Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Asbestos in Schools
It is good practice that local ATL represenatatives keep records of Asbestos in schools, so members/reps should contact him/her if they feel there may be asbestos within their workplace. Our Member Advisor, Doru Athinodoru, can provide 'Possible Exposure to Asbestos' forms for this purpose.
You might find the following case of interest.
"Another death has been linked to occupational exposure to asbestos in a school. Victor Kirk, 66, a divorced retired caretaker from Paignton, died from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma on 6 April. An inquest into the death was opened and adjourned in Torquay last month. At the hearing, coroners' officer Ric Parsons said Mr Kirk had been diagnosed as suffering from mesothelioma. He said: 'He had spent much of his working life as a caretaker, working at various schools. It is believed that during the course of his employment he had been exposed to asbestos' (The TUC website Hazards magazine has more details at http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-11723-f0.cfm#tuc-11723-2 . Mr Kirk died just three days after schools were issued with new official Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines for dealing with classroom asbestos. The HSE action was prompted by concerns that over 100 teachers have died from contact with the substance in the past 20 years. HSE's own figures show 147 education workers died from mesothelioma in the decade between 1991 and 2000, 73 of them primary and secondary school teachers."
HSE Consultation on Rights for Safety Reps
The HSE are currently consulting on improving worker involvement in health and safety. Included in the proposals are modest improvements in the rights of safety representatives.
The TUC is eager to involve as many safety representatives as possible in the consultation process and we are producing a range of materials to support it. These will be available to affiliates by the end of the month. In addition there is a 2 page article on the issue in the new issue of Hazards magazine. Broadly the TUC welcomes the proposals but does not believe they go far enough. The TUC are encouraging safety representatives and unions to respond with practical examples of how greater rights would improve their effectiveness. We will also be encouraging joint responses with employers where that is possible.
The HSE is organising a number of Consultative meetings on the issue in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and London in late May/early June. The TUC understands that take up has not been high in some areas and if you want to publicise them, details can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd207.htm You will also find details of the consultation document on the same pages.