Schools and asbestos exposure – do I need to worry?

I went to school during the 1970s and 1980s. My primary school, which still survives today, was built in 1900. It was a sturdy, strong stone building built to withstand the generations. However, as the population in the area grew, it became necessary for the school to build extra classrooms, which were stand-alone buildings in the yard. Their creation was part of CLASP (Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme) which created fast and cheap modular buildings. They were made between 1945 and 1980, and generally consisted of a steel frame with structural columns at the corners with panels as walls and ceilings.

These buildings typically had asbestos within the columns acting as firebreaks and insulation. The walls also sometimes contained asbestos, particularly in the earlier buildings, or were coated with asbestos for fire protection and insulation purposes. Additionally, the floor and ceiling would have asbestos-containing tiles.

During the period I was at school, it is possible that many school buildings were in such a state of disrepair that this asbestos could have escaped and caused issues. However, that would all depend upon the age and the condition of those buildings. What is clear is that now, 40 or 50 years later, the buildings will have deteriorated considerably. The risks have increased significantly.

When I moved to middle school and then high school in the late 1970s and into the 1980s there was more asbestos in the schools I attended. It was not just in the fabric of the buildings, but also some classroom equipment including Bunsen burner maps, asbestos paper and asbestos noticeboards. In addition, suspended ceilings in classrooms had asbestos-containing tiles sat in the metal framework.

I remember teachers hanging things from the ceiling tiles with drawing pins such as Christmas decorations; I recall ripping apart Bunsen burner mats and throwing the bits around the classroom. I never at any stage thought this was something that could cause any risk to my health or that of my classmates or teachers. As my personal knowledge has developed of what in schools contained asbestos, and particularly in the role I now have as a specialist lawyer, I now appreciate the risk that was present of developing mesothelioma.

The Health and Safety Executive estimates that 86 per cent of schools in the UK still contain asbestos. They don't specify where. In 2012, the All Party Parliamentary Group made plans for phased removal from public buildings (including schools) of asbestos to be completed by 2028. However, it has more recently been stated that the rate at which this removal program is progressing means that there will still be asbestos in our schools in 2050.

The National Union of Teachers in March 2017 stated that 46 per cent of teachers were told that their school contained asbestos, but just under half of them didn't know where it was. Concerningly, that still leaves 54 per cent of teachers not knowing whether they work or have worked in a school containing asbestos.

I attended primary school from the age of four or five. It is statistically the case that a five-year-old has 5.2 times the likelihood of developing mesothelioma than a 30-year-old who is teaching them at the same time. This is simply a question of age, in that they have much longer to potentially develop the condition.

As well as asbestos within substantial school buildings deteriorating in the forms of insulation, ceiling tiles, floor tiles, roofing, textured coatings, thermal insulation, fire protection and other uses, there are also the CLASP buildings where asbestos was undoubtedly a major component. Along with the main school buildings, these modular structures have deteriorated over many years. It is quite possible that the installation within the metal structures could be disturbed and thrown into the atmosphere simply by closing the door to the classroom.

There are many people like myself who, we now realise, were very probably historically exposed to asbestos from the school fabric and school equipment. Regrettably, there continues, even to this day, to be a significant risk of both staff and students being exposed to asbestos. This is unnecessary and totally preventable. It is astonishing that it is only in the last decade or so that consideration has been given to removal of that asbestos.

There is a lot of knowledge in the general population about the risks of asbestos from traditional trades such as shipbuilding, steel and coal. What is concerning to me is that myself and millions of others who have been through the school system have been placed at some risk of developing mesothelioma simply from having an education. Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related cancer that can arise from a very limited amount of exposure to asbestos such as could occur in a school classroom environment.

If anyone has developed mesothelioma and has not worked with asbestos directly, then it is possible it may have been caused by their asbestos exposure at school, and/or in addition to any exposure there may have suffered at work. If this is the case, specialist lawyers could be a good starting point in deciding what the road ahead could look like – as well as the potential for compensation, they can also support with any treatment or support that may be needed, as you navigate the future in light of such a devastating diagnosis.