntary measures rather than a statutory central database for employers' liability insurance instead of the current regulation is totally unsatisfactory: there has to be a statutory requirement to retain and to record employers' liability insurance in a central register.'
The Government's approach would appear to be perverse given the raised awareness of chronic occupational diseases.
Micro materials could pose major health risks
19th July 2008 TUC Risks reported that potential dangers were posed by the rapidly expanding number of products containing nanomaterials.
The warning comes from the Council of Canadian Academies in one of the most authoritative reports to date about the risks of engineered nanomaterials.
These materials are added to a wide range of products ranging from sunscreens to diesel fuels. The Council cautions that the tiny substances might be able to penetrate cells and interfere with biological processes.
The Council, which was asked by Health Canada and several other federal agencies to study the state of knowledge about nanomaterials and the regulatory changes needed to oversee their use, concluded that "there is inadequate data to inform quantitative risk assessments on current and emerging nanomaterials." Their small size, the report says, may allow them "to usurp traditional biological protective mechanisms" and, as a result, possibly have "enhanced toxicological effects."
Editor's Note: It is worthy of note that Canadian attitudes towards nanomaterials is markedly different from many official attitudes towards chrysotile asbestos. As a major producer and exporter of chrysotile Canada has consistently played down the risks posed by the material.
The warning comes from the Council of Canadian Academies in one of the most authoritative reports to date about the risks of engineered nanomaterials.
These materials are added to a wide range of products ranging from sunscreens to diesel fuels. The Council cautions that the tiny substances might be able to penetrate cells and interfere with biological processes.
The Council, which was asked by Health Canada and several other federal agencies to study the state of knowledge about nanomaterials and the regulatory changes needed to oversee their use, concluded that "there is inadequate data to inform quantitative risk assessments on current and emerging nanomaterials." Their small size, the report says, may allow them "to usurp traditional biological protective mechanisms" and, as a result, possibly have "enhanced toxicological effects."
Editor's Note: It is worthy of note that Canadian attitudes towards nanomaterials is markedly different from many official attitudes towards chrysotile asbestos. As a major producer and exporter of chrysotile Canada has consistently played down the risks posed by the material.
Pleural Plaques battle continues
TUC Risks 19th July 2008 reported that Construction Union, UCATT, have kept up their campaign for compensation for those with the asbestos related condition, pleural plaques.
Last October the Law Lords overturned over 20 years of common law and ruled that pleural plaques should no longer be a compensational illness and last Wednesday (July 9) the Government released a consultation document on the various options, including changing the law, setting up a scheme or doing nothing.
UCATT said it was pleased that the Government was actively considering the issue, but they were disappointed that the document says the 'Government is not minded' to overturn the Law Lords decision.
This potentially places the Government at odds with the Scottish Parliament, who have already brought forward a Bill to overturn the Law Lords judgement.
In an attempt to place further pressure on the Government to overturn the Law Lords ruling, UCATT have decided to campaign in the seats of Cabinet Ministers where there is a high level of asbestos illness. On July 18 UCATT will be targeting the seats of John Hutton and also the South Shields constituency of foreign secretary David Miliband.
Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: 'While I welcome that the Government is seriously examining this issue, it would be unfair and intolerable if pleural plaque victims north of the border received compensation, while those in England did not.'
Last October the Law Lords overturned over 20 years of common law and ruled that pleural plaques should no longer be a compensational illness and last Wednesday (July 9) the Government released a consultation document on the various options, including changing the law, setting up a scheme or doing nothing.
UCATT said it was pleased that the Government was actively considering the issue, but they were disappointed that the document says the 'Government is not minded' to overturn the Law Lords decision.
This potentially places the Government at odds with the Scottish Parliament, who have already brought forward a Bill to overturn the Law Lords judgement.
In an attempt to place further pressure on the Government to overturn the Law Lords ruling, UCATT have decided to campaign in the seats of Cabinet Ministers where there is a high level of asbestos illness. On July 18 UCATT will be targeting the seats of John Hutton and also the South Shields constituency of foreign secretary David Miliband.
Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: 'While I welcome that the Government is seriously examining this issue, it would be unfair and intolerable if pleural plaque victims north of the border received compensation, while those in England did not.'
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Miner’s death linked to work
icwales.couk June 12th 2008
Glamorgan coroner Philip Walters recorded a verdict of death due to industrial disease on an 84 year old ex miner.
Emrys James died on November 28 last year after being taken to Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
Pathologist Dr Joanne Roach told the hearing that a post mortem found embedded coal dust, known as “coal workers’ pneumoconiosis” and traces of asbestos in his lungs. She also found evidence of chronic bronchitis, but gave heart disease as the eventual cause of death.
The coroner said: “While Mr James had significant natural causes of death, it has always been my practice to record a verdict of death due to industrial disease, so the coal workers’ pneumoconiosis and asbestos are recognised as contributory factors.”
Glamorgan coroner Philip Walters recorded a verdict of death due to industrial disease on an 84 year old ex miner.
Emrys James died on November 28 last year after being taken to Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
Pathologist Dr Joanne Roach told the hearing that a post mortem found embedded coal dust, known as “coal workers’ pneumoconiosis” and traces of asbestos in his lungs. She also found evidence of chronic bronchitis, but gave heart disease as the eventual cause of death.
The coroner said: “While Mr James had significant natural causes of death, it has always been my practice to record a verdict of death due to industrial disease, so the coal workers’ pneumoconiosis and asbestos are recognised as contributory factors.”
Fears over asbestos find delays centre reopening
Glasgow Evening Times June 10th 2008:
ASBESTOS has been found at a controversial community centre - further delaying its planned re-opening.
The discovery of the toxic material at the Chirnsyde facility, which was run by alleged gangland figure Eddie Lyons, today led to calls for a full safety probe.The centre, which was built in 1967, was shut down in the wake of the 2006 murder of Eddie's nephew Michael Lyons.
It had been due to re-open this month under council management with a new name - Ashgill Recreation Centre - following a £260,000 facelift.
But because of the discovery of asbestos in the floor of the gym, and delays appointing a contractor for refurbishment work, the date has been pushed back to July 19.
Councillor Billy McAllister said he wants a full health and safety investigation carried out, despite the fact he understands that the centre was first due to reopen in May and the date has already been pushed back several times.
He said: "The building could be riddled with asbestos. I will insist on a full check of the whole structure before people are allowed back in.
To read the full article please click on the following link:
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2327282.0.fears_over_asbestos_find_delays_centre_reopening.php
ASBESTOS has been found at a controversial community centre - further delaying its planned re-opening.
The discovery of the toxic material at the Chirnsyde facility, which was run by alleged gangland figure Eddie Lyons, today led to calls for a full safety probe.The centre, which was built in 1967, was shut down in the wake of the 2006 murder of Eddie's nephew Michael Lyons.
It had been due to re-open this month under council management with a new name - Ashgill Recreation Centre - following a £260,000 facelift.
But because of the discovery of asbestos in the floor of the gym, and delays appointing a contractor for refurbishment work, the date has been pushed back to July 19.
Councillor Billy McAllister said he wants a full health and safety investigation carried out, despite the fact he understands that the centre was first due to reopen in May and the date has already been pushed back several times.
He said: "The building could be riddled with asbestos. I will insist on a full check of the whole structure before people are allowed back in.
To read the full article please click on the following link:
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2327282.0.fears_over_asbestos_find_delays_centre_reopening.php
Hospital to isolate asbestos
Safety and Media Limited 11th June 2008
The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is undergoing work to isolate asbestos in the maternity unit of the building. The work is essential to ensure the safety of patients, staff and visitors.
It is planned to encapsulate the substance rather than to remove it. This is in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Health and Safety Executive, (HSE).
To read the full article please click on the link below.
http://www.safetymedia.co.uk/news/asbestos/hospital_to_isolate_asbestos/147721
The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is undergoing work to isolate asbestos in the maternity unit of the building. The work is essential to ensure the safety of patients, staff and visitors.
It is planned to encapsulate the substance rather than to remove it. This is in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Health and Safety Executive, (HSE).
To read the full article please click on the link below.
http://www.safetymedia.co.uk/news/asbestos/hospital_to_isolate_asbestos/147721
Fears over dumped asbestos pipes
The Wiltshire Times reported on 11 June 2008 that residents of Trowbridge are campaigning to get dumped asbestos pipes removed from a patch of land that is often used by children. The cracked concrete drainage pipes, containing asbestos, have been illegally dumped on ground behind Wickes building supplies store in Kennet Way Trowbridge.
The patch of ground behind the store is accessible by a path off Wyke Road and is used by children and teenagers to make dens.
The rear yard of Wickes abuts directly on to the piece of ground and is easily accessible because it is not fenced off. The pipes are on the border between public ground and the Wickes yard.
Although the locals reported the location of the pipes to West Wiltshire District Council months ago, no action has yet been taken and the pipes remain exposed on the ground.
A spokesman for the district council said: "The number of reported fly-tipping incidents has almost doubled across the district in recent months, which has heavily increased the workload of environmental enforcement officers.
"This rise is partly due to the start of the car boot sale season as excess, unsold items are often dumped in laybys.
To read the full report please click on the link below:
http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.2333698.0.fears_over_dumped_asbestos_pipes.php
The patch of ground behind the store is accessible by a path off Wyke Road and is used by children and teenagers to make dens.
The rear yard of Wickes abuts directly on to the piece of ground and is easily accessible because it is not fenced off. The pipes are on the border between public ground and the Wickes yard.
Although the locals reported the location of the pipes to West Wiltshire District Council months ago, no action has yet been taken and the pipes remain exposed on the ground.
A spokesman for the district council said: "The number of reported fly-tipping incidents has almost doubled across the district in recent months, which has heavily increased the workload of environmental enforcement officers.
"This rise is partly due to the start of the car boot sale season as excess, unsold items are often dumped in laybys.
To read the full report please click on the link below:
http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/latestheadlines/display.var.2333698.0.fears_over_dumped_asbestos_pipes.php
New research body targets cure for asbestos illnesses
ABC News Australia reported on June 11th 2008 that a new Brisbane-based research group hope to improve treatments and quality of life for people with asbestos-related diseases.
The Asbestos Research Group, based at Brisbane's Wesley Hospital, will examine the progression of diseases like mesothelioma and the impact of reduced lung capacity.
Karen Banton, the widow of mesothelioma victim and campaigner Bernie Banton, says while a cure for the disease is a long way off, more can be done in the short term.
"To give better quality of life, improved quality of life to asbestos sufferers and also to make it easier for their families," she said.
"Just to give them hope really that what they're going through will not befall other families and that one day there will be a cure for these insidious diseases."
Dr Roger Allen says about 27,000 Australians will die from mesothelioma in the next 40 years and researchers are hoping to find a cure.
"I think that's a long way off but we have to start somewhere," he said.
"We don't even know why certain types of asbestos cause mesothelioma - they occur in various ratios so that some types of asbestos fibres are more virulent than others, are more likely to produce cancer.
"They're really basic questions that we can't even answer, let alone treat it."
The Asbestos Research Group, based at Brisbane's Wesley Hospital, will examine the progression of diseases like mesothelioma and the impact of reduced lung capacity.
Karen Banton, the widow of mesothelioma victim and campaigner Bernie Banton, says while a cure for the disease is a long way off, more can be done in the short term.
"To give better quality of life, improved quality of life to asbestos sufferers and also to make it easier for their families," she said.
"Just to give them hope really that what they're going through will not befall other families and that one day there will be a cure for these insidious diseases."
Dr Roger Allen says about 27,000 Australians will die from mesothelioma in the next 40 years and researchers are hoping to find a cure.
"I think that's a long way off but we have to start somewhere," he said.
"We don't even know why certain types of asbestos cause mesothelioma - they occur in various ratios so that some types of asbestos fibres are more virulent than others, are more likely to produce cancer.
"They're really basic questions that we can't even answer, let alone treat it."
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Court rules asbestos causes lung cancer
TUC Risks 24th May, reported that a High Court ruling has confirmed the lung cancer and asbestos link. Although it has long been accepted asbestos causes lung cancer, proving the link in court has been difficult because, unlike mesothelioma, the condition can be caused by a wide range of other factors, including smoking.
The new ruling involves the case of John Joseph Shortell, who died of lung cancer on 8 July 2006 aged 74. The defendant was his former employer, BICAL Construction Ltd. It is believed this is the first case successfully contested in court, establishing that exposure to asbestos caused lung cancer in a worker without pre-existing asbestos disease. Other cases have been settled out-of-court, so not establishing a legal precedent.
Electrical jointer Mr Shortell - who had also smoked until the age of 53 - had been exposed to asbestos for the majority of his working life at a number of power stations. He working closely with laggers as they handled asbestos. Judge Mr Justice Mackay ruled that the exposure to asbestos more than doubled the claimant's risk of developing lung cancer and the fact that Mr Shortell smoked, he said, did not impact on the negligence and breaches of duty that the defendant showed over many years.
Personal injury lawyers believe the case will have huge implications for lung cancer sufferers throughout the UK who have been exposed to asbestos. Roger Maddocks of law firm Irwin Mitchell commented: 'Although the claimant was an ex-smoker, his employers repeatedly breached their duty of care towards him by exposing him to asbestos during his work and the claimant's contributory negligence, by reason of his past smoking habit, was rated at only 15 per cent. It is the first such case ever to succeed on behalf of a lung cancer sufferer who did not also have asbestosis.'
John Shortell (executor of the estate of John Joseph Shortell deceased and litigation friend of Eileen Shortell) v BICAL construction Ltd (sued as successor to BIC Construction Ltd), in the High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division), Liverpool District Registry, Case No: 7LV30059, 28 April - 1 May 2008.
The new ruling involves the case of John Joseph Shortell, who died of lung cancer on 8 July 2006 aged 74. The defendant was his former employer, BICAL Construction Ltd. It is believed this is the first case successfully contested in court, establishing that exposure to asbestos caused lung cancer in a worker without pre-existing asbestos disease. Other cases have been settled out-of-court, so not establishing a legal precedent.
Electrical jointer Mr Shortell - who had also smoked until the age of 53 - had been exposed to asbestos for the majority of his working life at a number of power stations. He working closely with laggers as they handled asbestos. Judge Mr Justice Mackay ruled that the exposure to asbestos more than doubled the claimant's risk of developing lung cancer and the fact that Mr Shortell smoked, he said, did not impact on the negligence and breaches of duty that the defendant showed over many years.
Personal injury lawyers believe the case will have huge implications for lung cancer sufferers throughout the UK who have been exposed to asbestos. Roger Maddocks of law firm Irwin Mitchell commented: 'Although the claimant was an ex-smoker, his employers repeatedly breached their duty of care towards him by exposing him to asbestos during his work and the claimant's contributory negligence, by reason of his past smoking habit, was rated at only 15 per cent. It is the first such case ever to succeed on behalf of a lung cancer sufferer who did not also have asbestosis.'
John Shortell (executor of the estate of John Joseph Shortell deceased and litigation friend of Eileen Shortell) v BICAL construction Ltd (sued as successor to BIC Construction Ltd), in the High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division), Liverpool District Registry, Case No: 7LV30059, 28 April - 1 May 2008.
Canada: Pro-asbestos lobby gets caught out
TUC Risks 31st May 2008 reported that Canada's pro-asbestos lobby has faced stern criticism for wrongly implying a long-delayed government commissioned report opposes a ban on asbestos.
Critics including the chair of the Health Canada panel of experts that prepared the report have denounced both the delay and the misrepresentation of their findings.
Health Canada hired seven scientific and medical experts from around the world last November to examine the risks of chrysotile, or white asbetsos. Leslie Stayner, head of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, as well as UK occupational hygiene expert Trevor Ogden, the chair of the panel of experts, have each written letters to federal health minister Tony Clement decrying the delay in publishing their findings. 'It is simply unacceptable for this report to continue to be withheld from the public, while individuals who have seen the report and our comments make erroneous allegations about what it contains to suit their political objectives,' Stayner wrote in his letter.
Last week, Bloc Québécois MP André Bellavance rose in Canada's House of Commons to argue against growing calls to ban chrysotile, implying Health Canada's new study supports his view. 'I want to make the record clear that nothing in the report would argue against the sensibility of an asbestos ban in Canada or for that matter anywhere else in the world,' Stayner told CBC News.
In his letter, Stayner said that while the panel was not asked to rule on whether chrysotile asbestos can be used safely, 'from a pragmatic point of view, my answer to this question would be that it [safe use] is simply not possible.' The controversy comes as the executive of CLC, Canada's national union federation, is recommending a policy that will see the gradual closure of the country's asbestos mines, alongside measures to address the impact of the shutdown on the affected miners.
Critics including the chair of the Health Canada panel of experts that prepared the report have denounced both the delay and the misrepresentation of their findings.
Health Canada hired seven scientific and medical experts from around the world last November to examine the risks of chrysotile, or white asbetsos. Leslie Stayner, head of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, as well as UK occupational hygiene expert Trevor Ogden, the chair of the panel of experts, have each written letters to federal health minister Tony Clement decrying the delay in publishing their findings. 'It is simply unacceptable for this report to continue to be withheld from the public, while individuals who have seen the report and our comments make erroneous allegations about what it contains to suit their political objectives,' Stayner wrote in his letter.
Last week, Bloc Québécois MP André Bellavance rose in Canada's House of Commons to argue against growing calls to ban chrysotile, implying Health Canada's new study supports his view. 'I want to make the record clear that nothing in the report would argue against the sensibility of an asbestos ban in Canada or for that matter anywhere else in the world,' Stayner told CBC News.
In his letter, Stayner said that while the panel was not asked to rule on whether chrysotile asbestos can be used safely, 'from a pragmatic point of view, my answer to this question would be that it [safe use] is simply not possible.' The controversy comes as the executive of CLC, Canada's national union federation, is recommending a policy that will see the gradual closure of the country's asbestos mines, alongside measures to address the impact of the shutdown on the affected miners.
MPs criticise insurance industry on asbestos claims
Legal and Medical, 6th, June 2008:
MPs spoke out in disapproval of the insurance industry’s treatment of asbestos victims.
Michael Clapham MP described the insurance industry as acting like “jackals” in their concentrated attack on paying compensation to victims of industrial illnesses.
After Excess Insurance Company Limited’s ‘trigger issue’ High Court challenge that could dramatically reduce the likelihood of mesothelioma sufferers being compensated. Mr Clapham accused the insurance industry of gross “hypocrisy” saying that on the one hand their representatives make statements that they want to ensure that payments to mesothelioma victims easy and straightforward, then in the next breath they launch expensive legal cases to deny victims compensation.
MP Jim Sherdan described asbestos victims as “being treated worse than cattle”. He argued that if animals experienced the same diseases, then the middles classes would demand that swift action was taken.The MPs were speaking in a Westminster Hall debate about the fight to restore compensation to victims of pleural plaques.
Pleural plaques are scarring of the lungs caused by heavy and long term exposure to asbestos. Pleural plaque victims are a thousand times more likely than other people of contracting the fatal lung cancer mesothelioma which kills 2,000 people a year.
A medical expert on pleural plaques, and Consultant Physician, Robin Rudd has stated that pleural plaques are a pathological change in the membrane which surrounds the lung, victims of pleural plaques are liable to pleural thickening causing breathlessness, lung cancer and mesothelioma.
Dr Rudd also found that pleural plaque sufferers suffer severe mental anxiety following diagnosis, as they fear that they will die from mesothelioma, which is incurable. During the debate it also emerged that a leading accountancy firm has estimated that the Law Lords decision on pleural plaques will save the insurance industry £1.4 billion.
MPs spoke out in disapproval of the insurance industry’s treatment of asbestos victims.
Michael Clapham MP described the insurance industry as acting like “jackals” in their concentrated attack on paying compensation to victims of industrial illnesses.
After Excess Insurance Company Limited’s ‘trigger issue’ High Court challenge that could dramatically reduce the likelihood of mesothelioma sufferers being compensated. Mr Clapham accused the insurance industry of gross “hypocrisy” saying that on the one hand their representatives make statements that they want to ensure that payments to mesothelioma victims easy and straightforward, then in the next breath they launch expensive legal cases to deny victims compensation.
MP Jim Sherdan described asbestos victims as “being treated worse than cattle”. He argued that if animals experienced the same diseases, then the middles classes would demand that swift action was taken.The MPs were speaking in a Westminster Hall debate about the fight to restore compensation to victims of pleural plaques.
Pleural plaques are scarring of the lungs caused by heavy and long term exposure to asbestos. Pleural plaque victims are a thousand times more likely than other people of contracting the fatal lung cancer mesothelioma which kills 2,000 people a year.
A medical expert on pleural plaques, and Consultant Physician, Robin Rudd has stated that pleural plaques are a pathological change in the membrane which surrounds the lung, victims of pleural plaques are liable to pleural thickening causing breathlessness, lung cancer and mesothelioma.
Dr Rudd also found that pleural plaque sufferers suffer severe mental anxiety following diagnosis, as they fear that they will die from mesothelioma, which is incurable. During the debate it also emerged that a leading accountancy firm has estimated that the Law Lords decision on pleural plaques will save the insurance industry £1.4 billion.
Fifth 'Ghost Ship' sparks new storm
Northern Echo 10th June 2008 reported that the row over the so-called "Ghost Ships" is about to reignite after it was revealed another ship containing hundreds of tonnes of asbestos-contaminated material is on its way to the North-East.
Teesside company Able UK confirmed last night that it had a contract to dismantle a ship containing more asbestos-contaminated material than all four previous ships combined.
The row over the Ghost Ships - decommissioned US naval vessels - sparked an international row when they sailed across the Atlantic to be scrapped at Able's facilities in Hartlepool.
Critics said the US should not be exporting toxic materials, but supporters said Able was facing a classic "environment v economy" dilemma.
If Able's operations take off, the business could create hundreds of jobs. The company also has world-class facilities to carry out such a contract.
The Northern Echo can reveal that the Hartlepool firm has applied for an exemption from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) so the latest vessel can be dismantled and recycled.
Able needs permission because the ship, which is arriving from Europe, contains about 700 tonnes of contaminated materials and it is illegal to import asbestos to the UK.
Environmental group The Friends of Hartlepool attacked the move and said it had not been consulted.
The HSE has given the group an extra two weeks to comment on Able's application.
A spokesman for the Friends of Hartlepool said: "We have had major concerns over the consultation on this matter, having not been made aware of Able UK's application for an exemption."
The amount of asbestos-contaminated material contained in the unnamed ship dwarfs that contained in each of the first four of the 13 ships that made up Able's original £11m contract with the US maritime administration, Marad.
According to the Environment Agency, the four vessels, which have remained moored at Able's Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre (Terrc), at Graythorp, near Hartlepool, since 2003, contain about 633 tonnes of asbestos contaminated material between them.
Able already has a similar exemption granted by the HSE to import asbestos, applying to the 13 former US Navy ships.
In a letter passed to The Northern Echo, Chris Gillies, principal inspector of health and safety for the HSE, states of the application: "Our intention is that any exemption granted would take effect only when Able UK had secured all necessary permissions and requirements from other regulatory agencies, in particular the Environment Agency."
In November, the company was fined £22,000 by magistrates after it failed to dispose of asbestos in the correct manner on two occasions at its Seaton Meadows landfill site in Hartlepool.
The firm blamed a bulldozer operator, working on behalf of one of its subcontractors, who had failed to follow instructions.
To read the full report please click on the link below:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/display.var.2329851.0.fifth_ghost_ship_sparks_new_storm.php
Teesside company Able UK confirmed last night that it had a contract to dismantle a ship containing more asbestos-contaminated material than all four previous ships combined.
The row over the Ghost Ships - decommissioned US naval vessels - sparked an international row when they sailed across the Atlantic to be scrapped at Able's facilities in Hartlepool.
Critics said the US should not be exporting toxic materials, but supporters said Able was facing a classic "environment v economy" dilemma.
If Able's operations take off, the business could create hundreds of jobs. The company also has world-class facilities to carry out such a contract.
The Northern Echo can reveal that the Hartlepool firm has applied for an exemption from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) so the latest vessel can be dismantled and recycled.
Able needs permission because the ship, which is arriving from Europe, contains about 700 tonnes of contaminated materials and it is illegal to import asbestos to the UK.
Environmental group The Friends of Hartlepool attacked the move and said it had not been consulted.
The HSE has given the group an extra two weeks to comment on Able's application.
A spokesman for the Friends of Hartlepool said: "We have had major concerns over the consultation on this matter, having not been made aware of Able UK's application for an exemption."
The amount of asbestos-contaminated material contained in the unnamed ship dwarfs that contained in each of the first four of the 13 ships that made up Able's original £11m contract with the US maritime administration, Marad.
According to the Environment Agency, the four vessels, which have remained moored at Able's Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre (Terrc), at Graythorp, near Hartlepool, since 2003, contain about 633 tonnes of asbestos contaminated material between them.
Able already has a similar exemption granted by the HSE to import asbestos, applying to the 13 former US Navy ships.
In a letter passed to The Northern Echo, Chris Gillies, principal inspector of health and safety for the HSE, states of the application: "Our intention is that any exemption granted would take effect only when Able UK had secured all necessary permissions and requirements from other regulatory agencies, in particular the Environment Agency."
In November, the company was fined £22,000 by magistrates after it failed to dispose of asbestos in the correct manner on two occasions at its Seaton Meadows landfill site in Hartlepool.
The firm blamed a bulldozer operator, working on behalf of one of its subcontractors, who had failed to follow instructions.
To read the full report please click on the link below:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/display.var.2329851.0.fifth_ghost_ship_sparks_new_storm.php
Mother and son died of asbestos-related cancer
Epping Forest Guardian reported on 9th June that an elderly woman died from a rare asbestos-related cancer - three years after her son passed away from the same condition.
Joan Squires, 92, of Ilford, died from mesothelioma on April 8, an inquest heard.
Mrs Squires, a retired clerical worker, had never worked in factories and had not knowingly come into contact with asbestos.
But five years ago, her son John an electrical engineer also died from the cancer aged 59.
Mrs Squire's other son Howard told Walthamstow Coroner's Court that his mother and brother may have inhaled asebstos fibres while dismantling and fixing a storage heater in their Wensleydale Avenue home in the early 1970s.
He said: "I thought it was a bit mad at the time, I thought we should have got a new storage heater rather than fix it but obviously I did not know how serious it would turn out to be."
Mesothelioma is a a rare and virulent form of cancer that affects the lining of the lung, lining of the abdominal cavity or lining around the heart. The average time between diagnosis and death is only 18 months.
It occurs in people who have breathed in asbestos fibres, in many cases 20 to 50 or more years ago.
In most cases, mesothelioma is contracted by people working on building sites, although some inhale the fibres second hand through other peoples' clothes, hairs or skin.
On March 18 this year Mrs Squires was admitted to Whipps Cross Hospital with breathing difficulties.
Following a scan doctors noticed a grey shading on her lung and she was later diagnosed with the incurable cancer.
To read the full report please click on the link below:
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.2329241.0.ilford_mother_and_son_died_of_asbestosrelated_cancer.php
Joan Squires, 92, of Ilford, died from mesothelioma on April 8, an inquest heard.
Mrs Squires, a retired clerical worker, had never worked in factories and had not knowingly come into contact with asbestos.
But five years ago, her son John an electrical engineer also died from the cancer aged 59.
Mrs Squire's other son Howard told Walthamstow Coroner's Court that his mother and brother may have inhaled asebstos fibres while dismantling and fixing a storage heater in their Wensleydale Avenue home in the early 1970s.
He said: "I thought it was a bit mad at the time, I thought we should have got a new storage heater rather than fix it but obviously I did not know how serious it would turn out to be."
Mesothelioma is a a rare and virulent form of cancer that affects the lining of the lung, lining of the abdominal cavity or lining around the heart. The average time between diagnosis and death is only 18 months.
It occurs in people who have breathed in asbestos fibres, in many cases 20 to 50 or more years ago.
In most cases, mesothelioma is contracted by people working on building sites, although some inhale the fibres second hand through other peoples' clothes, hairs or skin.
On March 18 this year Mrs Squires was admitted to Whipps Cross Hospital with breathing difficulties.
Following a scan doctors noticed a grey shading on her lung and she was later diagnosed with the incurable cancer.
To read the full report please click on the link below:
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.2329241.0.ilford_mother_and_son_died_of_asbestosrelated_cancer.php
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Spain workers can sue over ship asbestos
The Associated Press
Published: May 27, 2008
Fifteen Spanish workers can sue an American company in a New Jersey state court for asbestos-related illnesses they claim were caused while working on U.S. Navy ships in Spain, a state appellate panel ruled on Tuesday.
The 3-0 ruling revived the workers' lawsuit by reversing a lower court ruling that had dismissed the lawsuit against manufacturer Owens-Illinois Inc. on jurisdictional grounds.
The workers claim they were exposed to asbestos insulating products from 1950 to 1998 that were made at Owens-Illinois plants in New Jersey. Owens-Illinois is based in Perrysburg, Ohio, and incorporated in Delaware.
A lawyer for the company, John C. Garde, said no decision had been made on whether to appeal the ruling, but he questioned why the court would allow the case to be tried in New Jersey given that the injuries are alleged to have happened overseas.
"I find it difficult to believe that any New Jersey court would countenance claims remaining in New Jersey that have nothing to do with New Jersey, with plaintiffs who have never even set foot in New Jersey," Garde said.
The lawyer for the workers, Mitchell S. Cohen, said the judge who dismissed the case initially should have considered that New Jersey was the only court where the case can be tried before dismissing it.
"Spanish law will not allow, under the facts of these cases, to file a claim in Spain," Cohen said. That's because the injuries took place on sovereign U.S. territory — the Navy warships, he said.
The Spanish tradesmen said they were employed by private contractors or the Navy, and worked at the jointly owned U.S.-Spanish military installation in Rota, Spain, or at neighboring private shipyards in Cadiz, Spain. They sued in 2004.
The appellate decision, written by Appellate Judge Anthony J. Parrillo, said the lower court judge should have given more consideration to the workers' choice of court.
"We agree and conclude that the determination to dismiss plaintiffs' actions in favor of a foreign jurisdiction was a clearly mistaken exercise of the court's discretion," the opinion said.
The panel said Owens-Illinois would not be overburdened by a case in the United States because "key corporate evidence and witnesses relating to the development, testing, marketing and sale of (asbestos products) to the U.S. government or military are more likely available in this country."
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/27/america/NA-GEN-US-Spain-Asbestos.php
Published: May 27, 2008
Fifteen Spanish workers can sue an American company in a New Jersey state court for asbestos-related illnesses they claim were caused while working on U.S. Navy ships in Spain, a state appellate panel ruled on Tuesday.
The 3-0 ruling revived the workers' lawsuit by reversing a lower court ruling that had dismissed the lawsuit against manufacturer Owens-Illinois Inc. on jurisdictional grounds.
The workers claim they were exposed to asbestos insulating products from 1950 to 1998 that were made at Owens-Illinois plants in New Jersey. Owens-Illinois is based in Perrysburg, Ohio, and incorporated in Delaware.
A lawyer for the company, John C. Garde, said no decision had been made on whether to appeal the ruling, but he questioned why the court would allow the case to be tried in New Jersey given that the injuries are alleged to have happened overseas.
"I find it difficult to believe that any New Jersey court would countenance claims remaining in New Jersey that have nothing to do with New Jersey, with plaintiffs who have never even set foot in New Jersey," Garde said.
The lawyer for the workers, Mitchell S. Cohen, said the judge who dismissed the case initially should have considered that New Jersey was the only court where the case can be tried before dismissing it.
"Spanish law will not allow, under the facts of these cases, to file a claim in Spain," Cohen said. That's because the injuries took place on sovereign U.S. territory — the Navy warships, he said.
The Spanish tradesmen said they were employed by private contractors or the Navy, and worked at the jointly owned U.S.-Spanish military installation in Rota, Spain, or at neighboring private shipyards in Cadiz, Spain. They sued in 2004.
The appellate decision, written by Appellate Judge Anthony J. Parrillo, said the lower court judge should have given more consideration to the workers' choice of court.
"We agree and conclude that the determination to dismiss plaintiffs' actions in favor of a foreign jurisdiction was a clearly mistaken exercise of the court's discretion," the opinion said.
The panel said Owens-Illinois would not be overburdened by a case in the United States because "key corporate evidence and witnesses relating to the development, testing, marketing and sale of (asbestos products) to the U.S. government or military are more likely available in this country."
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/27/america/NA-GEN-US-Spain-Asbestos.php
Storm over asbestos waste site proposals
02 June 2008
A STORM of opposition has blown up over plans to build an asbestos waste site just yards from homes.
Aspect Contracts has submitted a planning application to Derbyshire County Council for a 'waste transfer station' on Whitting Valley Road, Whittington Moor in Chesterfield.The Essex-based firm has earmarked the former Haydon Concrete depot to store construction and demolition rubbish before moving it on to landfill tips. Uncontaminated waste would be taken to recycling centres.
The plan has alarmed and angered residents who fear it could endanger their health. They have launched a campaign to stop the development going ahead.
The Residents Against Asbestos Waste - or RAAW - campaign says as much as three-quarters of the waste will contain asbestos.
Chesterfield councillors have already unanimously recommended to Derbyshire County Council that the plan be rejected as "the site is not considered to be an appropriate site for waste transfer uses because of its proximity to residential properties", and Chesterfield MP Paul Holmes has also slammed the plans.
He said: "I simply cannot understand why anyone would choose to locate such a site not only very close to a residential area and a children's play area, but in a flood zone at the centre of a large urban population."Every single lorry load of asbestos contaminated waste - 7,000 tonnes of material a year - would have to be trucked through the streets of Chesterfield, with its 100,000 plus population, and then out again."
In its application the company says an estimated 73 per cent of stored material would contain asbestos and the remaining 27 per cent would be non-hazardous household, construction and industrial waste.
Proposed lorry routes could include Whitting Valley Road, Whitting Hill Road, Chesterfield's ring road, the A61, the A617, the M1 motorway and Chatsworth Road.The company claims the operation would be completely safe, with waste in enclosed lockable containers sealed at all times while not in use. They say the development would fulfil a waste management need as the only one of its type in the area, and that it would reduce landfill. An Aspect spokesperson said: "All asbestos waste is inspected and packaged and sealed in accordance with legislation and, as a result, no escape of waste, dust or debris occurs."The application is due to be heard by Derbyshire County Council in the next few weeks.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Storm-over-asbestos-waste-site.4139409.jp
A STORM of opposition has blown up over plans to build an asbestos waste site just yards from homes.
Aspect Contracts has submitted a planning application to Derbyshire County Council for a 'waste transfer station' on Whitting Valley Road, Whittington Moor in Chesterfield.The Essex-based firm has earmarked the former Haydon Concrete depot to store construction and demolition rubbish before moving it on to landfill tips. Uncontaminated waste would be taken to recycling centres.
The plan has alarmed and angered residents who fear it could endanger their health. They have launched a campaign to stop the development going ahead.
The Residents Against Asbestos Waste - or RAAW - campaign says as much as three-quarters of the waste will contain asbestos.
Chesterfield councillors have already unanimously recommended to Derbyshire County Council that the plan be rejected as "the site is not considered to be an appropriate site for waste transfer uses because of its proximity to residential properties", and Chesterfield MP Paul Holmes has also slammed the plans.
He said: "I simply cannot understand why anyone would choose to locate such a site not only very close to a residential area and a children's play area, but in a flood zone at the centre of a large urban population."Every single lorry load of asbestos contaminated waste - 7,000 tonnes of material a year - would have to be trucked through the streets of Chesterfield, with its 100,000 plus population, and then out again."
In its application the company says an estimated 73 per cent of stored material would contain asbestos and the remaining 27 per cent would be non-hazardous household, construction and industrial waste.
Proposed lorry routes could include Whitting Valley Road, Whitting Hill Road, Chesterfield's ring road, the A61, the A617, the M1 motorway and Chatsworth Road.The company claims the operation would be completely safe, with waste in enclosed lockable containers sealed at all times while not in use. They say the development would fulfil a waste management need as the only one of its type in the area, and that it would reduce landfill. An Aspect spokesperson said: "All asbestos waste is inspected and packaged and sealed in accordance with legislation and, as a result, no escape of waste, dust or debris occurs."The application is due to be heard by Derbyshire County Council in the next few weeks.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Storm-over-asbestos-waste-site.4139409.jp
UK MP To Hold Open Advice Surgery For Asbestos Victims
Bloggernews reported on June 2nd 2008 that an MP from Norwich is getting together with a leading solicitor in order to hold open advice surgeries for people that have suffered from asbestos related illnesses.
Dr Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North, has got together with David Cass from Irwin Mitchell solicitors in Sheffield to implement the advice service.
The MP wants the surgery to be held at some point in the coming months. He has recently been campaigning for victims of pleural plaques to be able to get compensation for their illness.
Gibson stated: “David and I agreed that we would set up a surgery meeting in Norwich , so that people who were exposed to asbestos and had pleural plaques or other asbestos-related illnesses or their families did, could get legal advice. We’re hoping to set it up within the next month. I will also have to talk to the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians and the Transport and General Workers Union who will have their own lawyers, to see if we could either set up a separate meeting with them or use the same one with David.”
To read the full account please click on the link below:
http://www.bloggernews.net/116005
Dr Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North, has got together with David Cass from Irwin Mitchell solicitors in Sheffield to implement the advice service.
The MP wants the surgery to be held at some point in the coming months. He has recently been campaigning for victims of pleural plaques to be able to get compensation for their illness.
Gibson stated: “David and I agreed that we would set up a surgery meeting in Norwich , so that people who were exposed to asbestos and had pleural plaques or other asbestos-related illnesses or their families did, could get legal advice. We’re hoping to set it up within the next month. I will also have to talk to the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians and the Transport and General Workers Union who will have their own lawyers, to see if we could either set up a separate meeting with them or use the same one with David.”
To read the full account please click on the link below:
http://www.bloggernews.net/116005
Asbestos inquiry chairman defends decision on names
The Northern Echo 3rd June 2008 reported that the chairman of the inquiry into the asbestos scandal at a council has defended the decision not to name the people behind the incident.
Staff at a County Durham sports centre were left to work unprotected with the toxic materials for five years after their bosses were warned about the danger.
A report into the incident was published last week, but the Wear Valley District Council officials involved are not named, despite calls from victims to bring their bosses to account.
Peter Kemp was appointed the inquiry's independent chairman last year. The retired council chief executive, from Northumberland, was asked to find out what happened to a 2001 asbestos report for Woodhouse Close Leisure Centre, in Bishop Auckland.
He concluded that the warning was never acted on because officers did not know who was supposed to take responsibility for asbestos. Mr Kemp said none of the officials who were interviewed about the incident were named, because the council did not ask the inquiry panel to do so. Mr Kemp said: "We were not asked to name anybody. We were asked to find the root cause of the incident. "We stuck firmly to the terms of reference set by the council and we had no problem with them."
The council did not act on the warning until a member of staff reported the authority to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2006.
The HSE took the case to court in August last year, and the council was fined £18,000. After guilty pleas to six offences, the court was told that all the senior officers in charge in 2001 had since left the council.
To read the full report please click on the link below.
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.2314062.0.asbestos_inquiry_chairman_defends_decision_on_names.php
Staff at a County Durham sports centre were left to work unprotected with the toxic materials for five years after their bosses were warned about the danger.
A report into the incident was published last week, but the Wear Valley District Council officials involved are not named, despite calls from victims to bring their bosses to account.
Peter Kemp was appointed the inquiry's independent chairman last year. The retired council chief executive, from Northumberland, was asked to find out what happened to a 2001 asbestos report for Woodhouse Close Leisure Centre, in Bishop Auckland.
He concluded that the warning was never acted on because officers did not know who was supposed to take responsibility for asbestos. Mr Kemp said none of the officials who were interviewed about the incident were named, because the council did not ask the inquiry panel to do so. Mr Kemp said: "We were not asked to name anybody. We were asked to find the root cause of the incident. "We stuck firmly to the terms of reference set by the council and we had no problem with them."
The council did not act on the warning until a member of staff reported the authority to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2006.
The HSE took the case to court in August last year, and the council was fined £18,000. After guilty pleas to six offences, the court was told that all the senior officers in charge in 2001 had since left the council.
To read the full report please click on the link below.
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.2314062.0.asbestos_inquiry_chairman_defends_decision_on_names.php
Cancer patient wins £5,000 bet
The Guardian 2nd June 2008 reported that a terminally ill man, who was told he had a few months to live after being diagnosed with cancer, collected £5,000 from the bookmakers yesterday.
Doctors had told Jon Matthews it was unlikely he would live to see Christmas after discovering he had mesothelioma - a cancer linked to asbestos. The 58-year-old, from Milton Keynes, placed a £100 bet that he would still be around in a year. Matthews, who was diagnosed in April 2006, was told the longest anyone had survived was 25 months.
"Today is 25 months and a week, so I've beaten that record. I do get bad days, obviously, but I'm feeling fine today. Everyone's feeling fine if they're going to pick up five grand," he said.
He said half the money would go to the cancer charity Macmillan. "The other half I'm going to spend on myself - booze and fags probably - I don't have anything to lose."
Doctors had told Jon Matthews it was unlikely he would live to see Christmas after discovering he had mesothelioma - a cancer linked to asbestos. The 58-year-old, from Milton Keynes, placed a £100 bet that he would still be around in a year. Matthews, who was diagnosed in April 2006, was told the longest anyone had survived was 25 months.
"Today is 25 months and a week, so I've beaten that record. I do get bad days, obviously, but I'm feeling fine today. Everyone's feeling fine if they're going to pick up five grand," he said.
He said half the money would go to the cancer charity Macmillan. "The other half I'm going to spend on myself - booze and fags probably - I don't have anything to lose."
Families seek compensation ruling for deaths linked to asbestos
The Guardian 2nd June 2008 reported that redress for the families of thousands of workers killed by the fatal asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma hinges on the outcome of a nine-week high court battle which starts on 3rd June.
Families of those who have already died from the disease and of those who develop it in future could be left without any compensation, depending on how the court interprets the wording of employers' insurance policies.
Lawyers say the six test cases, which go to the high court in London tomorrow, are the most important in the current wave of litigation stemming from insurers' attempts to hold back the tide of liability claims. Some 2,000 people a year are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the UK, and actuaries believe the numbers have not yet peaked.
Asbestos was widely used in many industries between 1950 and the early 1980s and was finally banned in 1999. But mesothelioma can take 40 years or more after exposure to develop.
In the meantime, many employers have gone out of business and in some cases their insurers have become insolvent.
In one of the test cases, the family of Charles O'Farrell, who died from mesothelioma in 2003, won a court judgment for £152,000 in compensation. But Excess, which insured his now-defunct employer, Humphreys & Glasgow, when he worked for them as a steel erector in the 1960s, has refused to pay up.
The insurers say his injury occurred not when he was exposed to asbestos in the 60s, but when the cells in the lining of the lung began to turn malignant. Medical evidence is that this happens roughly 10 years before symptoms appear. At that point the company was no longer trading and was not covered by insurance.
Another test case is being brought by the family of Leslie Screach, who was exposed to asbestos in the mid-60s as an industrial painter and died from mesothelioma in 2003.
They have been unable to enforce a £92,000 compensation award.
The company which employed him in the 60s had gone out of business by 1993, 10 years before his illness was diagnosed, and therefore no insurance was in force then.
For decades insurers which were providing employers' liability insurance at the time workers were exposed to asbestos paid out without question for those who developed mesothelioma decades later. But since February 2006 they have been refusing to pay, pointing to an appeal court ruling that month, even though the policy in question in that case was a different type - occupiers' liability, rather than employers' liability. In that case the appeal court ruled that Bolton council's insurers in the 1960s were not liable to indemnify Bolton for a payout to the family of Gordon Green, who contracted mesothelioma around 1981 as a result of inhaling asbestos dust while helping to build a teacher training college.
The union Unite is supporting O'Farrell's daughter, Maureen Edwards, who witnessed his painful death from the disease, which kills within months of diagnosis.
"Watching him go through it was agonising for all of us. But now our grief and sorrow is being dragged out and made worse by the insurers who we feel are doing all they can to get away without accepting any responsibility," she said.
Unite's joint general secretary, Derek Simpson, said: "What's at stake here is millions of pounds which should be used to compensate asbestos victims and not be pocketed by the insurance industry. It is a sickening scenario and we will fight every step of the way to see that insurers are not allowed to pass the buck and dodge their liabilities."
Ian McFall, head of asbestos policy at the union's solicitors, Thompsons, said: "If the insurers who deny liability are successful it will mean the policies they sold to employers, at the time when workers were being negligently exposed to asbestos, will not be worth the paper they were written on."
Families of those who have already died from the disease and of those who develop it in future could be left without any compensation, depending on how the court interprets the wording of employers' insurance policies.
Lawyers say the six test cases, which go to the high court in London tomorrow, are the most important in the current wave of litigation stemming from insurers' attempts to hold back the tide of liability claims. Some 2,000 people a year are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the UK, and actuaries believe the numbers have not yet peaked.
Asbestos was widely used in many industries between 1950 and the early 1980s and was finally banned in 1999. But mesothelioma can take 40 years or more after exposure to develop.
In the meantime, many employers have gone out of business and in some cases their insurers have become insolvent.
In one of the test cases, the family of Charles O'Farrell, who died from mesothelioma in 2003, won a court judgment for £152,000 in compensation. But Excess, which insured his now-defunct employer, Humphreys & Glasgow, when he worked for them as a steel erector in the 1960s, has refused to pay up.
The insurers say his injury occurred not when he was exposed to asbestos in the 60s, but when the cells in the lining of the lung began to turn malignant. Medical evidence is that this happens roughly 10 years before symptoms appear. At that point the company was no longer trading and was not covered by insurance.
Another test case is being brought by the family of Leslie Screach, who was exposed to asbestos in the mid-60s as an industrial painter and died from mesothelioma in 2003.
They have been unable to enforce a £92,000 compensation award.
The company which employed him in the 60s had gone out of business by 1993, 10 years before his illness was diagnosed, and therefore no insurance was in force then.
For decades insurers which were providing employers' liability insurance at the time workers were exposed to asbestos paid out without question for those who developed mesothelioma decades later. But since February 2006 they have been refusing to pay, pointing to an appeal court ruling that month, even though the policy in question in that case was a different type - occupiers' liability, rather than employers' liability. In that case the appeal court ruled that Bolton council's insurers in the 1960s were not liable to indemnify Bolton for a payout to the family of Gordon Green, who contracted mesothelioma around 1981 as a result of inhaling asbestos dust while helping to build a teacher training college.
The union Unite is supporting O'Farrell's daughter, Maureen Edwards, who witnessed his painful death from the disease, which kills within months of diagnosis.
"Watching him go through it was agonising for all of us. But now our grief and sorrow is being dragged out and made worse by the insurers who we feel are doing all they can to get away without accepting any responsibility," she said.
Unite's joint general secretary, Derek Simpson, said: "What's at stake here is millions of pounds which should be used to compensate asbestos victims and not be pocketed by the insurance industry. It is a sickening scenario and we will fight every step of the way to see that insurers are not allowed to pass the buck and dodge their liabilities."
Ian McFall, head of asbestos policy at the union's solicitors, Thompsons, said: "If the insurers who deny liability are successful it will mean the policies they sold to employers, at the time when workers were being negligently exposed to asbestos, will not be worth the paper they were written on."
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Doubts over asbestos cancer chemo
15th May 2008 the BBC reported that chemotherapy treatments which aim to prolong patients' lives and reduce suffering from asbestos-related cancer do not work, UK researchers suggest.
Mesothelioma, caused by asbestos exposure, is usually incurable, but some specialists hope chemo could delay death and improve quality of life.
The study in the Lancet found hundreds of patients saw no benefit. However, a US expert said other combinations of chemotherapy drugs could work better.
Treatment for mesothelioma is aimed principally at reducing its symptoms, and hopefully slowing down the progression of the illness.
The latest study looked at 409 patients, mainly from the UK, who were all given these standard treatments.
Some were additionally given doses of chemotherapy, and the effect on their disease compared.
While the chemotherapy patients did live slightly longer on average than those given just standard treatment, the researchers said the finding did not represent statistical proof, and could be misleading.
To read the full story please click on the link below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7402650.stm
Mesothelioma, caused by asbestos exposure, is usually incurable, but some specialists hope chemo could delay death and improve quality of life.
The study in the Lancet found hundreds of patients saw no benefit. However, a US expert said other combinations of chemotherapy drugs could work better.
Treatment for mesothelioma is aimed principally at reducing its symptoms, and hopefully slowing down the progression of the illness.
The latest study looked at 409 patients, mainly from the UK, who were all given these standard treatments.
Some were additionally given doses of chemotherapy, and the effect on their disease compared.
While the chemotherapy patients did live slightly longer on average than those given just standard treatment, the researchers said the finding did not represent statistical proof, and could be misleading.
To read the full story please click on the link below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7402650.stm
Surveyor fined for asbestos breach
21st May 2008 Contract Journal reported that a surveyor has been fined for failing to carry out asbestos inspection work on a refurbishment job in Birmingham.
Raymond Joseph Boyle of Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland, was convicted of a breach of The Control of Asbestos Regulations after undertaking demolition work that exposed people to asbestos.
He was fined £4,000 in total and ordered to pay costs of £4,016 at Birmingham Magistrates Court.
Raymond Joseph Boyle of Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland, was convicted of a breach of The Control of Asbestos Regulations after undertaking demolition work that exposed people to asbestos.
He was fined £4,000 in total and ordered to pay costs of £4,016 at Birmingham Magistrates Court.
Asbestos fears over workers
Portsmouth.co.uk reported on 21st May 2008 that the health of hundreds of council contractors could have been put at risk in a blunder over asbestos safety rules.
For the past four years there are no records of any contractors doing day-to-day work at the civic offices at Portsmouth City Council being warned of where they might come into contact with the potentially deadly substance. Council policy states that all contract workers should sign a form confirming they know where asbestos is. Cleaners, plumbers, removal men and general handymen were all at risk because of the oversight. Diane McLellan, founder of Hampshire
Asbestos Support and Awareness Group, said: 'This is a clear- cut case of negligence. They have a duty of care that they have failed to meet.' Mike Arthur, deputy head of asset management service, said: 'This lapse is unfortunate, but we don't believe it has exposed anyone to any more risk. Procedures have now been tightened up and are being properly
For the past four years there are no records of any contractors doing day-to-day work at the civic offices at Portsmouth City Council being warned of where they might come into contact with the potentially deadly substance. Council policy states that all contract workers should sign a form confirming they know where asbestos is. Cleaners, plumbers, removal men and general handymen were all at risk because of the oversight. Diane McLellan, founder of Hampshire
Asbestos Support and Awareness Group, said: 'This is a clear- cut case of negligence. They have a duty of care that they have failed to meet.' Mike Arthur, deputy head of asset management service, said: 'This lapse is unfortunate, but we don't believe it has exposed anyone to any more risk. Procedures have now been tightened up and are being properly
Mesothelioma widow compensated seven years later
Legal and Medical reported on 16th, May 2008 that a widow received a £218,000 payout for her husbands death after a seven year wait.
The women’s husband died of mesothelioma in 2001 after exposure at the Turner and Newell factory at which he worked. Claims against the company were frozen in 2001 because their US parent company Federal Mogul went into administration in the UK.Payments to victims started emerging last year when a trust was set up by the administrators, approved by the High Court.
An employers' liability insurance fund will pay compensation to those who worked for T&N after 1969. This fund is financed from insurers, Royal Sun Alliance and Lloyds, who wrote employers' liability insurance from T&N after 1969.
To read the full article please click on the link below:
http://www.legal-medical.co.uk/news/11865.html?msgid=370376909&rcptid=5661
The women’s husband died of mesothelioma in 2001 after exposure at the Turner and Newell factory at which he worked. Claims against the company were frozen in 2001 because their US parent company Federal Mogul went into administration in the UK.Payments to victims started emerging last year when a trust was set up by the administrators, approved by the High Court.
An employers' liability insurance fund will pay compensation to those who worked for T&N after 1969. This fund is financed from insurers, Royal Sun Alliance and Lloyds, who wrote employers' liability insurance from T&N after 1969.
To read the full article please click on the link below:
http://www.legal-medical.co.uk/news/11865.html?msgid=370376909&rcptid=5661
Health threat of nanotubes may be similar to asbestos
Wednesday May 21 2008 the Guardian reported that Scientists have warned that carbon nanotubes could pose a cancer risk similar to that of asbestos, saying the government should restrict the use of the materials to protect human health.
Carbon nanotubes which are 300 times finer than a human hair, were developed in 1991 and have proved extremely useful, conferring great strength while being very light. They are superb conductors of heat and electricity and have been touted as wonder materials that could form the basis of a new generation of electronics.
In most products containing nanotubes, such as car body panels, tennis rackets, yacht masts and bike frames, the fibres are embedded in composite materials, which provide strength and lightness. In this form the cylindrical molecules of carbon are likely to be relatively harmless.
But the researchers say further studies are necessary to confirm it; it cannot be assumed that people could not be exposed to carbon nanotubes held in materials.
Scientists will have to show that exposure from products is safe, said Andrew Maynard, of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, in Washington. "What happens as you demolish products or throw them away in landfill sites? Is there a chance of carbon nanotubes coming out then and exposure occurring? We simply don't know the answer to that and that needs to be addressed."
"This is a reason for concern," Anthony Seaton, an expert in asbestos-related diseases, at the Institute of Occupational Medicine, in Edinburgh, said. "Asbestos started in the same way - people used it experimentally."
The similarity between the size and structure of carbon nanotubes and asbestos fibres has always posed a question on how the former could affect lungs. The new research shows that, in mice, the tubes, like asbestos, cause inflammation of the mesothelium, the slippery membrane around some bodily organs. With asbestos fibres, the inflammation is a stage leading towards cancer.
The researchers, whose report is in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, compared the effects of short and long nanotubes. "Nanotubes behave like asbestos in the sense that long ones are harmful, short ones aren't, and that exposure to some sorts of carbon nanotubes could carry a risk," said Ken Donaldson, professor at the University of Edinburgh, and the study's leader.
He stressed that the team had not demonstrated that carbon nanotubes actually caused cancer but they thought the government should take the threat seriously and prevent people from being exposed.
Carbon nanotubes which are 300 times finer than a human hair, were developed in 1991 and have proved extremely useful, conferring great strength while being very light. They are superb conductors of heat and electricity and have been touted as wonder materials that could form the basis of a new generation of electronics.
In most products containing nanotubes, such as car body panels, tennis rackets, yacht masts and bike frames, the fibres are embedded in composite materials, which provide strength and lightness. In this form the cylindrical molecules of carbon are likely to be relatively harmless.
But the researchers say further studies are necessary to confirm it; it cannot be assumed that people could not be exposed to carbon nanotubes held in materials.
Scientists will have to show that exposure from products is safe, said Andrew Maynard, of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, in Washington. "What happens as you demolish products or throw them away in landfill sites? Is there a chance of carbon nanotubes coming out then and exposure occurring? We simply don't know the answer to that and that needs to be addressed."
"This is a reason for concern," Anthony Seaton, an expert in asbestos-related diseases, at the Institute of Occupational Medicine, in Edinburgh, said. "Asbestos started in the same way - people used it experimentally."
The similarity between the size and structure of carbon nanotubes and asbestos fibres has always posed a question on how the former could affect lungs. The new research shows that, in mice, the tubes, like asbestos, cause inflammation of the mesothelium, the slippery membrane around some bodily organs. With asbestos fibres, the inflammation is a stage leading towards cancer.
The researchers, whose report is in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, compared the effects of short and long nanotubes. "Nanotubes behave like asbestos in the sense that long ones are harmful, short ones aren't, and that exposure to some sorts of carbon nanotubes could carry a risk," said Ken Donaldson, professor at the University of Edinburgh, and the study's leader.
He stressed that the team had not demonstrated that carbon nanotubes actually caused cancer but they thought the government should take the threat seriously and prevent people from being exposed.
The image above is an artists impression of a nanotube, which
To read the full article please click on the link below:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/21/nanotechnology.controversiesinscience
To read the full article please click on the link below:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/21/nanotechnology.controversiesinscience
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
United Nations headquarters undergoes renovations
Los Angeles Times May 6th 2008 reported that The U.N. secretary-general and top diplomats made a groundbreaking move Monday to update and reform the world body -- or at least its antiquated headquarters.
Wielding shiny silver spades and wearing U.N. blue construction helmets, Ban Ki-moon and 16 other officials broke ground on the U.N.'s North Lawn to mark the beginning of a five-year, nearly $2-billion renovation. The gleaming edifice on the East River has hardly been updated since its completion in 1952 by a team of architects including Swiss-born Le Corbusier and Brazil's Oscar Niemeyer. The ceilings shed asbestos, the walls have lead paint and the dome of the General Assembly drips rain on diplomats' heads. Much of the building's machinery is obsolete, and craftsmen build their own replacement parts in workshops in the basement.
Technically international territory, the U.N. has been exempt from New York fire and safety codes, and during a courtesy inspection last year, it racked up 866 violations. Over five years, the building's interior will be gutted and rebuilt in a greener, more efficient and modern manner. But the U.N.'s gleaming blue-tinted exterior won't be changed, said New York architect Michael Adlerstein, who took over the project's management when the previous director got fed up with dealing with the U.N. system. Adlerstein previously renovated New York's Statue of Liberty and consulted on the preservation of India's Taj Mahal. Most of the 4,700 U.N. staffers will move in phases to a nearby office building, and heads of state will attend the annual General Assembly in a giant temporary building where the lawn now is. The Security Council will continue to hold meetings in the main U.N. building throughout the construction and will be shielded from asbestos and debris, contractors promised. The U.N. has been debating where and how to move its headquarters for nearly 10 years, as costs have spiraled. Among the options were moving it onto a cruise ship anchored in the East River, into a giant circus tent, into the Brooklyn Navy Yard or -- as some critics suggested -- out of the country altogether. Former U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton once said that if the U.N. lost its top 10 floors, "it wouldn't make one bit of difference." But that was a potshot at the world body's inefficiency, not its architecture. As one of the world's slowest bureaucracies lost opportunities in one of the world's hottest real estate markets, the Secretariat decided to erect the temporary building on the lawn."Spring is a time of rebirth," Ban said as he prepared to pick up his shovel. "Today we turn the soil which the United Nations stands on to mark the rebirth, or renovation, of our headquarters," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-groundbreak6-2008may06,0,6794135.story
Wielding shiny silver spades and wearing U.N. blue construction helmets, Ban Ki-moon and 16 other officials broke ground on the U.N.'s North Lawn to mark the beginning of a five-year, nearly $2-billion renovation. The gleaming edifice on the East River has hardly been updated since its completion in 1952 by a team of architects including Swiss-born Le Corbusier and Brazil's Oscar Niemeyer. The ceilings shed asbestos, the walls have lead paint and the dome of the General Assembly drips rain on diplomats' heads. Much of the building's machinery is obsolete, and craftsmen build their own replacement parts in workshops in the basement.
Technically international territory, the U.N. has been exempt from New York fire and safety codes, and during a courtesy inspection last year, it racked up 866 violations. Over five years, the building's interior will be gutted and rebuilt in a greener, more efficient and modern manner. But the U.N.'s gleaming blue-tinted exterior won't be changed, said New York architect Michael Adlerstein, who took over the project's management when the previous director got fed up with dealing with the U.N. system. Adlerstein previously renovated New York's Statue of Liberty and consulted on the preservation of India's Taj Mahal. Most of the 4,700 U.N. staffers will move in phases to a nearby office building, and heads of state will attend the annual General Assembly in a giant temporary building where the lawn now is. The Security Council will continue to hold meetings in the main U.N. building throughout the construction and will be shielded from asbestos and debris, contractors promised. The U.N. has been debating where and how to move its headquarters for nearly 10 years, as costs have spiraled. Among the options were moving it onto a cruise ship anchored in the East River, into a giant circus tent, into the Brooklyn Navy Yard or -- as some critics suggested -- out of the country altogether. Former U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton once said that if the U.N. lost its top 10 floors, "it wouldn't make one bit of difference." But that was a potshot at the world body's inefficiency, not its architecture. As one of the world's slowest bureaucracies lost opportunities in one of the world's hottest real estate markets, the Secretariat decided to erect the temporary building on the lawn."Spring is a time of rebirth," Ban said as he prepared to pick up his shovel. "Today we turn the soil which the United Nations stands on to mark the rebirth, or renovation, of our headquarters," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-groundbreak6-2008may06,0,6794135.story
Unions make work safer
Risks 3rd May 2008 reported that trade unions are by far the best vehicle to win better safety at work, transport union RMT has said.
The union's comments came on Workers' Memorial Day, 28 April, which saw the biggest ever list of commemorative events in the UK and worldwide. RMT said that Britain's new corporate manslaughter law still lets killer bosses off the hook - and that unions remain workers' best friend.
'After the Southall, Ladbroke Grove, Hatfield and Potters Bar rail crashes that killed 49, 20 years after the Piper Alpha rig disaster saw 167 workers die, five years after four of our members were killed by a runaway trolley at Tebay, profit is still being put ahead of safety,' RMT general secretary Bob Crow said.
'The trade union movement has fought for years for a corporate manslaughter law that would finally make individual bosses shoulder responsibility for the needless deaths their negligence causes,' he said, but added the law 'will not deliver justice because it won't put killer bosses in the dock, and slapping fines on corporations is simply not enough.' The union leader concluded: 'The message has to be: if you want to be safer at work, join the union and fight alongside your workmates to make your boss take safety seriously.'
Unite called for more rights for union health and safety representatives to maximise this union safety effect. Health and safety officer Rob Miguel said the high injury rates on construction sites showed 'we need greater powers for union health and safety representatives to inspect these sites. Increasing their power means reducing the chances of injuries and fatalities in the future.'
The union's comments came on Workers' Memorial Day, 28 April, which saw the biggest ever list of commemorative events in the UK and worldwide. RMT said that Britain's new corporate manslaughter law still lets killer bosses off the hook - and that unions remain workers' best friend.
'After the Southall, Ladbroke Grove, Hatfield and Potters Bar rail crashes that killed 49, 20 years after the Piper Alpha rig disaster saw 167 workers die, five years after four of our members were killed by a runaway trolley at Tebay, profit is still being put ahead of safety,' RMT general secretary Bob Crow said.
'The trade union movement has fought for years for a corporate manslaughter law that would finally make individual bosses shoulder responsibility for the needless deaths their negligence causes,' he said, but added the law 'will not deliver justice because it won't put killer bosses in the dock, and slapping fines on corporations is simply not enough.' The union leader concluded: 'The message has to be: if you want to be safer at work, join the union and fight alongside your workmates to make your boss take safety seriously.'
Unite called for more rights for union health and safety representatives to maximise this union safety effect. Health and safety officer Rob Miguel said the high injury rates on construction sites showed 'we need greater powers for union health and safety representatives to inspect these sites. Increasing their power means reducing the chances of injuries and fatalities in the future.'
Protest at HSE's bad move
Risks 3rd May 2008
Unions in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have warned its planned HQ move from London to Bootle will lead to a haemorrhage of experienced staff. Over 100 PCS members working at HSE's London HQ joined Workers' Memorial Day protesters outside the building. PCS says of the 320 staff told they would have to move, over 60 staff have already chosen to leave instead and only 12 have expressed an interest in relocating. So far only 28 staff have been recruited in Bootle. It said this means 'HSE will lose the competence, knowledge and know-how of a further 250 staff over the next two years.' PCS HSE branch secretary Chris Hurley said: 'Management say that savings from moving out of London will enable HSE to improve inspection rates across the country. In fact, London HQ only accounts for 1.5 per cent of total budget. Also, the original business case assumed that 40 per cent of staff would go to the North West. In fact it's less than 4 per cent. This loss will devastate the organisation. It is time for management to think again before it is too late.' PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka presented a petition to HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger opposing the move. The union leader commented: 'Members in HSE are delivering improvements to the lives of millions in this country. Yet management think it is acceptable to lose these experienced staff. In addition to the personal traumas being imposed on staff, the loss of so much experience puts all workers at risk. This petition ought to cause management to pause and think again about the action they are taking.'
Unions in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have warned its planned HQ move from London to Bootle will lead to a haemorrhage of experienced staff. Over 100 PCS members working at HSE's London HQ joined Workers' Memorial Day protesters outside the building. PCS says of the 320 staff told they would have to move, over 60 staff have already chosen to leave instead and only 12 have expressed an interest in relocating. So far only 28 staff have been recruited in Bootle. It said this means 'HSE will lose the competence, knowledge and know-how of a further 250 staff over the next two years.' PCS HSE branch secretary Chris Hurley said: 'Management say that savings from moving out of London will enable HSE to improve inspection rates across the country. In fact, London HQ only accounts for 1.5 per cent of total budget. Also, the original business case assumed that 40 per cent of staff would go to the North West. In fact it's less than 4 per cent. This loss will devastate the organisation. It is time for management to think again before it is too late.' PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka presented a petition to HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger opposing the move. The union leader commented: 'Members in HSE are delivering improvements to the lives of millions in this country. Yet management think it is acceptable to lose these experienced staff. In addition to the personal traumas being imposed on staff, the loss of so much experience puts all workers at risk. This petition ought to cause management to pause and think again about the action they are taking.'
Global Unions call for asbestos ban support
Risks 26th April 2008 reported that global union federations representing tens of millions of workers in the construction and metal sectors have renewed their call for a global asbestos ban.
Anita Normark, general secretary of the Building and Woodworkers' International (BWI), wrote last month to the Canadian Labour Congress appealing for help from Canadian trade unions to end the export of Canadian chrysotile asbestos to the developing world.
Normark pointed out that trade unions in Asia, Africa and Latin America are struggling to avoid an epidemic of asbestos diseases on a scale even more frightening than that seen already in industrialised countries. BWI said Canada mines about 250 thousand tons of chrysotile asbestos a year and exports it to developing countries, mainly in Asia, where information on the hazards and control measures to protect workers and communities from exposure are 'non-existent.' The Canadian government funds the Chrysotile Institute, described by BWI as 'an industry propaganda machine that markets asbestos and funds corrupt scientists to lie to public health officials, workers and consumers, selling this deadly substance by deception.'
BWI urged Canada's unions to attack their government's 'cynical policy.' Mirroring action taken by BWI affiliates worldwide, the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) wrote to the Geneva embassies and consulates of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam this month calling for a ban on the use of asbestos and compensation for workers harmed by asbestos.
Anita Normark, general secretary of the Building and Woodworkers' International (BWI), wrote last month to the Canadian Labour Congress appealing for help from Canadian trade unions to end the export of Canadian chrysotile asbestos to the developing world.
Normark pointed out that trade unions in Asia, Africa and Latin America are struggling to avoid an epidemic of asbestos diseases on a scale even more frightening than that seen already in industrialised countries. BWI said Canada mines about 250 thousand tons of chrysotile asbestos a year and exports it to developing countries, mainly in Asia, where information on the hazards and control measures to protect workers and communities from exposure are 'non-existent.' The Canadian government funds the Chrysotile Institute, described by BWI as 'an industry propaganda machine that markets asbestos and funds corrupt scientists to lie to public health officials, workers and consumers, selling this deadly substance by deception.'
BWI urged Canada's unions to attack their government's 'cynical policy.' Mirroring action taken by BWI affiliates worldwide, the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) wrote to the Geneva embassies and consulates of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam this month calling for a ban on the use of asbestos and compensation for workers harmed by asbestos.
Shipyard exposures caused asbestosis
Risks 26th April 2008 reported that a Unite member has been awarded £20,000 in provisional damages after exposure to asbestos in a shipyard wrecked his health.
Peter Guy developed asbestosis after being exposed to the dangerous dust while working for Harland & Wolf shipyard during the 1960s. The condition has left him unable to do gardening and other jobs around the house and he has had to give up his passion for swimming.
Mr Guy, 74, was a repairer electrician for the firm and worked on board the cruise liners that came to the yard for refitting. He said he was not warned of the dangers or given any protective clothing. He contacted Unite when he was diagnosed with asbestosis in 2005.
Peter Guy developed asbestosis after being exposed to the dangerous dust while working for Harland & Wolf shipyard during the 1960s. The condition has left him unable to do gardening and other jobs around the house and he has had to give up his passion for swimming.
Mr Guy, 74, was a repairer electrician for the firm and worked on board the cruise liners that came to the yard for refitting. He said he was not warned of the dangers or given any protective clothing. He contacted Unite when he was diagnosed with asbestosis in 2005.
New asbestos law is not a big help
Barking and Dagenham Post 25th April 2008 reported that a new law which makes it possible to prosecute companies for the deaths of workers, will not help families of asbestos victims.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which came into force on April 6, cannot be backdated to deaths which may have been caused before that date. Mike Merritt from the London Hazard Centre said the law will not be retrospective. Barking and Dagenham was an asbestos hotspot, and many former employees of the Cape Asbestos factory in Harts Lane, Barking, which closed in the 60s, are still suffering from asbestos-related diseases. Victims and their families can, however, claim compensation from the company's £40m compensation fund. Mick Connolly from the Barking and Dagenham Asbestos Support Group, estimates that about 600 people may have died in the borough as a result of asbestos exposure.He said: "It's very difficult to be precise, there are various diseases related to asbestos."Many potential victims of asbestos are not aware that they can claim damages."We only know of people who came to us, and that's the tip of the iceberg."Free advice for asbestos victims and their families is available on every last Wednesday of the month at Barking Town Hall. For information call 8554 5192 or 8227 2102.
http://www.bdpost.co.uk/content/barkinganddagenham/post/news/story.aspx?brand=BDPOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsbdp&itemid=WeED25%20Apr%202008%2015%3A45%3A03%3A860
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which came into force on April 6, cannot be backdated to deaths which may have been caused before that date. Mike Merritt from the London Hazard Centre said the law will not be retrospective. Barking and Dagenham was an asbestos hotspot, and many former employees of the Cape Asbestos factory in Harts Lane, Barking, which closed in the 60s, are still suffering from asbestos-related diseases. Victims and their families can, however, claim compensation from the company's £40m compensation fund. Mick Connolly from the Barking and Dagenham Asbestos Support Group, estimates that about 600 people may have died in the borough as a result of asbestos exposure.He said: "It's very difficult to be precise, there are various diseases related to asbestos."Many potential victims of asbestos are not aware that they can claim damages."We only know of people who came to us, and that's the tip of the iceberg."Free advice for asbestos victims and their families is available on every last Wednesday of the month at Barking Town Hall. For information call 8554 5192 or 8227 2102.
http://www.bdpost.co.uk/content/barkinganddagenham/post/news/story.aspx?brand=BDPOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsbdp&itemid=WeED25%20Apr%202008%2015%3A45%3A03%3A860
Asbestos found at Norfok school
Eastern Daily Press 28th April 2008 reported that asbestos has been found in broken ceiling panels at a west Norfolk school.
It was discovered in a changing room at the Downham Market High School earlier in the week, during a routine inspection. As the broken ceiling panels contained asbestos, the area was immediately sealed off to staff and students. Pupils were unable to collect their clothes, bags and even GSCE coursework and revision notes, which had to be left in the changing room on the advice of inspectors.
It means some pupils cannot get hold of their essential work, and some have raised concerns thatthis could affect their final exam results.
However, headteacher Ian Bloom has now contacted the examination board to ensure that none of the pupils will be affected. It is also understood that a specialist team dealing with the asbestos are attempting to scan coursework from the boys' bags and giving them a digital copy on a memory stick. Staff are also working with other students who have the same revision notes to see if they can help too.
To read the full story please click on the link below: http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED25%20Apr%202008%2016%3A35%3A13%3A050
It was discovered in a changing room at the Downham Market High School earlier in the week, during a routine inspection. As the broken ceiling panels contained asbestos, the area was immediately sealed off to staff and students. Pupils were unable to collect their clothes, bags and even GSCE coursework and revision notes, which had to be left in the changing room on the advice of inspectors.
It means some pupils cannot get hold of their essential work, and some have raised concerns thatthis could affect their final exam results.
However, headteacher Ian Bloom has now contacted the examination board to ensure that none of the pupils will be affected. It is also understood that a specialist team dealing with the asbestos are attempting to scan coursework from the boys' bags and giving them a digital copy on a memory stick. Staff are also working with other students who have the same revision notes to see if they can help too.
To read the full story please click on the link below: http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED25%20Apr%202008%2016%3A35%3A13%3A050
North is a dangerous workplace
NE Business.co.uk reported on April 28th 2008 that the North East remains a dangerous place to work. The last count by the Health and Safety Executive shows that 112,000 North East people suffered an illness or injury caused or made worse by their work. That’s around 10% of the region’s working population, far higher than the rest of England, and it does not appear to be declining.
The most recent report shows there were five people killed at work and over 1,300 ‘major injuries’ to working people. Again, this rate was higher here compared to the rest of the country.
On top of this, death from mesothelioma in the North East is substantially higher than the national average. Regional differences reflect the historic distribution of asbestos using-industries, especially shipbuilding, railway engineering and the production of asbestos insulation.
Behind each one of these statistics is a very human, often tragic, story of lives lost or ruined. This is even more horrific because the vast majority of incidents leading to injury or illness are avoidable. Yet the understandable attention given to the impact of gun crime completely dwarfs the scant regard paid to workers losing their lives year after year through the negligence and indolence of bad employers. Morally, this ongoing slaughter is an outrage. Economically, it is unacceptable and unaffordable. The cost to business directly is astronomical.
There is much associated with the region’s history resonating with injury and ill-health. The latest report, however, shows that the new service economy is at least as likely to be contributing to the next generation of workers made too ill to work by poor occupational health management at work. The British Medical Journal describes this period as dangerous as any in history to be a worker.
TUC analysis shows that as few as one in five workers receives any kind of occupational health provision at work or through their employer. While this remains the case there can be little doubt that we will not see any significant reduction in the scale of occupational ill-health, injury and debility we’re enduring today.
For trade unions this has been a high agenda item for over 100 years. Evidence shows when employers work with trade unions on health and safety management the workplace becomes twice as safe. The ongoing trauma demonstrates, as working people throughout the world will be today, that much, much more needs to be done to protect the health and safety of working people.
http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/business-news/latest-business-news/journal-business-news/2008/04/28/north-is-a-dangerous-workplace-51140-20828273/
The most recent report shows there were five people killed at work and over 1,300 ‘major injuries’ to working people. Again, this rate was higher here compared to the rest of the country.
On top of this, death from mesothelioma in the North East is substantially higher than the national average. Regional differences reflect the historic distribution of asbestos using-industries, especially shipbuilding, railway engineering and the production of asbestos insulation.
Behind each one of these statistics is a very human, often tragic, story of lives lost or ruined. This is even more horrific because the vast majority of incidents leading to injury or illness are avoidable. Yet the understandable attention given to the impact of gun crime completely dwarfs the scant regard paid to workers losing their lives year after year through the negligence and indolence of bad employers. Morally, this ongoing slaughter is an outrage. Economically, it is unacceptable and unaffordable. The cost to business directly is astronomical.
There is much associated with the region’s history resonating with injury and ill-health. The latest report, however, shows that the new service economy is at least as likely to be contributing to the next generation of workers made too ill to work by poor occupational health management at work. The British Medical Journal describes this period as dangerous as any in history to be a worker.
TUC analysis shows that as few as one in five workers receives any kind of occupational health provision at work or through their employer. While this remains the case there can be little doubt that we will not see any significant reduction in the scale of occupational ill-health, injury and debility we’re enduring today.
For trade unions this has been a high agenda item for over 100 years. Evidence shows when employers work with trade unions on health and safety management the workplace becomes twice as safe. The ongoing trauma demonstrates, as working people throughout the world will be today, that much, much more needs to be done to protect the health and safety of working people.
http://www.nebusiness.co.uk/business-news/latest-business-news/journal-business-news/2008/04/28/north-is-a-dangerous-workplace-51140-20828273/
University allays asbestos fears
This is Hampshire.net reported on 26th April 2008 that the University of Winchester has moved to reassure students worried by the possibility of asbestos being present in halls that are soon to be knocked down.
A student contacted the Hampshire Chronicle after seeing workmen in white boiler suits to say he was concerned that there might be asbestos at Parchment House, off Queens Road.
A university spokesman said contractors were taking precautions against any asbestos fibres that may be released as a result of sheet asbestos being removed.
"Sheet asbestos poses no risk unless it is damaged or disturbed. All health and safety requirements were fully met."
The student said: "What actually happened was around about this sort of time last year I had a friend who was living there at the time and we went to the housing office about some other issue.
"He asked somebody there if there was asbestos in there and she (someone at the office) basically said no'."
He said this month some "asbestos removal people" had moved in and fenced off the halls. The student said his friend had now left the university and that he thought Parchment and Colebrook Houses were now empty.
"There's been guys down there with the white boiler suits on. I'm just annoyed that we asked and they said no', but the answer appears to be yes'."
But the university said there was nothing to worry about.
Parchment House, along with nearby Colebrook House, are to be demolished to make way for new halls of residence that will house almost 400 students.
Seven blocks will be built on the site and are due to be ready for the September 2009 intake, drastically reducing the number of students the university has to house in Stanmore.
A spokesman said: "When the University of Winchester rented Parchment and Colebrook from the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust, it contracted a specialist company to undertake an asbestos survey of the buildings.
"The survey revealed no exposed asbestos and confirmed that the buildings were safe to occupy. It was suspected that sheet asbestos could be present in the enclosed service cores, which were not accessible to the residences.
To read the full story please click on the link below:
http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/hampshirenews/display.var.2226056.0.university_allays_asbestos_fears.php
A student contacted the Hampshire Chronicle after seeing workmen in white boiler suits to say he was concerned that there might be asbestos at Parchment House, off Queens Road.
A university spokesman said contractors were taking precautions against any asbestos fibres that may be released as a result of sheet asbestos being removed.
"Sheet asbestos poses no risk unless it is damaged or disturbed. All health and safety requirements were fully met."
The student said: "What actually happened was around about this sort of time last year I had a friend who was living there at the time and we went to the housing office about some other issue.
"He asked somebody there if there was asbestos in there and she (someone at the office) basically said no'."
He said this month some "asbestos removal people" had moved in and fenced off the halls. The student said his friend had now left the university and that he thought Parchment and Colebrook Houses were now empty.
"There's been guys down there with the white boiler suits on. I'm just annoyed that we asked and they said no', but the answer appears to be yes'."
But the university said there was nothing to worry about.
Parchment House, along with nearby Colebrook House, are to be demolished to make way for new halls of residence that will house almost 400 students.
Seven blocks will be built on the site and are due to be ready for the September 2009 intake, drastically reducing the number of students the university has to house in Stanmore.
A spokesman said: "When the University of Winchester rented Parchment and Colebrook from the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust, it contracted a specialist company to undertake an asbestos survey of the buildings.
"The survey revealed no exposed asbestos and confirmed that the buildings were safe to occupy. It was suspected that sheet asbestos could be present in the enclosed service cores, which were not accessible to the residences.
To read the full story please click on the link below:
http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/hampshirenews/display.var.2226056.0.university_allays_asbestos_fears.php
Post mortems suspended on bodies of Wexford family of four after asbestos is found at site of fire
The Belfast Telegraph reported on April 27, 2008 that post mortems on the bodies of a family of four found dead after a fire in their home in Co Wexford yesterday have been suspended due to the presence of asbestos at the site of the fire.
Garda say the crime scene investigation has also been suspended.
The levels of asbestos have been determined and additional personal protection equipment has been secured this evening.
The crime scene investigation will resume in the morning but Garda are holding off on making a decision about the post mortems until then.
Dermot and Lorraine Flood and their two young children six year old Mark and five year old Julie were found dead at their home in Clonroche on Saturday morning.
Garda say they are treating the deaths as suspicious and that both parents had additional injuries not consistent with a fire.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/article3652146.ece
Garda say the crime scene investigation has also been suspended.
The levels of asbestos have been determined and additional personal protection equipment has been secured this evening.
The crime scene investigation will resume in the morning but Garda are holding off on making a decision about the post mortems until then.
Dermot and Lorraine Flood and their two young children six year old Mark and five year old Julie were found dead at their home in Clonroche on Saturday morning.
Garda say they are treating the deaths as suspicious and that both parents had additional injuries not consistent with a fire.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/article3652146.ece
Consultation launched on ghost ship permit
Environmental Data Interactive, UK - 16 Apr 2008 reported that the public are being asked to comment on a proposed Environmental Permit for a company that has been fighting to dismantle potentially toxic waste ships at a site in the northeast since 2003.
Able UK won a contract from the US Maritime Administration to dismantle the so-called ghost ships five years ago, but the company faced a long battle before winning planning permission from the local council in November 2007 to fulfil the contract at a site in Graythorp, near Hartlepool.
The Environment Agency has now begun a public consultation on the Environmental Permit for the site, which is among a number of permits and consents that have to be granted before the ships can be dismantled. Since the four vessels arrived in the dock in 2003, they have been the subject of bitter wrangling between Able UK and environmental protestors. Now the public is being given another chance to voice any concerns about the site. Bob Pailor, from the Environment Agency, said: "As a public body we try to take account of a wide range of people's views when we make decision on applications for permits. "We would welcome comments on the proposed Environmental Permit and its conditions. These comments will be considered as part of our decision making process."
The US vessels covered under the contract, which are all of post-war design, contain hazardous materials such as asbestos which could pose a threat to human health. Last November, Able UK was fined £22,000 at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to two offences of failing to deal with asbestos in line with landfill regulations at its Seaton Meadows site. Able UK was unavailable for comment.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=14503&channel=0
Able UK won a contract from the US Maritime Administration to dismantle the so-called ghost ships five years ago, but the company faced a long battle before winning planning permission from the local council in November 2007 to fulfil the contract at a site in Graythorp, near Hartlepool.
The Environment Agency has now begun a public consultation on the Environmental Permit for the site, which is among a number of permits and consents that have to be granted before the ships can be dismantled. Since the four vessels arrived in the dock in 2003, they have been the subject of bitter wrangling between Able UK and environmental protestors. Now the public is being given another chance to voice any concerns about the site. Bob Pailor, from the Environment Agency, said: "As a public body we try to take account of a wide range of people's views when we make decision on applications for permits. "We would welcome comments on the proposed Environmental Permit and its conditions. These comments will be considered as part of our decision making process."
The US vessels covered under the contract, which are all of post-war design, contain hazardous materials such as asbestos which could pose a threat to human health. Last November, Able UK was fined £22,000 at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to two offences of failing to deal with asbestos in line with landfill regulations at its Seaton Meadows site. Able UK was unavailable for comment.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=14503&channel=0
York is one of UK’s greenest cities
York Press 15th April 2008 reported that new figures have revealed that York is among the top 20 eco towns and cities in the UK.
A national website has ranked York 18th out of 324 in terms of the number of recycling centres, conservation groups and eco-friendly businesses per capita.
For every 4,091 residents, the city has one recycling centre, one Green councillor, one farm shop, one environmental consultant, one insulation installer, one conservation group, one organic food shop, one double glazing business and one asbestos removal service.
Topping the green table was Norwich, with a score of 1,736 residents, and bringing up the rear was Kilmarnock, in East Ayrshire, with 19,692 residents.
To read the full account please click on the link below:
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/yorknews/display.var.2197132.0.york_is_one_of_uks_greenest_cities.php
A national website has ranked York 18th out of 324 in terms of the number of recycling centres, conservation groups and eco-friendly businesses per capita.
For every 4,091 residents, the city has one recycling centre, one Green councillor, one farm shop, one environmental consultant, one insulation installer, one conservation group, one organic food shop, one double glazing business and one asbestos removal service.
Topping the green table was Norwich, with a score of 1,736 residents, and bringing up the rear was Kilmarnock, in East Ayrshire, with 19,692 residents.
To read the full account please click on the link below:
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/yorknews/display.var.2197132.0.york_is_one_of_uks_greenest_cities.php
Pavilion asbestos scandal
Indymedia.co.uk, 14th April 2008 accused Pavilion Housing Association of behaving like a new slum landlord. I said that the description could equally apply to many other housing associations, who are more concerned with empire building and making money for themselves and inflating their fat act salaries than looking after their tenants.
Pavion failed to take proper precautions when removing hazardous asbestos. In April, garages at the entrance to Firgrove Court were in the process of being demolished. Firgrove Court, a small estate of social housing, is earmarked for demolition, the tenants to be kicked out of their homes, the site then redeveloped as a car park for a superstore, part of the unwanted town centre redevelopment in Farnborough.
Many of the maisonettes have sat empty for years, kitchens and bathrooms ripped out to render the properties uninhabitable. All that remained was the shell of the garages, their roofs and doors having been ripped off. The asbestos roofs, much of the asbestos crumbling, was in two piles in front of the garages. No special precautions had been taken for dealing with asbestos. The crumbling asbestos simply dumped in front of the derelict, half demolished garages.
Tipped off that there was more activity down at Firgrove Court where they had been dismantling garages and dumping asbestos, a reporter went down expecting the evidence to have been removed and the asbestos gone. He found all the garages had gone, but in addition to the two piles of asbestos roofs that were there earlier, there was now in addition a pile of crumbling asbestos. Asbestos in situ and not crumbling is ok, but if it is removed and if it is crumbling, then it is very dangerous and should only be removed by specialist contractors. It has to be handled and disposed of as hazardous waste.
By the end of the week, it appeared as though all the evidence had gone, or so it seemed. But there was a large industrial skip filled with crumblin asbestos, exposed to the elements.
One of the remaining residents, who Pavilion had not yet been able to force out of her home watched the demolition take place, and she was shocked by what she saw. No special precautions had been taken to deal with the asbestos. She said the workmen were not even wearing gloves or masks. I also spoke with her husband, he confirmed no gloves, no masks, no special precautions taken for handling asbestos, he then added that asbestos dust was blowing around.
It had been very windy all week. A former employee of Pavilion told of asbestos contamination at a number of properties in Aldershot which Pavilion tried to cover up. One of these locations is a block of maisonettes. The maisonettes should have been demolished years ago and the tenants relocated. Instead, as no one wishes to live there, Pavilion uses the maisonettes as a sink into which they dump troublesome families, making the maisonettes blighted in more sense than one.
The maisonettes are subsiding, they are contaminated with asbestos, the asbestos is crumbling.
Pavilion has refused to take any action to remove the asbestos, preferring instead to lie to the tenants and tell them the asbestos is 'safe'. At least, that was their position a year ago.
To read the full account, please click on the link below:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396456.html
Pavion failed to take proper precautions when removing hazardous asbestos. In April, garages at the entrance to Firgrove Court were in the process of being demolished. Firgrove Court, a small estate of social housing, is earmarked for demolition, the tenants to be kicked out of their homes, the site then redeveloped as a car park for a superstore, part of the unwanted town centre redevelopment in Farnborough.
Many of the maisonettes have sat empty for years, kitchens and bathrooms ripped out to render the properties uninhabitable. All that remained was the shell of the garages, their roofs and doors having been ripped off. The asbestos roofs, much of the asbestos crumbling, was in two piles in front of the garages. No special precautions had been taken for dealing with asbestos. The crumbling asbestos simply dumped in front of the derelict, half demolished garages.
Tipped off that there was more activity down at Firgrove Court where they had been dismantling garages and dumping asbestos, a reporter went down expecting the evidence to have been removed and the asbestos gone. He found all the garages had gone, but in addition to the two piles of asbestos roofs that were there earlier, there was now in addition a pile of crumbling asbestos. Asbestos in situ and not crumbling is ok, but if it is removed and if it is crumbling, then it is very dangerous and should only be removed by specialist contractors. It has to be handled and disposed of as hazardous waste.
By the end of the week, it appeared as though all the evidence had gone, or so it seemed. But there was a large industrial skip filled with crumblin asbestos, exposed to the elements.
One of the remaining residents, who Pavilion had not yet been able to force out of her home watched the demolition take place, and she was shocked by what she saw. No special precautions had been taken to deal with the asbestos. She said the workmen were not even wearing gloves or masks. I also spoke with her husband, he confirmed no gloves, no masks, no special precautions taken for handling asbestos, he then added that asbestos dust was blowing around.
It had been very windy all week. A former employee of Pavilion told of asbestos contamination at a number of properties in Aldershot which Pavilion tried to cover up. One of these locations is a block of maisonettes. The maisonettes should have been demolished years ago and the tenants relocated. Instead, as no one wishes to live there, Pavilion uses the maisonettes as a sink into which they dump troublesome families, making the maisonettes blighted in more sense than one.
The maisonettes are subsiding, they are contaminated with asbestos, the asbestos is crumbling.
Pavilion has refused to take any action to remove the asbestos, preferring instead to lie to the tenants and tell them the asbestos is 'safe'. At least, that was their position a year ago.
To read the full account, please click on the link below:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396456.html
Anti-asbestos drug could prevent harmful effects
The Daily Telegraph 10/04/08 reported that a drug that could protect people from the harmful effects of inhaling asbestos fibres decades ago has been found.
A study, published in Science, that for the first time explains how the fibres lead to the chronic lung inflammation that causes cancer.
Prof Jürg Tschopp of the University of Lausanne and colleagues in Europe and the United States report that the inflammation is linked to a complex of proteins, known as the Nalp3 inflammasome.
This protein complex is also involved in other inflammatory processes such as gout, which can be treated with a drug called Anakinra.
Now the team believes that this same drug may also be useful for slowing the progression of asbestosis, silicosis or other lung diseases linked with inhaling mineral fibres.
Asbestosis is the scarring of lung tissue resulting from the chronic inflammation triggered by the particles, which in turn makes the lung less efficient and breathing more difficult.
"Because exposure to asbestos increases not only the risk of asbestosis, but also lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other uncurable cancers, this suggested new treatment is highly desirable," says Prof Tschopp.
He said that use of Anakinra would be used for prevention and not a cure. "Rather persons exposed to asbestos in the past and thus at high risk to get asbestosis or lung cancer could be treated with an inhibitor drug."
Given the success of treating gout this way, "we are therefore quite optimistic that the same treatment will work for asbestosis."
"We have not started yet, but I am sure that somewhere in the world clinicians will."
Dr Joanna Owens, Cancer Research UK senior scientific officer, comments: "This important laboratory research brings us a step closer to understanding how asbestos causes the chronic inflammation that can lead to cancer.
"These results should help scientists find better ways to treat people who have been exposed to asbestos in the past. But Anakinra will need thorough testing in clinical trials before we'll know if it's safe and effective at preventing asbestos-related cancers."
The use of asbestos half a century ago has triggered an epidemic that will kill 200,000 people in Britain through lung cancer and mesothelioma, an untreatable cancer of the mesothelium, a thin membrane that lines the chest.
To read the full article please click on the link below:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/04/10/sciasbes110.xml
A study, published in Science, that for the first time explains how the fibres lead to the chronic lung inflammation that causes cancer.
Prof Jürg Tschopp of the University of Lausanne and colleagues in Europe and the United States report that the inflammation is linked to a complex of proteins, known as the Nalp3 inflammasome.
This protein complex is also involved in other inflammatory processes such as gout, which can be treated with a drug called Anakinra.
Now the team believes that this same drug may also be useful for slowing the progression of asbestosis, silicosis or other lung diseases linked with inhaling mineral fibres.
Asbestosis is the scarring of lung tissue resulting from the chronic inflammation triggered by the particles, which in turn makes the lung less efficient and breathing more difficult.
"Because exposure to asbestos increases not only the risk of asbestosis, but also lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other uncurable cancers, this suggested new treatment is highly desirable," says Prof Tschopp.
He said that use of Anakinra would be used for prevention and not a cure. "Rather persons exposed to asbestos in the past and thus at high risk to get asbestosis or lung cancer could be treated with an inhibitor drug."
Given the success of treating gout this way, "we are therefore quite optimistic that the same treatment will work for asbestosis."
"We have not started yet, but I am sure that somewhere in the world clinicians will."
Dr Joanna Owens, Cancer Research UK senior scientific officer, comments: "This important laboratory research brings us a step closer to understanding how asbestos causes the chronic inflammation that can lead to cancer.
"These results should help scientists find better ways to treat people who have been exposed to asbestos in the past. But Anakinra will need thorough testing in clinical trials before we'll know if it's safe and effective at preventing asbestos-related cancers."
The use of asbestos half a century ago has triggered an epidemic that will kill 200,000 people in Britain through lung cancer and mesothelioma, an untreatable cancer of the mesothelium, a thin membrane that lines the chest.
To read the full article please click on the link below:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/04/10/sciasbes110.xml
Monday, 28 April 2008
Asbestos 'will kill 10% of carpenters'
The Age.comAU, April 22, 2008 reported that one-in-10 Australian carpenters born before 1950 will die of mesothelioma, according to results of a British study to be released in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
They will be among 30,000 Australians who will die from mesothelioma between 2000 and 2050.
Cancer research specialist Professor Julian Peto made the findings during research into the lifetime occupations of 600 mesothelioma patients and an analysis of international trends in mesothelioma mortality. Prof Peto said the cause of mesothelioma was not restricted to the deadly blue asbestos, also known as crocidolite, but to brown asbestos (amosite) which was used in building products in Australia and Britain until the 1980s.
Brown asbestos was a major component in most asbestos cement sheeting and roofing used in the building industry.
"I think that is one of the things that's largely been missed in much of the discussion on mesothelioma," Prof Peto said. "The use of these products was completely uncontrolled. "Carpenters would chop it up with power saws without much concern at all. "And this was after we became aware of the dangers of blue asbestos."
Prof Peto's research also revealed that Australia and the UK have the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world, with 600 cases per year in Australia and almost 2,000 in Britain, and figures are rising.
He said that 10 per cent of Australian carpenters born before 1950 were likely to die of asbestos-related cancers.
The rate for Australia and the UK is more than five times that of the United States, mainly because of different construction methods, Prof Peto said.
Prof Peto's research also questions why it was once believed that asbestos exposure below a certain threshold would be safe.
The professor was due to deliver the Miegunyah Public Lecture at Melbourne University on Tuesday night.
http://news.theage.com.au/asbestos-will-kill-10-of-carpenters/20080422-27u6.html
They will be among 30,000 Australians who will die from mesothelioma between 2000 and 2050.
Cancer research specialist Professor Julian Peto made the findings during research into the lifetime occupations of 600 mesothelioma patients and an analysis of international trends in mesothelioma mortality. Prof Peto said the cause of mesothelioma was not restricted to the deadly blue asbestos, also known as crocidolite, but to brown asbestos (amosite) which was used in building products in Australia and Britain until the 1980s.
Brown asbestos was a major component in most asbestos cement sheeting and roofing used in the building industry.
"I think that is one of the things that's largely been missed in much of the discussion on mesothelioma," Prof Peto said. "The use of these products was completely uncontrolled. "Carpenters would chop it up with power saws without much concern at all. "And this was after we became aware of the dangers of blue asbestos."
Prof Peto's research also revealed that Australia and the UK have the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world, with 600 cases per year in Australia and almost 2,000 in Britain, and figures are rising.
He said that 10 per cent of Australian carpenters born before 1950 were likely to die of asbestos-related cancers.
The rate for Australia and the UK is more than five times that of the United States, mainly because of different construction methods, Prof Peto said.
Prof Peto's research also questions why it was once believed that asbestos exposure below a certain threshold would be safe.
The professor was due to deliver the Miegunyah Public Lecture at Melbourne University on Tuesday night.
http://news.theage.com.au/asbestos-will-kill-10-of-carpenters/20080422-27u6.html
Cottingley champion rower Denis Melody is killed by asbestos
Beeston Today, 17th April 2008 reported that a world champion rower and marathon runner from Cottingley died after contracting a deadly lung disease, probably due to exposure to asbestos during his working life, an inquest heard.
Denis Melody, 84, a divorced father-of-two, was a former leather processing manager who worked until he was 77. Mr Melody was still taking part in rowing competitions until September 2006. He was fit and healthy until he developed chest problems and was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a terminal condition. He died in January at the Wortley nursing home where he spent his final months.
The inquest heard Mr Melody spent his entire working life in the leather processing industry often in old factories and around machinery lagged with asbestos. He also served with the Royal Marines and could also have been in contact with asbestos on ships. A well-known marathon runner, Mr Melody took part in many races before taking up indoor rowing at the age of 77. He went on to take part in British and world championships, winning a gold medal in the men's veteran class in the world championships in America at 80.
The coroner, David Hinchliff told the court: "Mr Melody spent many years working in factories where machinery and boilers were lagged with asbestos and the likelihood was that it was in the work place he was exposed to it. In those days workers did not realise that fibres from asbestos caused health problems in later years and he developed mesothelioma."Pathologist Dr Lisa Barker told the court Mr Melody had well above the normal amount of asbestos in his lungs and had developed a rare type of tumour as a consequence.The corner recorded a verdict of industrial disease.
http://www.beestontoday.co.uk/news/Cottingley-champion-rower-Denis-Melody.3995168.jp
Denis Melody, 84, a divorced father-of-two, was a former leather processing manager who worked until he was 77. Mr Melody was still taking part in rowing competitions until September 2006. He was fit and healthy until he developed chest problems and was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a terminal condition. He died in January at the Wortley nursing home where he spent his final months.
The inquest heard Mr Melody spent his entire working life in the leather processing industry often in old factories and around machinery lagged with asbestos. He also served with the Royal Marines and could also have been in contact with asbestos on ships. A well-known marathon runner, Mr Melody took part in many races before taking up indoor rowing at the age of 77. He went on to take part in British and world championships, winning a gold medal in the men's veteran class in the world championships in America at 80.
The coroner, David Hinchliff told the court: "Mr Melody spent many years working in factories where machinery and boilers were lagged with asbestos and the likelihood was that it was in the work place he was exposed to it. In those days workers did not realise that fibres from asbestos caused health problems in later years and he developed mesothelioma."Pathologist Dr Lisa Barker told the court Mr Melody had well above the normal amount of asbestos in his lungs and had developed a rare type of tumour as a consequence.The corner recorded a verdict of industrial disease.
http://www.beestontoday.co.uk/news/Cottingley-champion-rower-Denis-Melody.3995168.jp
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