Page 17 - A National Asbestos Strategy

The map enables users to examine the relative risks of asbestos exposure and road accidents
across the UK’s parliamentary constituencies. It provides access to the limited data on the
presence of asbestos within a constituency and the condition of these asbestos-containing
materials.
This modelling is not perfect. We have adjusted road accident death figures to reflect the 17%
reduction in road deaths due to COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 12% in 2021.10 The map
demonstrates how asbestos data can be compared with other geographically available data to
identify trends. In the future, it may be possible to map incidences of mesothelioma against high levels
of asbestos in premises. Asbestos data is mapped by postcode into parliamentary constituencies
to prevent being able to identify individual properties. Where more than one constituency falls
within a reporting district for mesothelioma deaths, the mesothelioma figures in the map’s click-
through feature are recorded for both constituencies.
Figure 6 - A version of the Asbestos Information Certificate for a constituency showing the
asbestos items found, collected from existing survey data.
Data has been collected from 381,398 premises. These include all types of public and commercial
properties, the common areas of blocks of flats, and dwellings controlled by local authorities and
housing associations. Over 2.5 million confirmed asbestos items have been analysed.
The data was sourced from UKAS-accredited asbestos inspection companies and spans May 2022
to April 2024. This dataset represents approximately 20% of the surveys conducted across the UK
during this period. Asbestos Information CIC will publish documentation detailing the methodologies
used for material classification and details on the progress of building a national website, for which
we are calling on the government to assist the industry in developing.
10 Department for Transport, The impact of lockdown on reported road casualties: Great Britain, final results 2020, GOV.UK, 2021,
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-annual-report-2020/the-impact-of-lockdown-on-reported-road-
casualties-great-britain-final-results-2020#:~:text=Reductions%20in%20overall%20casualties%20followed,average%20for%202017%20to%202019
www.asbestosinformation.org.uk
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