Asbestos exposure can cause serious diseases, including mesothelioma and asbestos lung cancer. If you breathe asbestos fibres into your lungs, some of the fibres will be deposited in the air passages and on the cells that make up your lungs.

Some fibres remain trapped in the lungs, causing severe respiratory damage. Fibres that clear the lungs are carried away in a layer of mucus to the throat, where they are swallowed into the stomach. They may become stuck in the membranes lining the stomach or intestines, or be distributed throughout the body via the blood. Wherever the fibres are, they have the potential to promote genetic “errors” in cell division that can lead to cancer.

The most common diseases caused by asbestos exposure are:

• Malignant Mesothelioma - a rare form of cancer that affects the thin membranes lining the abdomen and chest.


• Asbestos Lung Cancer - The two most common types of lung cancer are small - cell and non - small cell cancer.


• Asbestosis - a non-malignant disease that causes scarring of the lung tissue.


• Asbestos Pleural Disease - a non-malignant disease that causes scarring of the thin membranes lining the lung and chest.

Asbestos can also cause cancer of the digestive tract, colon, larynx, esophagus, kidney and some types of lymphoma. These asbestos diseases may be due to swallowing some of the longer asbestos fibres that are caught in the upper airways and that are carried to the throat in mucus.

Does your school contain asbestos?
If your school was built, refurbished or had maintenance work carried out before 2001, it could contain asbestos. Asbestos was imported into this country until 1999 and was used for a while after that until the stocks in the building yards were used up Any school that has been refurbished, rebuilt or has had maintenance work carried out before about 2001 could contain asbestos.

If the school was built before 1985 it is probable that it contains asbestos in one form or another. Schools built after the war until the early 80s are likely to contain large amounts of asbestos. Even if your school is a Victorian building it will have been refurbished or extended at some time or another. If that happened after 1945 and before 1985 then asbestos is likely to have been used. It is possible that it has been until about 2001.

• Everybody attends school for at least ten years of their life.


• There were 79 deaths of qualified teachers in the ten year period between 1991-2000.


• Four times as many schools found to contain asbestos.


• In 2004 there were approximately 9,000,000 children in primary and secondary schools. A direct extrapolation between teachers’ deaths and children’s deaths gives a figure of 900 children who will die over a ten year period as a result of asbestos exposure they experienced at school.


• Surveys were carried out in primary and secondary schools, and by 1984 sufficient information was available from the surveys to reassess the extent of the problem. 34,800 schools contained friable asbestos potentially exposing an estimated 15,000,000 pupils and 1,400,000 staff.   

Those suffering from poor health through on the job exposure to Asbestos may be entitled to compensation for their injuries. Families of those that may already have passed away through the ill effects of Asbestos exposure may also be compensated. Anyone that works with Asbestos is advised to seek medical attention.

If you would like free advice, just use the helpline or complete the claim form.

Our staff are professional, sympathetic to your needs and have excellent knowledge on respiratory diseases within the claims sector.

Call us now on 0800 118 58855