Asbestos In Schools and Hospitals

By James

Category: Industry

Fears of crumbling concrete potentially releasing lethal asbestos fibres in schools and hospitals continue to escalate.

Emergency measures are currently underway in England to bolster the structural integrity of public sector buildings, prompted by concerns that deteriorating reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) might render them unsafe.

Numerous school structures have been identified as having concrete prone to deterioration. It is also believed that council buildings, police stations, leisure centres, and offices may harbour this hazardous substance.

Experts are increasingly alarmed about the presence of RAAC, which raises the risk of asbestos exposure, a scourge responsible for claiming the lives of 5,000 individuals annually in the UK.

Matt Byatt, President of the Institution of Structural Engineers, stresses, “There are two real risk-to-life elements to this: if RAAC collapses it puts life at risk in an instantaneous manner; and asbestos can be deadly if it’s inhaled.

"These are not lightweight issues — they are very serious, and they should be treated as such."

RAAC and asbestos often coexist within the same buildings, as both materials saw extensive use during the postwar construction boom, as reported by The Sunday Times.

While asbestos remains inert when undisturbed, any disruption, such as during a building collapse, could release fibres that, if inhaled, can lead to mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer. Shockingly, it was revealed in July that thousands of students were still attending schools containing asbestos, despite the material being banned in 1999. Over the past four decades, an estimated 10,000 teachers, students, and staff have succumbed to asbestos exposure in educational institutions.

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Schools Told to Close Their Doors

The impact of asbestos is also deeply concerning for the NHS. Last week, 156 schools were informed that their buildings contained deteriorating concrete, resulting in the forced closure of 104 of them. This delay in the start of the term affects thousands of students, with some resorting to online learning or being temporarily accommodated in office buildings. In Kent, one school is even planning to serve lunch in classrooms.

RAAC was widely employed in public buildings from the 1950s to the 1980s. Air pockets within the unstable concrete disintegrate, compromising structural integrity. In cases where RAAC was utilised for load-bearing walls or roofs, entire buildings face the risk of sudden, unforewarned collapse.

This issue first came to public attention in 1999 but assumed critical proportions after a section of the roof at a Kent school partially collapsed in 2018.

NHS Sites Will Need to be Rebuilt

NHS facilities are severely impacted, with over 40 sites facing the challenge of rebuilding, including seven hospitals. Documents released following a Freedom of Information request from nearly a dozen hospitals reveal the extent of the problem confronting NHS Trusts. An assessment conducted at West Suffolk Hospital in April of this year warned of a "catastrophic" and "likely" risk of potential failure of the main hospital building, which could result in "loss of life and/or major injury." The report also underscored the threat of "asbestos and dust inhalation," suggesting that staff might be required to wear FFP3 masks following a collapse. It also cautioned about potential legal liability for trust managers under corporate manslaughter legislation. Similar concerns were raised at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, where a report from February revealed the rapid deterioration of RAAC panels.

The situation is dire, with a "catastrophic collapse" being a real possibility despite remedial structural solutions. Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, condemned the situation, stating that the documents paint "a terrifying picture of the state of our hospitals after 13 years of Conservative neglect." He added that the government's hospital rebuilding plans are falling behind schedule, with only one of 40 new hospitals likely to be completed by the next election. He emphasised that patients would have to endure deteriorating hospitals for years to come. Labour has called for an audit of all public sector buildings to address the issue comprehensively.

List of Schools to be Released

The Department for Education has categorised the safety threat in school buildings as a "critical risk" since 2021. Nevertheless, the government has yet to release the full list of schools forced to close. Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the public accounts committee, described this situation as the "tip of the iceberg" for a "failing school estate." She noted that inspecting potentially affected buildings alone could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. She argued that ministers had deferred addressing the problem for years, leading to significant financial burdens now facing taxpayers. It is likely that schools will have to seek funding through the Department for Education's funding process to finance permanent building replacements. The government has committed to funding the cost of any remedial work, including temporary buildings.

In July, the Health and Safety Executive released a report revealing that it had written to a third of the 421 British schools it had inspected in the previous 12 months, warning about "non-compliance" in their legal duty to effectively manage asbestos.

Priti Patel, the former home secretary and MP for Witham in Essex, where five schools have been affected, demanded an explanation from ministers regarding the delayed decision to close schools, which left working parents in a precarious position.