BOHS marks Global Asbestos Awareness Week – 1-7th April 2014

Asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK and more than 4000 people each year die as a result of an asbestos related disease in the UK. Worldwide, it is predicted that it will claim the lives of 2 million people by 2030.

BOHS has a long and esteemed history of providing national and international leadership on protection against asbestos, in particular with regard to asbestos standard setting and competency qualifications.  The Society has been publishing methods of asbestos dust control since the 1960s. Indeed the first major asbestos exposure standard in the UK, for chrysotile asbestos was produced in 1968 by BOHS. The Society also produced important Codes of Practice on clearance testing and bulk sampling in the 1980s.  

During Global Asbestos Awareness Week, BOHS will be raising public awareness of the dangers of asbestos, as a category 1 carcinogen and the diseases associated with asbestos exposure such as mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.  From now until 7th April 2014, free access will be offered to around 40 asbestos-focused research papers from The Annals of Occupational Hygiene. The purpose of the open access will be to promote the sharing of information, but also to acknowledge the seminal papers on asbestos published in the journal which now underpin UK and international asbestos standards, policy and guidance.

Steve Perkins, CEO of BOHS, said: "We want to be able to protect both this generation and future generations who may assume that asbestos no longer poses a threat to their health. By allowing free access to asbestos-related research papers, we are opening the eyes of future generations to the long term impacts on health that exposure to asbestos has.

"Our goal is to end the deadly legacy of asbestos through education and raising awareness. The fundamental basis for prevention of occupational ill health, including asbestos-related diseases, is risk assessment. Through our qualifications, BOHS strives to ensure that asbestos risk assessments will be conducted in a way that is proper and proportionate to the risks. Without the risk-based interventions set in place by the science and engineering of occupational hygiene, it is recognised that the asbestos-related death toll would probably be much higher.”

To access the asbestos-related research papers found in The Annals of Occupational Hygiene, click on the following link http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/annhyg/virtual_issue_asbestos.html.