The General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) has cast doubt on the ability of schools to manage asbestos in their buildings.

Christine Blower’s comments came on the back of a Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and Department for Education (DfE) survey on how local authorities deal with asbestos.

The HSE and DfE concluded that most local authorities meet asbestos management rules in “system built” schools. The General Secretary believes this confidence is “misplaced”.

HSE inspectors visited 42 local authorities, resulting in 32 authorities being given help and advice on improvements to their asbestos management policies and ten being given enforcement notices to improve standards.

The other 110 authorities only took part via an online survey and satisfied the HSE that they had adequate systems in place.

Christine Blower said that a “true understanding of the nature of the problem can only be gained when a full independent national audit of all schools is undertaken.”

Sadly we have dealt with a number of cases where former teachers have developed mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos at school.

As “system built” school buildings get older and deteriorate the problem of asbestos exposure in schools is likely to get worse, not only for teachers, but also for support staff and pupils.