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A national asbestos trade union campaign group urges the Government to put the health of children and school staff first, and  abandon its plans to make the governors of all state-funded schools responsible for the health and safety of their pupils and staff, which will happen if it transfers the responsibility from local authorities to school governors.

The Joint Union Asbestos Committee* (JUAC) said that a recent judgement against the University of Lincoln, which exposed staff to asbestos fibres, indicated how easily things can go wrong if asbestos is not properly managed in educational institutions.  It  underlines how important it is that the Government does not transfer responsibility away from local authorities who have the specialist knowledge and resources to help local authority schools  safely maintain their asbestos.

Julie Winn, Chair of JUAC, today said that making school governing bodies (and therefore the governors) the ultimate employer means they will have to assume the full legal responsibilities for the health and safety of their staff and pupils.

Ms Winn, also a former Chair of governors, said: “Governors freely volunteered their time and expertise to support schools, but this is a step too far. It is hard to envisage how governors will cope with this additional responsibility with the limited time and resources available to them.

“Although more than 75% of all UK schools contain asbestos, currently there is not any specific school guidance for the management of asbestos nor any specific training on the management of asbestos in schools.  The Government has also recently scrapped the health and safety inspections of schools that ensured they were achieving safe standards.

“This is yet a further attempt to deregulate without proper consideration of the practical impact on the risk to the health and safety of staff and pupils in UK schools. The UK already has the highest incidence of mesothelioma deaths in the world, with teacher deaths from mesothelioma increasing year on year.  We fear these changes will put more staff and pupils at risk of potentially deadly exposure to asbestos.”

Michael Lees, founder of the Asbestos in Schools Group (AIS), said:“Asbestos can kill unless it is effectively managed, therefore the best local authorities have trained, dedicated officials so they can achieve the rigorous standards required.  This proposal will inevitably put staff and pupils at risk. It will also impose an intolerable burden on governors, for if something does go wrong then instead of legal action being taken against the local authority, it will in future be taken against the governors.  One must question how many people will volunteer to be governors if that is the case.”

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “The government needs to put the health and safety of children and school staff first – it must not be sacrificed for deregulation.  The safe management of asbestos in our schools is too important to leave to chance, and is already too piecemeal and poorly managed in many schools.  Unless asbestos management in schools improves more pupils and school staff will be at risk and their lives will be potentially endangered. It is hard to see how transferring the management of asbestos to school governors will bring about an improvement.”

For further information please contact Julie Winn on 07736 490357.

Notes for Editors:

1. JUAC is a trade union campaigning committee comprising the six main education unions: Association of School and College Leaders; Association of Teachers and Lecturers; National Association of Head Teachers; NASUWT; National Union of Teachers; Voice; plus the education sections of Unite, UNISON, UCATT and the GMB
2. AIS is a campaigning and pressure non-party political group of organisations and individuals with an interest in making schools safe from the dangers of asbestos.  The aim of the AiS is to make United Kingdom schools safe from the dangers of asbestos both for staff and pupils.
3.      In November 2011 Lincoln University was fined £10,000 for breaches of  the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.The University knew for some time about asbestos materials on site but did  nothing to isolate or remove them .The threat of asbestos only came to light when a lecturer noticed asbestos debris around a door handle after the door had to be forced open.
4.  Source HSE Release Number HSE/269/11. Parliamentary Questions: Health and Safety Monitoring
Source: Education 20.12.11
Schools: Risk Assessment – Simon Hart – To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to transfer health and safety responsibilities in schools from local authorities to governing bodies. [86632]
Link to the original source document
6. Legal responsibility for health and safety (including the risks posed by asbestos) in UK schools rests with the employer under the Health and Safety Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and, specifically in relation to asbestos, the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.