Are Estate Agents At Risk from Asbestos Related Disease?

A former Leeds estate agent was diagnosed with Mesothelioma in 2019 aged 63. A health professionals broke the news, “You have been exposed to asbestos and unfortunately it is incurable”.

Most of the cases of asbestos exposure are preventable yet those who contract mesothelioma have a survival rate of only 2% according to this Sky News article.

Mesothelioma is Incurable

As scary and sad as it is, Mesothelioma is incurable currently. Estate agent Rose Hall described hearing the news from her consultant. She said that informing her two daughters was very difficult as she felt she was not ready to die from Mesothelioma.

She loved her job working as an estate agent and never really thought she would have been at risk from asbestos. Rose knew what asbestos was and didn’t feel threatened by it so the diagnosis came as a real shock.

Asbestos was banned in the UK in 1999 but is still present in domestic and public buildings across the country. It is present in millions of building across the UK.

Work and Pensions Select Committee recommended a target to remove all asbestos from public buildings within a 40 year time-frame. They state that asbestos related deaths in the UK is “one of the great tragedies of modern times”.

Asbestos Will Always Be Disturbed!

Shelly Asquith from the Trades Union Congress said that the government’s current advice is flawed. The government stance currently is that asbestos is safe if it is not disturbed.

She said that asbestos will always be disturbed, especially in buildings such as school where kids are running around, and schools that are falling apart or in disrepair.

It has been said that due to the drive to retrofit older buildings to achieve net zero, the risk of asbestos exposure is ever present.

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