As many as 10,000 former public housing units in the town of Carlisle, England may pose a hazard to those who have lived in the homes and were unaware of the presence of asbestos, notes an article in The Cumberland News. A tenants’ organization and a labor union have called for a major health and safety inspection of the homes in question.

The Carlisle Housing Association (CHA), which now owns the properties, has refused to do any work on them, citing the presence of the hazardous mineral, and the organization says they worry about past tenants.

“CHA has confirmed that residents wishing to work on their homes were not routinely warned of the danger – because asbestos safety regulations only covered the material in public buildings,” the article explains, noted that myriad do-it-yourself projects were performed inside the homes over the years.

The Carlisle and Rural Tenants Foundation and the UCATT construction trade union want an audit of all CHA homes to establish what asbestos is there and whether or not there is a risk.

John Scott, UCATT’s regional secretary, said that his union was now “so concerned about asbestos in CHA properties that it had asked its general secretary Alan Ritchie to investigate.”

“We have a member in Carlisle who has highlighted the fact that asbestos is being pulled out of housing association houses there [by unlicensed individuals],” he said. “CHA been given a clean bill of health by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), but our view is that this material should be removed by specialist organizations.

“There should also be an audit of asbestos in CHA homes. If somebody decides to strip a ceiling or use a sander on a ceiling in one of these houses, they could be bringing this stuff down,” he explained. “There are tenants in houses where there is asbestos and they are not aware of it. But the legislation that covers identifying asbestos only applies to public buildings. So if you are going to work in a public building you can consult a register which will tell you exactly where the asbestos is and what kind of asbestos it is.”

Scott suffers from pleural plaques due to past exposure to asbestos developed during his work as a contractor. Contractors in England have one of the world’s highest rates of mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases.

Tags: asbestos, mesothelioma

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