News
We like to keep up to date with asbestos news making the headlines
Take a look through some of the asbestos news articles we have collected.
If you are affected by or have any questions regarding asbestos on your property, please get in touch here.
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Knight Specialist Services are located in Stockport, Manchester but can respond to enquiries nationwide. Our team has a vast amount of experience in Asbestos Surveys, Testing and Inspection and we have helped many satisfied customers nationwide comply successfully with necessary Asbestos legislation.
Contact us today on 0161 333 0767 or email info@knightss.com.
We have helped hundreds of customers across Cheshire, Yorkshire, Merseyside, Staffordshire and Derbyshire over 10+ years we have been successfully trading. We have also worked in London for many projects.
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RAAC Concrete issues bring asbestos problems back to the fore
The recent headlines regarding crumbling concrete in schools have recently brought concerns about a double threat with asbestos being disturbed that is still present in many schools.
As attention is focussed on plans to remove the brittle RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete), there are cases where asbestos surrounds the material and the work becomes a much bigger problem.
It is highlighting the long unresolved issue of asbestos still present in many schools when it was used extensively during its most popular time in the 1950’s.
Remediation works are estimated to slow dramatically where asbestos is present, extending the time school buildings have to remain closed.
More details on this story can be found HERE.
See below for details on where asbestos can be found in homes and commercial/government owned buildings.
Common use of asbestos in residential properties
Inside an older standard dwelling built before 2000 you might find asbestos typically around he following areas:
As Insulation – so around water tanks, on pipework, as loose fill insulation, around a boiler or inside an airing cupboard.
Asbestos can also be present in a partition wall, in a fuse box or behind a fireplace. Sometimes it has been used as decorative ceiling coating, for example Artex.
Outside a property you might find asbestos around the roof – on soffits, gutters or downpipes. It is very common in the form or corrugated asbestos cement roofing on garages, and sometimes window panels.
Common use of asbestos in commercial properties
Industrial properties tend to have more asbestos use – especially where more pipework is present. Sprayed asbestos can be found on columns, beams, walls and ceilings. Also partition walls, floor and ceiling tiles and fire doors can contain asbestos.
Asbestos has also been used around toilet cisterns and seats, and also in some fire retardant textiles. You might also find it on flues.
Do you suspect you may have asbestos present and are planning works?
Speak to Knight Specialist Services and we can advise the best type of asbestos survey to suit your project.
Call us on 0161 333 0767 or use our contact page HERE.
Asbestos Found During Refurbishment
Public toilets reopening in Cullercoats delayed until mid-August after asbestos found during refurbishment
The public facilities are now scheduled to reopen in mid-August after asbestos and delivery problems forced the project to be delayed.
The discovery of asbestos has delayed refurbishment work in a Cullercoats public toilet.
The public toilets, south of Cullerocoats Bay and off Beverley Terrace, were discovered to contain asbestos following analysis of a suspect cement pipe collar. The material has been subsequently removed and disposed of by specialised contractors.
To read more click HERE
Rochford: Civil servant apologises to school over asbestos
A senior civil servant has apologised for disruption at a secondary school that closed because of asbestos.
The King Edmund School in Rochford, Essex, was shut between November and late January.
The school’s 1,570 students were taught off site or via virtual learning.
The Department for Education (DfE) permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood was updating the Public Accounts Committee in Westminster on the condition of school buildings.
Ms Acland-Hood said: “To the parents and pupils at King Edmund, on behalf of the department, we are really sorry that happened in that school and we are learning lessons from it.”
To read more click HERE
Asbestos Claims Continue
Johnson & Johnson Asbestos Claims Continue: California Man Alleges Baby Powder Led to Rare Cancer
A California man, Emory Hernandez Valadez, claims he developed a rare form of cancer due to exposure to asbestos in Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) talc-based baby powder.
Lawyers for Valadez are urging a jury to order Johnson & Johnson to pay heavy punitive damages, citing the company’s conduct as negligent and “despicable.”
Attorney Joseph Satterley, representing Valadez, stated that a careful corporation wouldn’t sell a product that allows carcinogens to be applied to babies.
To read more click HERE
Asbestos in UK Schools
Asbestos in UK schools responsible for 10,000 deaths in four decades
As many as 10,000 UK school teachers, pupils and school staff have died of lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure in school buildings in the past 40 years, according to an investigation by the Sunday Times.
To read more click HERE
Breaking News – Prevent Asbestos Disease
Health testing on former asbestos-exposed to prevent disease – Medicine
To read more click HERE
Where is Asbestos Found?
Asbestos can be found in any residential or commercial building built or refurbished before 2000. The material was banned for use in 1999, but there are obviously many older buildings where it is still present.
Where Asbestos Hides
(Image contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the National Archives open government license.
Inside
A. Asbestos cement Water tank
B. Pipe lagging
C. Loose fill insulation
D. Textured decorative coating eg artex
E. AIB ceiling tiles
F. AIB bath panel
G. Toilet seat and cistern
H. AIB behind fuse box
I. AIB airing cupboard and/or sprayed insulation coating boiler
J. AIB partition wall
K. AIB interior window panel
L. AIB around boiler
M. Vinyl floor tiles
N. AIB behind fire
Outside
O. Gutters andAsbestos cement downpipes
P. Soffits – AIB or asbestos cement
Q. AIB exterior window panel
R. Asbestos cement roof
S. Asbestos cement panels
T. Roofing felt
AIB = Asbestos Insulating Board
Common use of asbestos in residential properties
Inside an older standard dwelling built before 2000 you might find asbestos typically around he following areas:
As Insulation – so around water tanks, on pipework, as loose fill insulation, around a boiler or inside an airing cupboard.
Asbestos can also be present in a partition wall, in a fuse box or behind a fireplace. Sometimes it has been used as decorative ceiling coating, for example Artex.
Outside a property you might find asbestos around the roof – on soffits, gutters or downpipes. It is very common in the form or corrugated asbestos cement roofing on garages, and sometimes window panels.
Common use of asbestos in commercial properties
Industrial properties tend to have more asbestos use – especially where more pipework is present. Sprayed asbestos can be found on columns, beams, walls and ceilings. Also partition walls, floor and ceiling tiles and fire doors can contain asbestos.
Asbestos has also been used around toilet cisterns and seats, and also in some fire retardant textiles. You might also find it on flues.
Do you suspect you may have asbestos present and are planning works?
Speak to Knight Specialist Services and we can advise the best type of asbestos survey to suit your project.
Call us on 0161 333 0767 or use our contact page HERE.
MPs Call Time On Asbestos
MPs call time on asbestos as the deadly substance still kills 5,000 people every year
Asbestos was commonly used in buildings up until 1999 due to its fire resistant and insulating properties, but despite being banned for well over 20 years its legacy continues to claim the lives of thousands in the UK every year.
Former Leeds estate agent Rose Hall, 63, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2019 – an incurable asbestos-related cancer with a 2% survival rate despite 94% of all cases being preventable.
“He just said, ‘you’ve been exposed to asbestos, unfortunately it’s incurable’,” she said.
To read more click HERE
Brazil Sinks Aircraft Carrier in Atlantic Despite Presence of Asbestos
Brazil has sunk a decommissioned aircraft carrier despite environmental groups claiming the former French ship was packed with toxic materials.
The “planned and controlled sinking occurred late in the afternoon” on Friday, 350km off the Brazilian coast in the Atlantic Ocean, in an area with an approximate depth of 5,000 meters (16,000 feet), the navy said in a statement.
To read more click HERE
Asbestos Surveys in Stockport, Manchester, Bolton, Warrington, Preston, Leeds and Nationwide
We are based in the North West of England but we are able to offer affordable Asbestos Surveys nationwide. Our team cover Greater Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and London with professional asbestos surveys, sampling and consultancy to ensure your business complies with necessary legislation. Furthermore, we can reach locations across Cheshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire. For complete Asbestos Services look no further.
