Health & Safety
Asbestos Related Disease
Statistically, the cases of lung cancer relating to asbestos have doubled from 326 in 2004 to just over 800 in 2005. These are the most recent figures available.
The risk has also doubled for men who have worked within the construction industry for five years or more before the age of 35.
Asbestos is said to be causing as many lung cancers as mesothelioma.
One in ten carpenters and one in 30 plumbers/painters/electricians born in late 1940s may die as a result of asbestos exposure.
Contact with asbestos or asbestos containing materials (ACM's) was likely in any of the following occupations, and/or working on a building built or refurbished before 2000:
- Heating and ventilation engineers
- Carpenters and joiners
- Roofing contractors
- Plasterers
- Fire and burglar alarms installers
- Gas fitters
- General maintenance staff - caretakers
- Cable layers
- Electricians
- Demolition workers
- Plumbers
- Painters and decorators
- Construction workers
- Shop fitters
- Computer installers
It is likely that there are around as many asbestos related lung cancer deaths in Great Britain annually as there are mesothelioma deaths. There were 1969 mesothelioma deaths in 2004.
There were 80 new cases of disablement in 2005 due to asbestos-related lung cancer and 102 reports of the disease in the THOR scheme, not all of which where asbestos-related. These numbers are substantially lower than the likely annual total number of deaths inferred from the number of mesotheliomas.
Asbestos has been recognised as an important risk factor for lung cancer for many years. However, although lung cancer death statistics for Great Britain are readily available, the number of deaths attributable to asbestos cannot be determined directly. This is because there are a number of agents that can cause the disease - most importantly, tobacco smoke - and lung cancers resulting from asbestos exposure are clinically indistinguishable from those caused by these other agents.
Lung cancer as a prescribed disease in connection with asbestos exposure has typically given rise to between 50-80 new cases of assessed disablement each year.
May 2007