MoD Admits to Long-Term Failure to Protect its Employees from Asbestos Exposure

24 Feb 2020

At OHSS, we are committed to protecting people from the inherent dangers of improper asbestos removal and we do everything we can to help business across Ireland adhere to asbestos regulations and keep their employees safe.

Unfortunately, we take a look at a major case in the news involving the MoD and its huge estate spread across the United Kingdom. A report in the Guardian newspaper back in the Summer of 2018 stated that thousands of MoD staff had been potentially exposed to Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) in its Sea King helicopters.

Almost 4 Decades
After the report came out, the government conducted a review which uncovered the fact that thousands staff may have been exposed to ACMs over a 40-year period, potentially condemning those involved to a ‘death sentence’. Regrettably, this wasn’t the only occasion that the MoD had been negligent in its duty to protect its employees.

The aforementioned review also highlighted the fact that two out of 4 hangars at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and three hangars at its Ashchurch base in Gloucestershire were closed after asbestos surveyors found unmanaged asbestos to be present. Incredibly, this is something that the government denied for months up until its recent admission.

Asbestos Abatement
The work that is carried out in the field of asbestos abatement is as relevant as it was the day the use of the carcinogenic material was banned at the end of the 20th century. News articles like this one simply serve to highlight the fact that many of the buildings built before the ban came into force, still contain ACMs and there is much still to do to protect people from the tragedy that is mesothelioma.

Speak to the Experts
At OHSS, we are experts in occupational hygiene and asbestos regulations and if you suspect that asbestos may be present at your place of work, we encourage you to contact us before you do anything. Only professionals truly know how to remove asbestos safely and attempting anything yourself puts everybody at risk.

If you would like to know more about anything discussed here, we recommend that you take a look at our website www.ohss.ie, where you’ll find lots of useful information. If however, you need to speak to us directly, please call us now on (01) 6905907 and we’ll do everything we can to help.

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