First Personal Injury on Asbestos in Schools

MANCHESTER, England, March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Accident claims solicitors, First Personal Injury, want to see more advice made readily available to parents and pupils about asbestos exposure in schools. The call comes less than a month after a report by the Asbestos Training and Consultancy Association (ATAC) made news for all the wrong reasons.

The report, which took a snapshot of sixteen schools in the UK found that none of the sixteen were meeting Health and Safety rules for managing the potentially lethal substance. Around 75% of the UK's schools are thought to contain asbestos and the Government often advises that asbestos is left in place and managed according to guidelines, rather than disturbed and removed. Michael Jefferies of First Personal Injury believes that the way in which the report was presented in the media may have caused confusion, saying:

"The report looked at 16 schools, which is a tiny proportion. And of course, it is worrying that these schools were failing to meet standards, but the way in which this report has been covered might have caused worry. A number of parents, for example, might have been unaware that schools would have ever contained asbestos at all and now may be worried sick. Any report like that should be accompanied with background information and the facts. Parents should have easy access to information about whether their child's school contains asbestos and how it is being managed."

The Health and Safety Executive is investigating 34 local authorities in relation to the findings of the 2009 study that led to the report.

SOURCE First Personal Injury