Page 8 - A National Asbestos Strategy

The HSE’s current approach to asbestos is one of leave and manage, based on the
idea that asbestos will be well-maintained and kept in good condition. Even at
this level, deaths from asbestos are still higher than annual fire fatalities. Figure 2
illustrates the changes in mesothelioma and total asbestos deaths compared to fire
and road accident fatalities over the past 20 years.
Figure 2 - Annual deaths due to Asbestos, Mesothelioma, Fire and Road Accidents in Great
Britain (2000-2022)6
Our leave and manage approach will present several challenges expected to converge in the
coming decades.
In November 2022, ATAC (Asbestos Testing and Consultancy Association) and NORAC (National
Organisation of Asbestos Consultants) published a report revealing the extent of the asbestos
problem in the UK.
6 Data Sources: Road Accidents - RAS0101: Collisions, casualties and vehicles involved by road user type since 1925
(https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/reported-road-accidents-vehicles-and-casualties-tables-for-great-britain);
Mesothelioma Deaths - MESO01-Death certificates mentioning mesothelioma
(https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/index.htm);
Fire Deaths - FIRE0501: Fatalities and non-fatal casualties by nation and population
(https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fire-statistics-data-tables#fatalities-and-casualties);
The total asbestos deaths have been calculated based on mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer (based on a ratio of one asbestos-related lung
cancer for every mesothelioma deaths p. 7 https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/asbestos-related-disease.pdf) and asbestosis deaths (ASIS01 -
Death certificates mentioning asbestosis https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/asis01.xlsx)
www.asbestosinformation.org.uk
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