HSE launches asbestos campaign in Scotland
November 6th 08:49 Health and Safety
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a campaign to try and reduce the amount of deaths occurring in Scotland as a result of asbestos exposure.
Those involved in facilities management may wish to heed the advice being issued by the body, which has warned that the number of Scottish men who died from mesothelioma - cancer caused by the material - between 1981 and 2005 was higher than the UK average at 2,617.
It will be issuing free information packs to companies in the country and Greg Haywood, head of the Edinburgh-based HSE Asbestos Licensing Unit warned that deaths as a result of coming into contact with asbestos "are not a thing of the past".
"The most simple, but important, advice is if you are not 100 per cent certain that there is no asbestos where you are working, then don't start work," he remarked.
In related news, the HSE recently held a safety event in Fife, highlighting the dangers of working in the construction sector and ways that risks can be reduced.
