mesothelioma

By Mike Swain on Jun 24, 09 04:52 PM in Personal Stories

Karen Connolly knows there's asbestos in her flat because the council has slapped warning stickers on the walls, ceilings and floors.

The labels are plastered all over her bathroom, kitchen and bedrooms.

They have been put on panels in her bathroom where an extractor has been fitted, by her kitchen sink and at the end of her bed.

Where the asbestos panels have been broken they have been sealed up with duct tape.

Karen, 46, had no idea there was any potentially dangerous asbestos in her council flat in South london until she had a flood three years ago.

Now she is backing the Mirror campaign for a national public register of asbestos in all public buildings and social housing.

"They should tell you on your tenant's agreement whether there's asbestos in your council flat. It should be compulsory. They should tell everybody in every council," she said.

She found the asbestos after hoovering up the mess left by workmen who had ripped out bathroom panels to repair her flood.

aboratory analysis of the hoover dust showed it to be white asbestos.
Asbestos can be a health hazard if it is broken up and fibres are breathed in.

The Daily Mirror's Asbestos timebomb campaign has revealed how 200,000 could die from absestos related diseases including mesothelioma.
Millions of tons were shipped to Britain and put into homes, offices, schools and factories - and are still there.

An independent surveyors' report on Karen's flat says: "The tenant's account of the original flooding accident would, if confirmed, give rise to serious concerns as to the tenant's exposure to loose inhalable asbestos fibres.
"It is also of concern to note that large areas of the flat have only recently been identified to the tenant as having asbestos content.

"Clearly, without such advice, occupiers, and possibly workmen, may come to disturb and damage such elements and potentially release asbestos fibres for potential inhalation."

Karen said: "I have never campaigned before but I feel so strongly about this. I did not know about asbestos before this I have had to learn about it as I have gone along. It's a terrible thing. We are just treated like second class citizens because we haven't got a voice."

A new report by construction union UCATT has uncovered big gaps in the rules on asbestos in people's homes.

The report, As Safe as Houses? exposes the risk to people unkowingly exposing themselves to asbestos by doing DIY in social housing through ignorance and lack of information.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: "This extreme case is a perfect example of why there must be a full and comprehensive asbestos register for all social housing properties. People must be told about asbestos in their homes."

Southwark Council,Karen's landlords, said they would consider releasing asbestos information if asked.

A spokesperson said: "We understand that the public are concerned about asbestos and we take the removal of it very seriously - in fact right now we are arranging a meeting with some residents to discuss this very issue.

"We have commissioned a survey about the extent of asbestos in our buildings. As is the case with this kind of information held by many local authorities, this survey contains personal information, including individual addresses, so cannot be released in its current form to the public.

"However we are happy to consider supplying information about particular buildings, if a request was made."